Belgium sends another batch of humanitarian material to Ukraine via B-FAST

Belgium will send 3,000 tons of salt to Ukraine to deice public roads in the current winter conditions. Road salt is essential to allow the Ukrainian population to remain mobile despite the war and the unfavorable weather conditions at this time of the year. This aid shipment represents a total value of 600,000 euros, including transport costs. This is a cooperation between Flanders, for the donation of road salt, and the Federal state, providing logistical coordination at European level and transport through the B-FAST mechanism.

Five trucks were already sent to Ukraine at the end of November to transport the first 125 tons of salt on site. From early January 2023 to the beginning of March, until ten trucks will leave every week. In total, no less than 110 to 115 trucks will make the journey to Ukraine to deliver the road salt, donated by the Flemish Roads and Traffic Agency (Vlaams Agentschap Wegen en Verkeer) and its supervising minister Lydia Peeters. B-FAST works with the Directorate General of the European Commission in charge of Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) to organise this transport.

Our country responds thus to the request for assistance launched by Ukraine via the European Civil Protection Mechanism (MEPC) as a result of the military invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which targets basic civilian infrastructure. Belgium takes this opportunity to express once again its full solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are facing the harsh realities of war and winter.

The FPS Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation coordinates this mission in its capacity as the B-FAST Secretariat, in consultation with the Prime Minister’s Office as well as the FPS Public Health, Ministry of Defence, the FPS Interior and the FPS Strategy and Support (BOSA).

For more information on the B-FAST mechanism: https://b-fast.be/en