War in Ukraine Convoy with aid vehicles from Bonn attacked

Bonn/Ukraine · In eastern Ukraine, an aid convoy including donated rescue vehicles from Bonn has been fired upon. Aid workers are worried about the fate of the crews. The city of Bonn has no information about the whereabouts of the transporters.

 An aid convoy including donated rescue vehicles from Bonn has been fired upon. (symbolic photo)

An aid convoy including donated rescue vehicles from Bonn has been fired upon. (symbolic photo)

Foto: dpa/Boris Roessler

Two ambulances from a convoy that included donated vehicles from Bonn have been destroyed in a devastating bomb attack in eastern Ukraine. The vehicles had set off from Bonn's Uniklinik a few days ago with relief supplies in the direction of Kharkiv. "The two vehicles were part of a convoy of four ambulances from Bonn and three ambulances from Paderborn," a visibly moved Vitaliy Krusch told our editorial team.

Krusch had only just returned to his home in Bonn from the Polish border during the night. "At the border I found out what had happened shortly before," reports the young father, who is heavily involved in humanitarian aid. "Whether the destroyed vehicles were actually from Bonn, I can't say. But the probability is there."

Rescue vehicles from Bonn fired upon: fate of crews unclear

No one currently knows what has happened to the helpers. "All we know is that the vehicles are no longer operational. We don’t know how the people are doing," he reacts in shock. "We have no information on whether the crew were injured or killed. But we fear the worst."

The city cannot confirm whether the completely destroyed ambulances actually came from Bonn. "We have no information," answers Isabel Klotz from the press office when asked by our editorial office. The discarded vehicles were handed over to aid organisations in March by Mayor Katja Dörner, who then took care of the transport and handover on site.

For several weeks now, aid transports from the region have been regularly heading for Ukraine. In addition to the Bonn University Hospital and the General-Anzeiger Christmas Light Campaign, the UN Refugee Aid and the associations "Aktion Würde und Gerechtigkeit e.V." and "Stützpfeiler e.V." supported the projects. Vitaliy Krusch, who works for a large energy company in Bonn, accompanied the transports. The native Ukrainian was at the Polish border several times in March. He always had medicine on board as well as blankets and clothing.

Medicines and equipment especially needed in Ukraine

Medicines and relief supplies were always reloaded on international territory at the Polish-Ukrainian border crossing and handed over to Ukrainian doctors. "Such deliveries of medicines are especially important because in the war regions, factories and suppliers of pharmaceutical companies were completely destroyed by Russian missiles," he reports.

Vitaliy Krusch always arrives in the border region with full vans. But his vehicle is not empty when he returns to the Rhineland. Not even for the latest transport. This time he took a family of five from the Lugansk region. Nelly Grunwald from the Verein für Gefährdetenhilfe is now looking after them.

Sometimes Krusch also helps when homesickness becomes too much. On one of his tours he took a young mother with her six-month-old baby and her mother-in-law back east. The women and the baby had found refuge here in Bonn, but they wanted to return to their homeland. "To their husbands and their relatives. It is very difficult for people here to be alone when their family is in constant danger or husbands and sons are fighting at the front," Krusch can understand the motives.

Original article: Gabriele Immenkeppel

Translation: Jean Lennox

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