Abel Losada calls for “not to forget Ukraine” when two years of war on Europe’s doorstep

The government’s deputy delegate in Pontevedra, Abel Losada, called for the “urgent need not to forget the terrible war conflict that the government of Vladimir Putin is carrying out in Ukraine.” It did so during an institutional event held this morning at the Government Subdelegation in Pontevedra on the occasion of the second anniversary of the war. Currently in the province of Pontevedra reside about 750 people displaced by the war and about 3,000 in the whole of Galicia.
The subdelegate received more than a dozen Ukrainian refugees residing in the province and in other parts of Galicia, as well as representatives of the AGA-Ukraine associations, the Girasol Refugee Association of Vigo and the NGO Accem. To all of them he conveyed the solidarity with the Ukrainian people of the Government of Spain and “the absolute commitment to his country, which is not defending only its own existence, but the democratic values and integrity of Europe”.
In this regard, Abel Losada stressed the “collective European response” to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, which is why he stressed the “importance” of the upcoming European elections “given that not all the political spectrum responds in the same way to the needs of aid that Ukraine has as an independent state recognized internationally”.
The subdelegate heard the demands that were personally conveyed to him by the associations present and that largely correspond to the same ones that other groups of migrants have, such as immigration permits, labor market or access to housing, to which, in this case, the language barrier is added, especially in the elderly.
Thus, it undertook to carry out the appropriate procedures in order to improve and speed up the different administrative procedures and called on the whole of Pontevedra and Galician society to make a “special effort to welcome the Ukrainian people” remembering that “Galicia also emigrated and, therefore, it is very important to maintain sensitivity and empathy for the integration of these people as a receiving country that we are now”.
The subdelegate stressed that “the Government of Spain does not lower its guard with Ukraine two years later” and recalled that people displaced by war who have a special residence permit, can continue to apply for Temporary Protection in all member countries of the European Union, a procedure that will be extended until March 4, 2025.
The representative of AGA-Ukraine, Masha Pavlenko, highlighted the “great support” of the Spanish public administrations since the beginning of the war and stressed the importance of carrying out institutional acts of this type “since one of the greatest enemies of the Ukrainians is oblivion”. He indicated that the processes of reception and integration are being very positive, despite the fact that there are specific cases of vulnerability that can affect older people more frequently.
The president of the Sunflower Association, Marta Skyba, agreed in gratitude for the organization of this type of events “that keep alive the memory of the terrible war that our country is experiencing” and highlighted problems of the Ukrainian collective such as the homologation of their qualifications, especially in the health sector and expressed the need to speed up the processing of residence permits.
On his side, Daniel Bóveda, from Accem Vigo, valued the work carried out by this NGO in the province in processes such as the recent reception of African migrants in Sanxenxo and indicated that at the Spanish level some 35,000 people from Ukraine were served. At the same time, he transferred the proposal for the elaboration of a National Mental Health Plan aimed especially at this group given the great demand detected.
The present associations insisted on “fighting against oblivion and keeping the focus on the suffering of the Ukrainian people the cause of the war”, which is why the Subdelegation of the Government advanced new support activities that will coincide with the Independence Day of Ukraine, which is commemorated on August 24.