Antwerp (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Doctors from Ukraine are acquiring practical experience in Antwerp under the auspices of a Belgian strategy which entails setting up a specific center in Ukraine, specifically in Kyiv, where burns could be effectively managed. This initiative was unveiled in mid-August, 2026 when a delegation paid a visit to Ukraine and included an investment of €10 million for the strategy.
Why is Belgium backing a burn centre for Ukraine?
The war has overstretched Ukraine’s healthcare system due to numerous cases of burns from rocket attacks, drone strikes, and even artillery blasts. Patients are requiring repeat surgeries and extensive intensive care, making it difficult to manage the existing shortage of specialists. It is within this setting that Belgium has been able to include the treatment of burns as one of the core components of its overall civil cooperation program with Kyiv. During his visit to Ukraine from August 18th to 19th, Belgian deputy prime minister and foreign minister Maxime Prévot described the initiative as one that falls under immediate reconstruction, not post-conflict promises.
“Reconstruction cannot wait until the day after peace; it is already beginning now,”
Prévot said, signalling the need for rebuilding of infrastructure and medical facilities, despite ongoing fighting. The burn unit is part of the many flagship projects under the Belgian civil assistance programme worth €150 million, which involves the rehabilitation of veterans, maxillofacial surgery, schools shelters and energy infrastructure.
How will the Antwerp training support Kyiv’s new centre?
Ukrainian medical personnel is being provided with specialised training in Antwerp and other Belgian facilities in preparation for managing the upcoming Kyiv medical centre in accordance with European standards. Even though the total number of participants and specific timetable are yet undisclosed, Belgian authorities say that the process will be organised as a series of transfers of clinical protocols, surgical techniques, and intensive care procedures related to severe burns.
Such cooperation is based on the acknowledged Belgian experience in this sphere. Brussels is the leader of the rescEU specialised module for treating people with severe burns. The Belgian Grand Hôpital de Charleroi and Queen Astrid Military Hospital are functioning as references in this collaboration. Implementation of the programme is managed by Enabel – the Belgian development agency under its BE-Relieve programme.
The National Centre of Excellence for serious burns will be chosen at one of Kyiv’s hospitals. In this project, there will be the construction/renovation of suitable wards and installing of state-of-the-art burn care equipment with Belgian treatment paths incorporated.
“This project will contribute to the formation of a national strategy for treating patients with severe burns,”
the Belgian Embassy in Ukraine said in a statement, underlining the ambition to move beyond isolated interventions toward a coordinated national system.
