Ukraine has many pressing needs. One is to be able to take care of all the soldiers who return severely injured from the front, says the Minister for Civil Defense, Carl-Oskar Bohlin (The Moderate Party).
The government has now decided that Sweden will lead the work on building a new rehabilitation center in Ukraine. This will be done within the framework of NATO's support program Operation Renovator, which has already established four centers.
The Swedish Agency for Support to Innovation, MSB, will be tasked with rebuilding an existing building, purchasing and installing medical equipment, and training healthcare personnel. The Swedish Armed Forces, the Defense Materiel Administration, the Fortifications Agency, and the National Board of Health and Welfare will support MSB.
The center will be completed in 2027. It will be able to conduct both physical and mental rehabilitation activities.
This is about several hundred people who can continuously pass through such an activity, says Bohlin.
The goal is for the injured to be able to return to combat, or to have the opportunity to live a civilian life with reasonable quality of life.
Bohlin adds that the project is not only important for Ukraine.
Swedish personnel will be able to serve there and gain experience of what it means to rehabilitate people from the consequences of modern warfare, he says.
The project is financed through the latest support packages to Ukraine, which the Riksdag has already decided on.
