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The Saving Lives humanitarian project launched by SCM businesses has entered into a new partnership agreement. They have established a trilateral cooperation framework with the administration of Zaporizhia and an Austrian city Linz. As a result, IDPs that have lost their homes can now receive home appliances to improve their living conditions.

Overall, as part of the project, Linz administration has bought home appliances worth €18,000. The equipment will be supplied to ten IDP centres in Zaporizhia. At the moment, more than 650 IDPs from Mariupol, Avdiivka, Pokrovsk and other communities of Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts have found refuge in IDPs centres. Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, Zaporizhia has become a shelter for over 245,000 IDPs from southern and eastern parts of Ukraine. The Saving Lives project is taking every effort to improve the living conditions for IDPs in Zaporizhia as it is one of the project’s priority cities. One of the options is to attract donors from European countries.

“Our twinned city Zaporizhia was the first Ukrainian city that had started hosting IDPs from the temporary occupied territories in the east of Ukraine. Zaporizhia residents helped keep IDPs warm, provided accommodation and food and, most importantly, they made them feel safe again. Thousands of people who had been affected by the war and lost their homes found a new life in Zaporizhia. So we want to ensure that the city can help these people more. We would like to thank our partners: Do it Together Foundation run as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Saving Lives project, and Horst Wiesinger, a member of the project Board of Trustees. We are thankful for their help with logistics to deliver this important humanitarian cargo to Zaporizhia. We are confident that our assistance will keep the IDPs warm and be another confirmation that the entire world supports Ukraine and its brave people in their struggle and desire for victory, freedom and democracy,” said Klaus Luger, mayor of Linz.

The home appliances purchased by Saving Lives have already been delivered to Zaporizhia and will be distributed among those who need them most.

“Zaporizhia has received household appliances as humanitarian aid provided by our twinned city Linz. We’re going to hand them over to our IDPs and local residents who lost their homes in the recent missile strikes. Our humanitarian centre will review requests for assistance. I promise that everyone who needs this help will get it, and all household appliances will reach those who need them most. On behalf of the local government, I want to thank everyone who is helping Zaporizhia these days, including our international partners and Metinvest that helped deliver this cargo quickly,” said Anatoliy Kurtiev, secretary of Zaporizhia City Council.

The Saving Lives humanitarian project launched by Rinat Akhmetov’s businesses has already provided assistance to hundreds of thousands of people in the frontline areas. The initiative hands over food packages, hygiene kits, medicines, etc. The new form of assistance provided by the project includes household appliances. Saving Lives will continue supplying them to thousands of people who had to flee their homes, leave all belongings behind and start their lives from scratch.