By Yana Rudenko
Town twinning in practice: the mayor of the Ukrainian town of Kremenchuk is grateful for the help from Tübingen. For Vitalii Maletskyi, the twinning of his city with Tübingen is a great relief. In an interview with tuenews INTERNATIONAL, the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk expressed his gratitude for the help from the city on the Neckar. Maletskyi visited Tübingen on May 10 this year and signed a partnership agreement together with Tübingen’s mayor Boris Palmer. Since then, Kremenchuk and Tübingen have officially been twin cities (see tun24051406). tuenews contacted the Executive Committee of the Kremenchuk City Council and the mayor by email to find out more about the twinning and its results.
“In Tübingen we had many meetings and negotiations that have already led to concrete results to help Kremenchuk. I had the opportunity to address the municipality of Tübingen and once again thank Mayor Boris Palmer, the aldermen and all the residents of the city for the great support they have given Kremenchuk since the first days of the war. It is mainly thanks to the generators that our doctors can work to save and treat patients. The donated fire truck helps to carry out rescue operations after rocket attacks. We firmly believe that the German people will continue to support Ukraine. I am very grateful to the members of the Bundestag for their initiative to install air defense systems along the Ukrainian borders and thus help the Ukrainian armed forces to repel enemy air attacks. This is a very important step,” Mayor Vitalii Maletskiy told tuenews. Kremenchuk is located around 300 kilometers southeast of Kiev on the Dnieper River.
The good relations between the two cities have existed for more than 25 years. Initially, cultural ties were established and artists from both cities exchanged experiences and studied the culture and local traditions. When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Tübingen was one of the first cities to provide assistance to Kremenchuk, and relations between the cities intensified. Kremenchuk not only felt the reliable shoulder of its German friends, but also received extensive humanitarian aid. Among other things, a fire engine arrived from Tübingen in December 2023, which is being used not only in Kremenchuk, but also in neighboring towns to deal with the consequences of rocket attacks and for rescue operations. The Tübingen public utility company also donated a VW van for the municipal services.
The city council of Kremenchuk is also grateful for the help from Tübingen. “As Kremenchuk is a large industrial city, it is in the enemy’s sights and the city is frequently shelled by Russia, destroying its energy and industrial infrastructure. Therefore, we are very pleased to receive a grant of 120,000 euros, which will be used to purchase special equipment for the city’s utilities and install solar panels in the city’s hospitals to ensure the smooth operation of intensive care and surgical departments, as well as medical care for victims,” explained the local parliament at the request of tuenews.
The development of artistic relations is also continuing: Kremenchuk artists Tetiana Shuliak and Inna Mosienko recently presented their installation “Cultural Circle” at an art event in Tübingen. During the last visit of the delegation from Kremenchuk, a connection was established between the Mykhailo Ostrohradskyi National University of Kremenchuk and the University of Tübingen. “After the signing of the partnership agreement between the cities on May 10, 2024, we are confident that the cooperation and friendly relations between Kremenchuk and Tübingen will deepen even further and find an interesting and mutually beneficial continuation. We greatly appreciate the friendly and partnership-based relations that have developed between our cities and hope that the bridges of friendship that were built in a rather difficult time for Ukraine will only grow stronger in the future,” concluded the Kremenchuk city councillor.
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U.a. Vitalii Maletskyi, Bürgermeister der ukrainischen Stadt Krementschuk, und Ortwin Wiebecke, Geschäftsführer der Stadtwerke Tübingen GmbH (Mitte), bei der Übergabe des gespendeten VW Transporters. Foto: Stadtwerke Tübingen / Ann-Katrin Melinz.
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