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Destroyed Specchio dei tempi's village in Ukraine: Russian attack devastates structure.

Cernivci. There are no longer any safe towns in Ukraine.On the morning of 2 December at 2am a Russian attack hit one of the two tensile structures housing the ‘Specchio dei tempi's Village’ in Cernivci, in the south of the country, about a hundred kilometres from the border with Romania. Over a thousand people are fed here every day, all refugees fleeing from the easternmost provinces, those that have already been partly occupied by Russian militias.

The village of Specchio is located in the most central square of Cernivci, a town with around 300,000 inhabitants, which had been chosen by Specchio dei tempi (which works here in close synergy with Remar Sos volunteers) for its first intervention on Ukrainian soil. The affected facilities had been purchased by Specchio immediately after the invasion to provide a reception point for refugees who did not want to leave Ukraine. Here, Specchio had provided the field kitchen, the mobile clinic and the two large tensile structures housing not only the canteen but also the children's play area and the distribution point for shoes and clothes.

The extent of the damage

On the morning of 2 December at dawn, Israel Galvez, the president of Remar Ukraine, sent us a heartfelt message: ‘The damage is very heavy, we need to replace one of the two tensile structures and restore all services in order to resume operations: a damage quantifiable in at least 50,000 euros. All this at a time when temperatures have dropped sharply and every night we record several degrees below zero'.

Active since the morning after the Russian invasion, the Specchio d'Italia Foundation immediately organized the transportation of Ukrainian families fleeing the conflict using buses and light vehicles.

At the beginning, thousand families arriving in Piedmont were promptly provided with a cash contribution of 500 euros for initial expenses. Subsequently, the focus shifted to Ukraine with the establishment of three villages for internally displaced persons escaping from Donbass and Crimea.

The three villages were established in Chernivtsi, Lviv, and Rivne. Currently, efforts are concentrated in Chernivtsi, the largest village, where over 900 meals are served daily.

Actually the support continues for families wishing to return to their homeland.

Links:

• Specchio dei tempi is a non-profit foundation since 1955