Ireland supports Ukraine. Since the beginning of the military aggression of the terrorist country Russia against Ukraine, Ireland has accepted more than 65 thousand Ukrainian refugees, which is more than 1% of the island country’s own population. Ireland canceled visas for all citizens of Ukraine and decided to provide asylum, where people will have access to free education and medicine. The state has already spent €617 million on providing housing and services to Ukrainian refugees.

The country’s government condemns Russian aggression against Ukraine and advocates Ukraine’s rapid accession to the European Union. Ireland calls for stronger sanctions against the Russian Federation. The country has already frozen €1.72 billion of assets related to Russian citizens and organizations that have come under EU sanctions. A significant part of this amount consists of financial assets in various banking institutions and funds, as well as the seizure of private planes, yachts and, to a lesser extent, luxury real estate.

The Ministry of Transport of Ireland has issued a directive to all ports of the country to prohibit the entry of vessels registered in Russia from April 17, 2022. From now on, all ships, yachts and other vessels registered under the flag of Russia, as well as any such vessel that changed its registration from the flag of the Russian Federation to another state, are prohibited from mooring in Irish ports from February 24 – the day of the start of full-scale military aggression against Ukraine.

In accordance with the sanctions introduced by the European Union after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, all Irish companies, in particular Ryanair, which leased aircraft to the Russians on leasing terms, terminated the contracts early. Russian airlines can no longer legally use aircraft that are in their state under leasing conditions.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ireland summoned the Russian ambassador in Dublin and said that four Russian diplomats should leave the country because “their activities did not meet international standards of diplomatic behavior.”

The Senate of Ireland adopted a resolution recognizing Russia’s actions in Ukraine as genocide and provided €20 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Also, the Upper House of the Parliament of Ireland recognized the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as genocide of the Ukrainian people.

To support access to electricity and heating, 17 EU countries, including Ireland, sent 500 generators to Ukraine through the EU civil protection mechanism.

On July 6, Irish Prime Minister Michal Martin paid a visit to Ukraine for the first time in the history of Ukrainian-Irish relations and visited de-occupied Ukrainian cities. “Bombings and attacks on civilians are nothing short of war crimes, and I will use my visit to express Ireland’s support for steps to hold those behind these crimes fully accountable,” Michal Martin said. Ireland will continue to help Ukrainians and will seek mechanisms for financial assistance within the European Union. The Prime Minister of Ireland added that they are working with Irish business to attract as many participants as possible to the process of rebuilding Ukraine. The country intends to spend more than €1 billion in 2023 to eliminate the consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Ireland remains an important trade partner of Dnipropetrovsk region. A bilateral analysis of external activities testifies to the growing level of partnership relations. The volume of export of goods from Dnipropetrovsk region increased 7.2 times and amounted to $9.26 million, which is 9.5% of the volume of the indicator of Ukraine. Ireland’s businesses buy the most ferrous metals, electrical machinery, grain crops, ships, etc.

12 enterprises of Dnipropetrovsk region exported their products to the Irish market, these are enterprises of the mining and metallurgical complex, machine building and agricultural industry.

By volume of exported products, the TOP-5 exporting enterprises include the following:

41 importing enterprises of the region mostly bought the following goods: pharmaceutical products, alcoholic beverages, various food products, essential oils, etc. The import of goods from Ireland to Dnipropetrovsk region increased by 41.5% and amounted to $11.97 million. The share of the region in the import of Ukrainian goods from Ireland exceeds 5%.

Import operations were mainly carried out by enterprises of the food, chemical industry and mechanical engineering.

The following importers entered the TOP-5 by the volume of imported products:

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