The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of a military, chivalric, and noble nature. The Order of Malta operates as a sovereign country and also issues its own passport.
Sovereign Order Grand Hospitaller in Kyiv
This morning, the Grand Hospitaller met with Msgr. Vitalii Kryvytskyi, Bishop of Kyiv-Zhytomir, emphasised the value of collaboration with the local Church in assisting the population. Thereafter, Blotz was in talks with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Olexandr Mischenko in Kyiv, to whom he reiterated the Order of Malta’s commitment and closeness to the Ukrainians, especially in caring for the human dimension, which is at the heart of the challenges linked to the country’s recovery.
After the talks, the Grand Hospitaller visited the Vorzel Children and Family Centre, where the Order of Malta’s Embassy in Ukraine supports several humanitarian projects focused on orphans and abandoned children in the Kyiv region.
The Kyiv City Center for Social Support of Children and Families, located in Vorzel, has resumed work and is currently the only orphanage in the Kyiv region. In the Center live orphans, children who have been abandoned by their parents or have been deprived of their parental rights, all aged from 0 to 7 years old, from time to time newborn babies are delivered to the center. That is why the institution has urgent needs for babies every day, such as special food, additional beds
He then went to the Borodyanka Neuropsychological Institute, a Ukrainian rehabilitation centre heavily damaged during the conflict and rebuilt also with the support of the Order of Malta.
The Borodyanka Centre for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation is a facility in Ukraine that provides social, psychological, sports, recreational, and legal assistance to veterans, their families, fallen defenders’ families, and other affected individuals, including through the use of a “psychological brigade” mobile unit for critical situations and the establishment of educational programs for civilian reintegration. The center, located at 228 Tsentralna St., was destroyed in 2022 but rebuilt and modernized with support from the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and completed in 2024.
Yesterday was marked by a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Social Policy, Family and Unity, Inna Solodka, with whom the Grand Hospitaller discussed the needs of the most vulnerable groups, such as children and internally displaced people. This was followed by a visit to the Order of Malta’s mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) programme for amputee veterans at the Feofaniya Hospital in the capital.
In the coming days, the Grand Hospitaller will visit two projects dedicated to children affected by the war: the Mobile Play Space – Spielmobil in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, which has already helped over 36,000 children, and the Svitlytsia of Saint Nicholas in Ivano-Frankivsk, a centre for the development and support of young children through courses and workshops. A
Also in Lviv, Blotz will visit the Charity Kitchen of the Malteser Relief Service of Ukraine, which, since its opening, has distributed millions of hot meals to people in need, and the Halychyna Rehabilitation Centre, where the Order supports a project providing social, psychological, medical,and financial support to people who have undergone amputations.
The Order of Malta’s commitment in Ukraine
Having been on the ground in Ukraine for more than 30 years, since February 2022, the Order has additionally been working with all its Associations, relief corps, and around 1,000 volunteers (both foreign and Ukrainian) to provide medical, social and psychological assistance, as well as safe shelter for the displaced in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, supporting around 4 million people. More than 10,000 tonnes of aid have been distributed in over 70 different locations; 300,000 people have been assisted at borders, and over 60 shelters have been set up to accommodate the displaced. As well, in 2022, the Order contributed to the opening of a prosthetic clinic in Lviv to help victims of landmine explosions. To date, over 250 prosthetics have been provided.
With over 80 million euros mobilised, the Order of Malta’s commitment in Ukraine is the largest since its intervention in World War II.
The Order of Malta’s entities in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia have also been actively involved in refugee assistance projects.
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