City of Saskatoon to donate $10,000 to Ukraine sister city’s humanitarian drive

City council has unanimously approved a $10,000 donation to the Saskatoon firefighters’ union to purchase humanitarian supplies for Saskatoon’s Ukrainian sister city, Chernivtsi.

During Monday’s meeting, Mayor Charlie Clark called the move “unprecedented.”

“I support this. I know it’s unprecedented. I know it’s always something we will have to manage carefully in terms of how we understand our role within these kinds of global situations,” he told council.

Clark also confirmed that at no other time have either of Saskatoon’s two other sister cities — Umea, Sweden or Shijiazhuang, China — asked for any humanitarian aid.

The motion to donate the money to the city in southwestern Ukraine was introduced by Coun. Darren Hill and supported by Coun. David Kirton.

Three letters were written to Clark by Chernivtsi’s mayor, Roman Klichuk. The first described the Russian attack on Feb. 24 and requested items like diesel generators, water tanks, water purifiers, lighting, sleeping bags and high-capacity tents.

In the second letter, the mayor asked for food staples like flour, sugar, pasta, canned goods and fats. A third letter requested industrial washing machines and dryers.

The city, Klichuk wrote, had become a refuge for tens of thousands of people escaping bombs and rockets in other parts of the country.

Kirton spoke about some of the local community efforts for Chernivtsi that included securing firefighter uniforms, medical supplies and radios.

Shipping, he said, was still a big question mark but he and a group from Saskatoon were planning on meeting with the Edmonton firefighters’ local to figure that out.

“This, I think, is one of the biggest challenges that confronts us. There are various efforts to find the fastest and cheapest ways to get supplies shipped to Chernivtsi,” Kirton said.

More information on community fundraising efforts is expected to be released in the coming days.