The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, announced this Monday that the Government will posthumously award the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic to Emma Igual, the Spanish aid worker killed in a Russian attack in Ukraine.
In statements on Tele5, Albares indicated that the Ukrainian Government confirmed through his counterpart, Dimitro Kuleba, the death of the Spanish woman, president of the NGO Road to Relief, and so did the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
The minister stated that this Tuesday he will propose to the Council of Ministers the granting of the Grand Cross of Isabel the Catholic to Emma Same that “like all Spanish aid workers, he not only conveys the best of the values of Spanish solidarity, but even, as we have unfortunately seen in this case, he puts his life at risk to help others.”
Likewise, he has indicated that the Spanish Embassy in Kiev is already carrying out the pertinent steps for the repatriation of Igual’s body, in contact with his family, but he did not want to give more details “to maintain the privacy and memory” of the deceased.
Likewise, director of the NGO Road to Relief which he founded in 2022 to help evacuate civilians from the front, died this Saturday when the vehicle in which he was traveling was hit by a Russian projectile near Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine. Canadian volunteer Anthony also died in the attack Tonko Ihnat.
The NGO for which the aid worker worked reported through its Instagram account that four of its members left around 10 a.m. from Sloviansk to Bakhmut in a vehicle to assess the needs of civilians caught in the crossfire in the city of Ivanivske.
“During the journey, past Chasiv Yar, his vehicle was the target of a Russian attack. There was a direct impact and the vehicle overturned and caught fire,” he said.
