“The Hungarian soldiers of the ‘Tisza’ Multinational Engineering Battalion are ready to travel to the location of the floods that are affecting Ukraine, if the Ukrainian authorities require their assistance”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on his social media page on Friday afternoon.

In his post, the Minister pointed out: “Flooding has developed in several areas in recent days as a result of the adverse weather that has affected certain parts of Ukraine”. “In the interests of successful protection and damage mitigation, we have offered our assistance to our neighbours”, he added. As he explained, the Hungarian soldiers of the ‘Tisza’ Multinational Engineering Battalion, which is trained to perform tasks following natural disasters, are ready to travel to the designated location if the Ukrainian authorities require their assistance. The goal of the Hungarian-Romanian-Slovakian-Ukrainian Tisza’ Multinational Engineering Battalion is to assist the population and participate in the mitigation of damage following flooding and other natural disasters or ecological disaster situations within the water catchment area of the River Tisza.

According to a report issued on Thursday by Ukraine’s disaster management service, quoted by Ukrainian news agency UNIAN, 285 settlements in the western part of the country have been flooded to date as a result of the heavy rainfall. As a result of the sudden downpour of large quantities of water, the levels of several streams and rivers, including that of the River Tisza, have increased significantly, flooding out in several places. The most serious situation has developed in Ivano-Frankivsk County, where three people have died and 234 settlements are under water as a result of the inclement weather, in addition to which heavy flooding has also occurred in L’viv, Chernyivtsi, Transcarpathia and Ternopil’ counties. In the five counties currently affected, ten thousand homes have been flooded with water, 117 kilometres of road have become unpassable, and 64 bridges have been destroyed. In addition, significant damage has been caused to 500 kilometres of road and to 135 other bridges.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)