Ukrainian Dnipro to become Ostrava's partner city
The list of cities that have established partnerships with Ostrava will expand to thirteen. Joining the list is Dnipro, a city in central Ukraine, located approximately 400 kilometres from Kyiv. The invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 also sparked a massive wave of solidarity in Ostrava.
View of the partner city Dnipro. Author: City of Dnipro
The Ostrava City Hall allocated 15 million crowns to assist Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees, humanitarian aid was sent to Ukrainian cities, including buses, power generators, and other necessary materials. Not only the city helped, but also its citizens, local institutions, companies and associations to a large extent. It was this exact time that contacts with some cities of the attacked country began to deepen.
"When entering into partnership agreements as a city, we ensure that the resulting partnerships have not only declarative value. We want them to be a step towards real cooperation in specific areas, benefiting both parties involved. In the case of Dnipro, this form of close cooperation is very promising. Both cities occupy positions as local metropolises within their countries and have an indelible industrial past," stated Jan Dohnal, Mayor of Ostrava.
Dnipro is among the five largest Ukrainian cities, serving as an important economic, commercial, and cultural centre in central Ukraine. It has almost 981,000 inhabitants and is the centre of the Dnipro agglomeration with 1.8 million inhabitants. Local universities offer hundreds of study programs, and its transportation significance is underlined by both an airport and a river port.
With Dnipro, Ostrava will once again have a partner in Ukraine. In 2009, it signed a partnership agreement with Donetsk, but mutual contacts were not very frequent (except for organizing summer camps for children of Donetsk firefighters and rescuers) and ceased. The Russian aggression in Ukraine then led to the termination of the partnership and cooperation. Recently, Ostrava has established closer relation with the Ukrainian city of Konotop. You can find the list of Ostrava's partner cities HERE.