Ukraine Embassy in Kenya is now calling for financial support from Kenyans and other well wishers as the conflict with Russia continues.
Through a statement released on Thursday, March 31, the embassy reached out to those willing to support the country to make their donations which will help the country recover from the impact of the war.
The embassy has opened two accounts for donations which will be channeled towards helping those affected by the ongoing skirmishes.
"Ukraine continues its fearless fight with the Russian invasion. We are grateful to all our friends who provided support. For those of you, who would like to help Ukraine in these challenging times, we have opened 2 fundraising accounts in USD and KES:," their statement read in part.
Justifying the move to open the accounts, the Ukraine embassy noted that it was informed by several requests made by Kenyans to help the nation.
"Following the many requests that we've received, the Embassy of Ukraine in Kenya has additionally opened another account for charitable donations in support of Ukraine.
We very much appreciate your solidarity with Ukraine people in our fight against Russia’s invasion," the embassy stated.
This comes days after the ambassador of the Russian Federation to Kenya Dmitry Maksimychev stated that what is happening in Ukraine is not an invasion.
"It is not an invasion. Because it is a limited special military operation. There is a very limited contingent of Russian troops. They are independent, we are not exploiting them," he told Capital FM.
He added, "the reasons have been explained clearly by President Putin. It is demilitarisation of Ukraine, de-nazification, protection of the people of Lugansk and Donetsk region from genocide and extermination. It is also addressing security concerns of Russia itself, there are legitimate security concerns because of NATO exploiting the territory of Ukraine over the last few years and there has been an escalation of this activity."
The war led by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine is now entering its fourth week. Efforts to end the war are still underway with US and Europe mounting pressure on Moscow to retreat.
Reports indicate that dozens of Ukrainians have been killed in the ongoing fighting with millions having fled the country.
Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN Martin Kimani, while chairing the UN Security Council meeting insisted for the need of integration without oppression.
“We believe that all States formed from empires that have collapsed or retreated have many peoples in them yearning for integration with peoples in neighboring States. This is normal and understandable. After all, who does not want to be joined to their brethren, and to make common purpose with them? However, Kenya rejects such a yearning from being pursued by force. We must complete our recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression," Kimani stated.
So far, the war has had adverse ripple effects on economies around the world. For instance, Kenya is currently experiencing a surge in prices of some consumer products attributed to the war. The recent case is fuel shortage which has been witnessed in some parts of the country including Eldoret.
Fuel traders on their part noted that the government did not provide the subsidy compelling them to hike the price of the commodity.
Building materials, cooking oil, wheat prices are among other commodities that have been affected by Russia's invasion.
