Helen Macinty is making her first trip to Ukraine since becoming the Minister for Foreign Affairs
and Defence. Yesterday, she visited Butcher where evidence of civilian killings emerged early in
the war. The Minister vowed that supporting Ukraine would be a central priority of Ireland's
EU presidency later in the year. This morning, she told a news conference in Kiev that Ireland
was announcing 40 million euro worth of funding for Ukraine.
Helen Macinty speaking at this morning in Kiev for more we can talk to Emmanuel Shays,
freelance journalist based in Ukraine. Emmanuel, you were at that news conference this morning.
What else did Helen Macinty say? Well, what stood up at that press conference was
the solidarity expressed by Minister Macinty and also at some point she highlighted that Ireland
might not be a militarily neutral country, but that Ireland was certainly not neutral when
it comes to the support for Ukraine. So she talked about that additional aid that will be
provided to Ukraine in the humanitarian sector. She also said that more will be done to support
the energy infrastructure which has been badly hit this winter by Russia. So that was what
was at the core of that visit as well as the continued Irish support for Ukraine towards its
accession to the European Union. And today, Minister Macinty will also visit facilities that
are being supported by Ireland. And then as you mentioned, this was her first visit since
taking office. I was wondering, is the concern in Ukraine that the country might be forgotten about
given everything that's happening in the Middle East at the moment? Well, there's definitely
a feeling from Ukrainians that Ukraine is a bit less on the news at the moment due to news,
of course, occurring especially in the Middle East. However, there's also been more
interest, for example, for Ukrainian expertise in shooting drone kamikaze drones. I'm thinking
about intercepted drones that Ukraine had to develop urgently to try and protect its skies,
to try and protect its population. And we've seen a lot of countries reaching out, especially
countries from the Middle East, but also other allies of Ukraine reaching out to Kiev and asking
for cooperation treaties, defense treaties, to try and benefit also from this Ukrainian expertise.
Now that other countries are facing the threat of drones on their territories.
Thank you very much, Emmanuel. Emmanuel Shays, their journalist, NKiv.
