Kiev (EFE).- The President of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, has held a meeting with the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, the British actor Orlando Bloom, who has promised to support the country in the reconstruction of the infrastructures for the children.
As reported by the Ukrainian president on his website on Monday, the protagonist of “The Lord of the Rings” will promote as UNICEF ambassador the arrival of “humanitarian aid and infrastructure reconstruction projects aimed at guaranteeing the interests of Ukrainian minors”.
“Among the priorities are the development of the family care system for children deprived of parental care, the creation of infrastructures for early childhood development, as well as the empowerment of youth projects and entrepreneurs (‘startups’),” he added. Zelensky.
Orlando Bloom, impressed with the courage of the Ukrainians
In the meeting with the Ukrainian head of state, the protagonist of “Pirates of the Caribbean” (Pirates of the Caribbean) emphasized that he was “impressed by the courage and resistance of Ukrainians who, despite the war, remain strong.” .
Zelenski thanked the actor for his visit and his work at UNICEF, which represents “an important message. It is of great importance for us – he stressed – that the world knows what is happening in Ukraine during the war ”.
He also stressed the importance of creating a safe environment for Ukrainian children, both those who are in the country and those who were forced to leave it by the war.
The Ukrainian president also called on Bloom to lead his efforts to provide bomb shelters for Ukrainian schools.
“Of course, providing bomb shelters to schools is a huge challenge. During the war, material support for such initiatives is of particular importance to us, ”he added.
The meeting with the British actor was attended by Zelenski, the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak; the advisor and commissioner to the president for the Rights of the Child, Daria Herasymchuk, and the Ukrainian UNICEF team headed by the head of the Fund’s Mission in Ukraine, Murat Shahin.
During his trip to Ukraine, Orlando Bloom visited the cities of Kyiv and Irpin, as well as the town of Demydiv, near Kiev, “where he saw the terrible consequences of the war that has been going on in our country for more than a year,” Zelensky specified.
Orlando Bloom explained, for his part, that he had visited one of the schools in Irpin, already equipped with a bomb shelter, which, he said, is part of the “type of projects that are important to UNICEF.”
The meeting participants also discussed the return of Ukrainian children who were deported to Russia by the occupiers, and in this regard, Zelensky called on UNICEF to help the country solve this problem.
Just 324 of at least 16,200 children estimated to have been deported and held by Russia have so far returned to Ukraine, as families, voluntary foundations and the state treat each case separately in the absence of a single mechanism for their repatriation, according to the humanitarian foundation “Save Ukraine”.