The Republic of Austria stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and supports Ukraine with financial and humanitarian aid. Austria has officially condemned the russian invasion to Ukraine and as a member of the Europ   ean Union has joined all European sanctions against russia.

The Austrian authorities have frozen €254mln in 97 bank accounts of russians subject to European sanctions. Since russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Austria has imposed sanctions against 1,091 people and 80 russian organizations.

The state imposed new sanctions against russia in response to the annexation of part of the territory of Ukraine. Restrictions and entry bans were imposed on 28 people who were appointed by russia as governors, ministers and senior officials in the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine.

The country declared persona non grata four russian diplomats who acted in violation of the Vienna convention, i.e., engaged in espionage activities.

Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen paid a visit to Kyiv, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and visited Bucha. “Here, in Bucha, I grieve for every life destroyed by this terrible aggressive war. These crimes against humanity, against everything we stand for, must not be forgotten and will not go unpunished,” Van der Bellen said. “Yes, Austria is militarily neutral. But we are by no means neutral in our position. Ukrainians are fighting for their country and the future of their children, and we help them in this,” the Austrian head of state emphasised.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg underlined the importance of bringing to justice all persons involved in crimes committed during the russian aggression. According to him, Austria supports both the work of the UN International Commission of Inquiry into violations in Ukraine and the work of the International Criminal Court. The country also helps Ukrainian forensic units “financially and with equipment” to investigate crimes in the liberated territories, particularly in Kharkiv region.

Austria has supported Ukraine and accepted tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees despite its generally restrictive policy in this area. According to the Austrian Ministry of Interior Affairs, more than 90,000 Ukrainians registered in the country. About 56,000 of them are currently on basic support. Everything in the country is set up to help IDPs: temporary housing, food, humanitarian aid. The Austrians organise a lot of direct support for IDPs in Ukraine itself (humanitarian aid, medicines, etc.). There are also many rallies in Austria in support of Ukraine, against the war and aggression of the russian federation

The Federal Government has already provided over €87 million in humanitarian aid to Ukrainians. 300 generators and transformers have also been sent to Ukraine to help Ukrainians survive the winter as the russian army cynically shells water and energy facilities. 

Vienna’s emergency services have handed over 11 fire and rescue vehicles and five ambulances to Ukrainian rescuers. In addition to the equipment, Ukraine received a lot of other equipment and supplies. Austria has also sent thousands of helmets, bulletproof vests and 100,000 tonnes of fuel for civilian use.

More than €100 million has been raised by Austrians to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine. A part of this amount will be transferred to the liberated settlements of Kharkiv region to buy small stoves and heaters, repair roofs and windows, and purchase food. In addition, on the initiative of the city of Innsbruck, 15 large and 5 smaller generators were sent to Ukraine and are ready to rebuild a school or kindergarten after the war ends.

Charity organisation “Caritas” delivered 100 power generators to Ukraine, while the Austrian Red Cross delivered 21 powerful generators to Lviv.

Austria remains an important trade and investment partner of Dnipropetrovsk region. There are 31 companies with Austrian investments in the region, which have invested $51 million in the region’s economy. The high level of partnerships is evidenced by the bilateral analysis of external activities.

Austrian companies are most interested in ferrous metals and products thereof, furniture, railway locomotives, etc. The volume of goods exports from Dnipropetrovsk region increased by 19.3% to $31.96 million, which is 5.3% of all Ukrainian output.

48 enterprises in Dnipropetrovsk region exported their products to the Austrian market, including metallurgical, processing, engineering and agricultural companies.

TOP 5 exporters by volume of exported products are the following:

In turn, 159 importers in the region bought Austrian goods, including machinery and equipment, land transport, medicines, ferrous metal products, and others. Imports of goods from Austria to Dnipropetrovsk region increased by 37.8% to $50.83 million. The region’s share in Ukraine’s imports of goods from Austria is about 6%.

TOP 5 importers by volume of imported products include the following companies:

Import operations were mainly carried out by chemical, processing, machine building and trade enterprises.

Source: Information for the article was taken from open online sources and the website of the Main Department of Statistics in Dnipropetrovsk region.