On March 1, the founders of the public organization "IDPs of Ukraine" visited the National University "Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic" – People's Deputy of Ukraine, First Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee of Ukraine on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories in Donetsk, Luhansk Regions and Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, National Minorities and International Relations Maksym Tkachenko and People's Deputy of Ukraine, member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee of Ukraine on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories in Donetsk, Luhansk Regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, national minorities and of international relations Serhii Kozyr, as well as the representative of Poltava region in the parliament – People's Deputy of Ukraine, member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy Andrii Bobliakh.
As part of the visit to the university, the People's Deputies got acquainted with the innovative and modern locations of the Poltava Polytechnic, in which students of higher education of all levels receive educational services, and met with young people in the recently opened student hub – internally displaced from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Sumy and Mykolaiv regions, who study at the National University "Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic" and live on the campus.
Head of the Center for Culture and Student Creativity, founder of the Volunteer Headquarters of Poltava Polytechnic Artem Loik spoke about the work of the university in the field of providing humanitarian aid to IDPs and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which was provided from the first day of the full-scale invasion of the aggressor country into the territory of Ukraine.
"Our today’s meeting is our initiative. Everything related to the IDPs is very important to us because Serhii and I themselves have been internally displaced persons since 2014.
We have been through it all this way, and we are still going through it. Some people think that a couple of years – and you are already a Kyiv dweller. Nothing like that. No matter how much time passes, you are still an IDP. I really want to go home to Luhansk. But now almost all of the Luhansk region is temporarily occupied. My heart is breaking, I want to go home and see my relatives. I believe that it will come true, and I want you to believe it too.
For a year now, the issue of internally displaced persons has been extremely relevant, although the most important people now are the Armed Forces of Ukraine, our defenders, our military. And everyone should help these people in whatever way they can. But we, as IDPs, as people who went through all this, want the issue of IDPs not to be silenced, so that the whole country knows that there is such a category of people, that they are the same people as the locals, that we are all Ukrainians. Now we are traveling on a tour of IDPs. This is our mission, which we do from morning to night. We help with everything we can – from humanitarian aid to employment. We are now trying to provide employment assistance to our fellow compatriots, because no matter how many assistance packages we give out, they will still be needed constantly if people do not have jobs. Therefore, we are now making a lot of efforts to find work for internally displaced people.
Now I am pleased to see that there is no longer any bias against such people," – said People's Deputy Maksym Tkachenko.
The parliamentarians noted that one-sixth of the country – 5 million people – are now IDPs.
"At the very beginning of the war, back in 2014, it happened that I left Donetsk. When people ask me "Where are you from?" I answer "I'm from Ukraine", because I haven't lived anywhere else during this period. But today, the situation with IDPs has acquired a much larger scale than during the invasion of the russian federation on the territory of Ukraine in 2014.
As unfortunate as it may sound, it is a burden for the state. Therefore, it is necessary to adapt people as quickly as possible, adjust them, give them work, accommodate them, so that they can also help the army. After the Victory, we will all help them, restore the infrastructure, etc.
We learned a lot in this war. Most importantly, the demand for justice has increased, which is a continuation of the situation in 2014. A culture of donations to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine has grown, which is extremely important today. Our task is to work, to help, each on their own front, some by working, some by studying," – said People's Deputy Serhii Kozyr.
"We were also students. I am very grateful to the university for giving me an education. Dear young people, you have extraordinary opportunities. Today, we have seen unique opportunities for students at the Poltava Polytechnic – language centers, hubs, classrooms. The Volunteer Headquarters, the university team are great. I wish you a peaceful sky. We believe in Victory!" – added Maksym Tkachenko.
People's Deputies familiarized the youth with the work of the public organization "IDPs of Ukraine", which provides assistance to forcibly displaced persons in matters of finding housing, work, employment, providing legal and humanitarian assistance, etc., as well as with the activities of the parliamentary temporary investigative commissions in which they are and together with the law enforcement officers investigating the theft of humanitarian aid.
The team of the public organization "IDPs of Ukraine" presented the Volunteer Headquarters of the Poltava Polytechnic with gifts – a coffee machine and supplies for administrative work, and the students with an invitation to the concert of the band "BEZ OBMEZHEN" which performed that evening at the National University "Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic".
Recently, the head of the Poltava RMA met with the students of the Polytechnic and discussed the Year of Invincibility.
It should be recalled that an exemplary Indomitability Point and a student hub have been opened at the Poltava Polytechnic.
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National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
