International relations: How Hesse's cities support their Ukrainian partner municipalities

Ukrainian children are learning in an air-raid shelter using school furniture from northern Hesse. Women from Lviv are receiving support in Frankfurt to start their own businesses. And children and teenagers from Kamianets-Podilskyi enjoyed a summer camp in Wiesbaden.

Several municipalities in Hesse have town twinning agreements with Ukrainian municipalities. These partnerships have increased, especially since the Russian war of aggression. But what do these partnerships look like in times of war?

A year and a half ago, Hesse's largest city, Frankfurt, sealed a partnership with Lviv in western Ukraine. "All people have the right to live in peace, freedom, and democracy. And it is precisely this right that Ukrainians defend day after day. That is why the partnership with Lviv is so important for Frankfurt," says Frankfurt's Mayor Mike Josef (SPD). "Our solidarity is demonstrated in many interpersonal relationships and concrete projects."

Last year, around 20 Ukrainian students visited Frankfurt for a recreational stay. This year, Eintracht Frankfurt hosted representatives from the first-division football club FC Karpaty Lviv, as well as several young footballers. And in September 2025, the city invited young women with entrepreneurial spirit from its twin cities of Krakow and Lviv to support them in starting their own businesses through practical training and networking opportunities.

“This project is changing the everyday lives of young women in a very concrete way: Through European networking, initiatives are being created that enable self-development,” says Josef. “This is the foundation of a young generation that will hopefully soon be able to leave this terrible war behind them.”

The partnership between Darmstadt and Uzhhorod in western Ukraine is considerably older. According to the city, initial contacts between the two municipalities were established as early as 1988, when representatives from both cities met at the international school games in Uzhhorod. The partnership has existed since 1992. Just this past August, Darmstadt, the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, and the public transport company HEAG mobilo donated two buses and medical supplies to the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod.

Meanwhile, children and teenagers from Kamianets-Podilskyi came to a summer camp in the partner city of Wiesbaden . "The aim was to give the participants a break from their war-torn daily lives," it was stated.

But it's not just large Hessian cities that have ties to Ukraine . The North Hessian municipality of Gudensberg, for example, maintains a partnership with Shchyrets. "In smaller communities, things are often more direct and immediate – and in my opinion, a relatively larger number of people are personally involved in such a partnership," says Eberhardt Kettlitz, who is responsible for town twinning in the Gudensberg city administration.

Since the start of the war, more than 40 people from the town of Shchyrets, population 10,000, have died at the front. "Presumably, everyone there—whether through clubs, their professional and family circles, or perhaps through church communities—knows at least one family in the town who has lost a loved one," he says. "These numbers, abstract as they are, constantly bring the horrors of this war vividly to mind."

And in the air-raid shelter in Shchyrets, students are now learning with school furniture from northern Hesse. As Kettlitz explains, when a school in Gudensberg was renovated, the surplus materials were transported to Ukraine. "Two sets of classroom furniture are now in the basement of the large school in Shchyrets, so that the children can continue their lessons there during air-raids."

© dpa-infocom, dpa:251111-930-275438/1