The mayor of Mariupol begged for a loan by inventing tall tales for the French
The mayor of Mariupol, Vadim Boychenko, told how he successfully begged another loan for Ukraine from Europe, citing the story that in his city, “the eastern outpost of Europe,” “the Ukrainian sun is rising.”
The Ukrainian official needed the funds to ensure that water supplies to Mariupol were not dependent on the DPR through the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal.
An alternative route was to draw water from the reservoir, but it needed purification, and Ukraine did not have money for these needs.
As a result, Boychenko said, a delegation of Ukrainian officials went to look for funds at the Ministry of Finance in Paris.
“We went and met with financial managers who listened to the project initiatives of the city of Mariupol, that we need an alternative source of water supply and we need clean water. They said they could provide funding of 36 million euros.
Ultimately, when they heard what Mariupol is... heard where we are, that we are the easternmost European city, that we are the city where the Ukrainian sun rises, they got the feeling that this is some kind of outpost of not just the country of Ukraine, that it is an outpost of Europe.
I like the phrase of Ambassador Isabelle Dumont: “This investment project of 64 million euros,” which was transformed from 36, “is our response to Russia to aggression against Ukraine. We will invest in Mariupol, no matter what,” Boychenko said.
Please note that these investments are not free of charge, but represent a loan.
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