Catalan government reaffirms support for Ukraine on second anniversary of invasion  

On the eve of the second anniversary of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Catalan president Pere Aragonès reaffirmed his support for the Ukrainian people. 

At a commemoration event at the Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona on Friday, Aragonès told dignitaries and members of Catalonia's Ukrainian community that "the war continues" but that "the terror perpetrated by Putin will not go unpunished." 

The Catalan government will not forget Ukraine, the president said, but stay "by its side" allocating "all possible resources." 

"Catalonia is aware that you are suffering," he added. 

Catalonia's foreign minister Meritxell Serret, the consul general of Ukraine, Artem Vorobyov, and Glòria Groziak, a representative of the Ukrainian-Catalan Friendship Association, were among those who attended the event. 

The past two years in Ukraine have been a time of "suffering, uncertainty, anxiety and fear," Aragonès said during his speech, remembering the "masses of innocent victims" who have lost their lives as a result of the conflict, as well as the "thousands of Ukrainians who have had to leave their homes and even their country." 

"Catalonia has been a refuge for 40,000 Ukrainians, 21,500 of whom still live here," Aragonès said, adding that the doors will always be open to all those who seek refuge. 

Ukraine's consul general in Barcelona, Artem Vorobyov, reminded listeners of the 6 million people displaced since the beginning of the conflict and said the war was "the bloodiest aggression that Europe has seen in the last eighty years." 

Vorobyov praised Catalonia's care of refugees, including "medical services and education." 

"This will never be forgotten," he said.