Croatia’s past is in many ways similar to Ukraine’s present, so the country has stood by Ukraine and the people since the first days of the russian invasion and will continue to provide comprehensive assistance to Ukrainians.

Croatia is a country that, despite the difficult path of post-war recovery, has successfully and fully integrated into the EU. Its experience in European integration, post-war reconstruction, veteran policy, and demining is extremely valuable to us. And Croatia is ready to provide support in these fields. It is also ready to share with Ukraine its own experience in overcoming the consequences of the war that took place on its territory, including the development of psychological support projects for veterans and demining programmes.

The Parliament of the Republic of Croatia adopted a declaration recognising the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as genocide of Ukrainians.

Croatia also continues to provide significant humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The Croatian government has decided to contribute €1 million to the UNICEF programme to urgently provide Ukrainian schools and hospitals with power generators. These funds were used to purchase 50 generators with a capacity of 100 kW. The country has provided €1 million to Ukraine for demining. This money will be used to survey agricultural land to detect mines and other explosive devices, demine it, and restore it. Croatia will also contribute €0.5 million to NATO’s broad assistance package for Ukraine.

The Republic of Croatia is ready to help in finding new export routes for Ukrainian grain. Croatian railways and ports in the Adriatic Sea are among the possible alternative routes.

The country supplied 14 Mi-8 transport helicopters to the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of military assistance. The Croatian helicopters have reinforced the aviation of the Defence Forces of Ukraine, which is actively involved in combat operations against the russian occupiers and performs other tasks. Croatia has also provided Ukrainian rescuers with special vehicles for mechanical demining and other equipment worth €3 million. The Defence Forces of Ukraine received new Croatian 128 mm RAK-SA-12 rocket launchers.

The Croatian company DOK-ING and the Danish company Hydrema have agreed with Ukrainian manufacturers to localise the production of demining machines in Ukraine. They will produce HYDREMA 910, which has long been in service with NATO countries and has proven itself in the hottest spots of the world, including Afghanistan. Ukraine has already been using vehicles from the Croatian company DOK-ING. In March of this year, Kherson region received two DOK-ING MV-4 and MV-10 mechanised demining systems..

The Croatian government has approved a treatment and rehabilitation programme for Ukrainian soldiers. The Croatian side will provide a full range of medical, welfare and organisational needs of Ukrainian soldiers during their treatment. Their families will be provided with accommodation and support. On April 26, 19 Ukrainian defenders and 9 members of their families arrived in Croatia for treatment.

The development of mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation also is a high priority for both countries. The analysis of export and import operations of the Dnipropetrovsk region with Croatia demonstrates the growing level of partnership, as this country is an important commercial partner of the region.

According to the results of 2022, the goods exports volume from Dnipropetrovsk region reached $5.5 million and increased by 2.6 times compared to the previous year. The goods that are in demand among Croatian consumers are fertilizers, ferrous metals and products thereof, other products of non-precious metals, machinery and equipment, etc.

Export operations were carried out by 20 companies from Dnipropetrovsk region. The main exporting companies are metallurgical, machine-building and processing enterprises.

TOP-5 exporting companies (ranked by export volume):

Imports of goods from Croatia to Dnipropetrovsk region totalled $12.5 million and increased by 8.8% compared to 2021. The region traditionally imported fish and crustaceans, machinery and equipment, nickel and nickel products, fertilisers.

Import operations were carried out by 26 importers.

TOP-5 importer companies (ranked by import volume):

Import operations were mainly carried out by pharmaceutical, trade, processing, and food companies.

Source: information for the article was taken from public sources