The first meeting of the First Anti-Crisis Headquarters in Ukraine chaired by Alexander Yaroslavsky, owner and president of DCH group, has just ended in Kharkiv. Hennadiy Kernes, the mayor and Oleksiy Kucher, the governor of Kharkiv region arrived at a meeting in Kharkiv Palace 5* hotel owned by the businessman. Local journalists managed to film the meeting participants.
Media representatives were able to ask questions to the members of the Anti-Crisis Headquarters about an hour later.
'Alexander Yaroslavsky manages the Headquarters; its main mission is to organize a fill of the budget of the fund with everything necessary. These are masks, test systems and artificial respiration. We have just discussed the issue of attracting other businessmen with Alexander and Hennadiy Kernes,’ Oleksiy Kucher, the head of Kharkiv Regional Administration said. Separately, he told the Kharkiv Times’ reporters that after meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and representatives of the Ukrainian business held on March 16, Yaroslavsky was ‘conditionally assigned to Kharkiv.’
Hennadiy Kernes emphasized, ‘There is an initiative of Alexander Yaroslavsky so that we could provide regional medicine with the opportunity to protect the residents of the region and Kharkiv city from the coronavirus. To do this, we have established the Headquarters and invite businesspeople having opportunities to participate. We are committed to doing our best! Yaroslavsky is our flag! We have all the resources both of the governor and me as the mayor of Kharkiv, so that people, especially the elderly ones, could feel our care about them.’
The mayor also announced the holding of a meeting of Kharkiv authorities and business representatives on this Thursday to attract entrepreneurs to fight the epidemic.
Alexander Yaroslavsky has also said:
‘Kharkiv region has always been distinguished by its cohesion! We once had the challenge of EURO2012, and all of us had rallied and held this event at the highest level. Now the situation is more complicated. But you need to remember that you are a Kharkiv citizen, a Sloboda citizen, to go deeper into your pocket and pull out more from there.’
The businessman confirmed that his friend, Jack MA, the owner of Alibaba allocated to Ukraine test systems for 1 million people for $80 million, and the presidential air force one will fly to China to collect it. Yaroslavsky emphasized that tests for 200 thousand people will stay in Kharkiv region and told about his financial investments in overcoming the crisis:
‘I provided $2 million yesterday to the national program that the president announced yesterday that is for medicine and the elderly. And today I have allocated another $1 million to Kharkiv regional program. If more needed, I will give more. It is the time when you need to think of others as well.'
Separately, he called on his fellow businessmen ‘to remember how they love Kharkiv and Slobozhanshchyna not only with tears in their eyes but to put their hands in their pockets and wholeheartedly give money to their native region. We will publish all the weel-known names of those who will help and who won't. For sure, we will collect the money. Kharkiv region will not be left without medical equipment and materials, as well as pensioners will not stay without attention. ’
At the end of the briefing, Alexander Yaroslavsky thanked Kharkiv mayor and the governor for their cooperation and said that they ‘instantly responded.’ ‘The task is within our scope of abilities, we will resolve it, as we did before,’ he concluded.
The anti-crisis Headquarters is now collecting information on the needs of medical institutions in the region to assess the total amount of funding needed since today only the number of socially vulnerable groups of the population and the approximate costs of providing them with food sets are known.
The Headquarters will regularly provide reports on its activities in the context of funding sources and cost items.
In Ukraine, this is the first example of the work of the Anti-Crisis Headquarters, which was confirmed to journalists by Alexey Kucher.
