Greece offers to rebuild bombed maternity hospital in Ukraine

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday said the country is ready to rebuild a maternity hospital destroyed last week by Russian shelling in the southeast Ukrainian city of Mariupol. 

Mitsotakis made the announcement during comments to the press following a meeting of the prime ministers of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece in Rome, which the Greek premier attended virtually from Athens, where he is in quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19.

“I want to express my abhorrence for what is happening in Ukraine and in Mariupol in particular, which has become a symbol of resistance. You know of our specific interest, as there are more than 100,000 Ukrainians of Greek decent living there. As a minimum show of support, once the hostilities are over, the Greek government will take on the reconstruction of the maternity hospital in Mariupol that was bombed,” Mitsotakis said.

The Greek prime minister also referred to the issue with a post on Twitter, saying that “Greece is ready to rebuild the maternity hospital in Mariupol, the center of the Greek minority in Ukraine, a city dear to our hearts and symbol of the barbarity of the war.”