The Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) has been in contact with Greek community organisation Enotita in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, in the wake of the Russian invasion last week.
The president of Enotita, Nina Plechak-Paskal thanked the GCM for its support and said that financial support was needed to buy medicines and to publicise the situation to the rest of the world not just to the Greek community.
Ms Plechak-Paskal noted that the GCM was one of the first organisations from the outside world to reach out and said it was important to receive such support. She said she was sheltering with her family in a bunker in the Ukrainian capital.
“Now I’m in Kyiv with my family and other members of the Greek community. The situation is very dangerous for life. The Greek villages in the Donetsk region are amenable to bombardment. We have a lot of destructions. There are victims,” she told the GCM.
“So now we need unity. … When the war is over we will need your help,” wrote Ms Plechak-Paskal.
She said that the communities in Australia could support her community in Ukraine with financial contributions to buy medicines and humanitarian supplies. She said the local Australian media would be updated with events in the Ukraine.
GCM president Bill Papastergiadis held a 30-minute conversation with the vice president of Enotita, Anton Savidis, who told him he was working on maintaining supply lines for the resistance.
Mr Savidis, who is a cultural events manager said he had remained in the Ukrainian capital to help prepare the community for resistance while his heavily pregnant wife had driven to Western Ukraine (and away from the fighting).
He said Ukraine’s citizens were prepared to fight to defend themselves. He said that Ukrainians would never surrender and was confident that they would defeat the Russian aggressors.
Mr Savidis said that financial support would be needed after the the fighting was over as many of the homes of Greek community members had been damaged.
“The GCM will retain contact with the Greek Society of Kiev retaining its offer of support for whenever and however it is needed,” Mr Papastergiadis said.
