By KYIV. Jan 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kyiv received ten more city buses in assistance from Latvia, the press service of Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said on Friday.
"International partners continue to support the Ukrainian capital. In early January of this year, we received three passenger buses from the Finnish city of Tampere. And today, ten more modern city buses from our Latvian partners. A few days ago, on January 10, they departed from Riga and arrived this morning to Kyiv. Also, the buses delivered humanitarian aid, which was collected by the citizens of Latvia for the Ukrainians – generators, blankets, food," Klitschko said.
Since the beginning of the full-scale aggression of Russia, Riga has handed over 21 modern city buses to the Ukrainian capital.
At the end of April last year, incumbent Speaker of the Latvian Saeima Edvards Smiltens, and then Deputy Mayor of Riga, had already visited the capital of Ukraine and handed over eleven buses and humanitarian aid from Riga.
"Due to the constant attacks of the Russian aggressor and its attempts to leave the capital and Ukraine without electricity, we have a shortage of electricity. In this regard, today buses carry out all trolleybus and the majority of tram routes in the capital. So, the buses received today are an important contribution to ensuring ground public transport in Kyiv," Klitschko said, thanking the Latvian partners.
Since March 2022, Kyiv has received more than 40 modern ambulance vehicles, 36 fire trucks (two of them were sent to Kharkiv in December) and 72 buses as assistance from partners: 21 buses from Riga, three from Finnish Tampere and 48 from several German cities. The report notes that all previously received buses are already operating on the routes of the Ukrainian capital: on eleven permanent ones, as well as on three tram and five trolleybus routes, where electric transport is temporarily replaced.
After the bus transfer ceremony, Klitschko held a meeting with the Latvian delegation. The parties discussed further support for Kyiv and Ukraine.
