Medical & Emergency kit for Ukraines armed forces

Aim

The main aim of this fundraiser is to provided Generators and Combat First Aid for the troops on the front lines as winter sets in.

With winter fast approaching the temperatures in Ukraine will drop well below freezing very soon.  With Convoys heading out to Ukraine in November and December I am hoping to raise more funds for emergency blankets, tourniquets, chest seals, and small generators to provide power to dug outs and out posts along the front lines.

I am not going to write anything else this time, I am simply going to add an article written by one of the drivers after her last trip out to Ukraine.  Her husband G, drove the truck my family helped to donate along with medical supplies purchased with funds raised from my previous fundraiser. Whether you donate or not, please read the article.

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G & I have been delivering pick-ups trucks and 4x4 cars, and a range of essential kit, to Ukrainian frontline units since April 2022. This is the most useful thing we think we can do to help Ukraine defend itself from extraordinary Russian aggression. We have only been able to do this thanks to the deep generosity of you all. This is a report on our latest delivery.

*****

G & I arrived early in Ashford in our two vehicles to pick up our co-drivers from the station and G wisely used the time to conceal the very attractive crates of luxury flapjacks beneath 4 spare tyres. We scooped up C & E from the station and headed to LeShuttle past a huge shed of blinking biometric stands that had been ready for the new electronic system (EES) for over a year: our last delivery when we will be getting stamps into our passports?

Our convoy gathered together for the first time in the bar of our basic Calais hotel, which we shared ‘reassuringly’ with the CRS police. G with co-driver E, me & C, the SCs, D a solo driver, and R also solo who was joining our convoy but doing a separate delivery. R was showing worrying signs of internal unease and left for his room without eating.

We left Calais promptly the following morning and drove through France, and Belgium into Germany. We settled into convoy rhythm, got used to our walkie talkies (Thank You, Charlie & Nellie!) and had a smooth but busy drive to the eastern edge of former West Germany. C & my car turned out not to have a working radio or speakers, or heating. The temp started to fall, necessitating driving in warm coats and regretting our lack of gloves. Exploration revealed that the passenger had a heated seat but not the driver. In addition the ABS warning light kept going on for a few hours and then off. Heads were scratched, fuses checked, nothing obviously awry and by the time we got to Ukraine it had fixed itself. Over the course of our 2,000+ miles drive we had more than a few opportunities to verify that the ABS definitely was working!

We reached our roost for the night (a 386 mile drive) in time for a reviving glass of wine overlooking a river confluence and admired the impressive flood defences. The high water marks on the wall above our heads showed there had been a rather bad time on 17 May 1943 caused by the Dambusters. We seemed to have been forgiven by the locals. Sadly, R’s internal workings were still highly unsatisfactory and he couldn’t join us for drinks or food - our admiration for his grit as a solo driver and general uncomplaining good egg soared.

The next day, having topped up with fuel, coffee and sandwiches, we embarked on the longest drive of the trip - 530 miles (London to Edinburgh is 412 miles…). R walkie talkied a request for a break and admitted he was in terrible discomfort and couldn’t keep going. Directions to a nearby small hospital were found and we left him behind in truly brutal Top Gear fashion. We were now down to 4 cars. Then the SCs, who were taking up the rear, announced their car had a major problem and were pulling onto the hard shoulder. The other cars pulled off as soon as they could ahead and after phone discussion the stoic SCs were also left behind. So we arrived in Krakow sadly depleted in number. Fortunately, the Ukrainian garagists’ network got to work quickly and with great coordination between our contacts in Ukraine and some Ukrainian mechanics close to the SCs they were collected and taken to a garage who straight away worked on their car and diagnosed a fixable problem.

Happily R made a rapid recovery from what turned out to have been gastroenteritis and, after having excellent emergency treatment and a long drive, he was able to join us for breakfast in the main square in Krakow. Unfortunately, the ex-UK politician he was delivering his vehicle to in Kyiv hadn’t completely sorted out the customs paperwork so he had to remain in Poland until it was ready. An enforced day of rest was probably not a bad thing for his recovery.

Unusually, we managed to be in all the right lanes and got efficient officials at both the Polish and Ukrainian passport & customs controls, the paperwork supplied by our in-Ukraine team was absolutely perfect, and we got through the border and into Ukraine in 4 hours. We bumped down the cobbled streets in Lviv in time for a walk through the old town and a delicious supper. The restaurant waiters are now old friends and we were lured down into the cellar bar for longer than we should. Fortunately, the midnight curfew (staff have to leave at 11pm to get home) saved the day.

The next morning we drove to a small garage along our route to Kyiv for a prearranged car check. While this was happening we had brunch in a rustic restaurant and a giggly time with a very patient smiling waitress trying to work out what on earth we thought we wanted to eat. Our cars were given the seal of approval and on we went. By this point the SCs car was fixed but they felt they were too far behind to catch up with us and decided to have a few extra days exploring Krakow and Lviv before joining the next convoy which was coming through soon.

The road to Kyiv (336 miles from Lviv) is now free of active checkpoints, though still lacking any road signs. There is a sobering stretch of the E40 road a few miles before Kyiv where in early March 2022 the Russians attacked a 10 car convoy of civilians trying to escape from Kyiv and a grim one-sided battle ensued. Some marks of this still remain, though most of the ruins have been repaired.

We drove into Kyiv in good order, the super helpful hotel staff got us into their secure parking and through the registration with smiles and speed. D dropped off much needed medicines and kit at a Kyivan hospital. We met M, who had left the UK ahead of us, and was joining our delivery. We set off to supper passing the enormous, growing and sobering collection of flags representing killed soldiers in Independence Square (The Maidan), before dropping down into the huge brightly lit and clean pedestrian underpass and shopping precinct below the main street (Khreshchatyk Street): the contrasts of a country at war. Supper in a Georgian restaurant catching up and thanking the in-Ukraine team before an early night.

Up early and on the road by 6 am we headed out of Kyiv across the Dnieper river straight into a lovely sunrise. We were joined by 4 Ukrainian escorts and our convoy of vehicles carried eastbound into the sun. Near Poltava (badly hit the night before) we stopped for a very fast restorative soup brunch & loo stop. 

We drove on towards Kharkiv and encountered more and more checkpoints. Still no road signs. Air raid warnings came and went and simultaneously the GPS was turned off and on and paper maps were rustled. We turned south to rougher roads, many more checkpoints and confusing deviations and passed numerous other pick-ups (many bearing UK plates), lots of fuel tankers, and red postal vans (the Ukraine postal service delivers shells AND the post). At every check point the lead car’s exchange resulted in smiles and our cars being waved through immediately. When we were briefly stopped for speeding by roadside police, that exchange simply resulted in “Hurry, Get to Izium, and God Speed”. We overtook heavyweight military vehicles, and combine harvesters and trailers: the harvest must go on, even close to the frontline. 

The road was beautiful with the trees changing into glorious autumnal colour and the fields of dark black earth contrasting with the yellow of the wheat. Stalin encouraged the growing of tree shelter belts to protect the agricultural land from erosion and these strips have become very significant areas of fighting on the zero line.

Eventually (after 388 miles), we turned off the road into a rough market carpark on the edge of Izium. (Thoroughly) Very Wild East. The overwhelming majority of men & vehicles were military, guns slung about, many hugs and handshakes, inquisitive journalists, a great sense of activity and purpose, many beards but fewer moustaches. Very few 60+ year old Brits - especially women, and we’d come with 3 of them!

M’s car, a Mitsubishi L200 had been bought by funds donated to us. The recipient of the car - plus a 2048Wh EcoFlow portable power station (as ‘portable’ as something weighing 23kg can be), a Mavic observation drone, and a diesel generator - was a bearded 23 year old Captain we had met before. It was wonderful to see him looking really well and, most importantly, he was excited to have just got the Russians on the run from his sector. We know he’s very much a realist, and he respects the expertise of his Russian opposition, but doesn’t hesitate to tell us if things are bad, so this was heartening news.

G’s car (another Mitsubishi L200, donated by a stalwart family from Bristol who also donated Mavic drones and emergency medical kit) and 100s of luxury flapjacks (donated from Devon) were handed over to soldiers from the 79th Brigade, plus drawings made by the Bristol family’s children, which touched the soldiers. 

With many hugs and lots of back slapping, the soldiers and their new pickup headed off towards Pokrovsk: an extended 3 hour route to stay away from Russian drones.

A donation of packs with drawing paper and bags of crayons was given to one of our Ukrainian escorts and she will take it to an air raid shelter in a village close to the frontline.

C & my car (a Jeep Cherokee) and D’s pickup (Navara) followed the soldiers’ mini bus down many lanes and bumpy tracks deep into the countryside. Beneath a stand of trees we discovered a delicious supper being set up for us. We ate homemade borscht, meatballs, and a stew, all cooked by a soldier who pre the war trained as a hairdresser with Vidal Sassoon in London. We sat around on old tyres under the trees. No alcohol, of course, but a delicious fruit drink. Lots of good chat and cheer well into darkness. I eventually waved off my car, which had been chilly but trouble free, and hoped it would keep Officer Vlad of the 77th Brigade safe and effective. With it was another big EcoFlow portable power station, a Mavic observation drone, and a diesel generator: more monetary value than the car. D’s car drove off in the opposite direction in the hands of soldiers from 117 Brigade and carried with them another EcoFlow portable power station for the 55th Brigade.

After thanks, sincere good will wishes and more big long hugs than any of us had ever received in one sitting, or ever, we were given presents of flags, plaques, & patches and squeezed into their mini bus and escort car for the drive to Kharkiv.

Our simple hotel was in the centre of town and overseen by a sparky receptionist. En route to our room we passed a familiar looking oriental man sitting in the small bar. Looking extraordinarily like Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist and activist. In Kharkiv?! While discussing this in the lobby the receptionist said it was indeed him and he was making a film, but leaving that evening. Being frightfully British we left him undisturbed and headed out in search of a bar. We later learned he would have been happy to talk to us. Drat. I didn’t take this photo of him, I pinched it!

Kharkiv was empty and damaged. Only one or two lights were on in each street but the bars were nonetheless busy. We had a peaceful night despite our proximity to Russia just 18 miles away. Unfortunately, the SCs had a very noisy and sleepless night all the way west in usually peaceful Lviv.

We headed back to Kyiv the following morning with a mix of sadness and relief to no longer be responsible for our vehicles. We felt hugely boosted by how well and warm and confident (and ‘normal’) the soldiers seemed. Their thanks to us - and most importantly to our donors - were sincere and moving. In Kyiv we were able to finally rendezvous with a now fully recovered R once more just in time to wave him off onto the train back to Poland. D followed on the next train.

We spent a few days relaxing in Kyiv. Then a night in Lviv, largely undisturbed by air raid warnings (unlike the SCs who had just arrived in Kyiv where there was a big attack resulting in a sleepless night and no water the following day. Note to self - don’t travel with them!): many churches were visited and candles lit, bars and restaurants explored, plus some crucial vyshyvanka shopping.

Then we got a taxi to the Ukrainian border and walked back into Poland.

*****

Some stats:

We drove 2,165 miles one-way from our home to Izium

Vehicles delivered: 4 to Izium + 1 to Kyiv in our convoy (3 Mitsubishi L200s, a Jeep Cherokee and a Navara), + 3 in the following convoy, including the SCs’ Mitsubishi L200.

Med kit: we took with us lots of very valuable and life saving stuff, from three separate super-generous donors. Some were for general hospital use but the majority were hard core emergency kit to get wounded soldiers alive off the zero line. These are probably the most valuable contributions in £s.

ECOFlow portable power stations x 4 (each is £1200) and as soon as they were spotted in the car park in Izium a crowd gathered to lust after them. They’re easy to use, reliable, movable despite weighing 23kg, and make all the difference in a drone war.

Mavic Drones x 3. Very reliable and easy to use with really clear and useful live observation of zero line. Hard to get hold of in Ukraine.

Diesel Generators x 2. I don’t need to explain why they’re a lifesaver

Flapjacks: kindly donated by Flapjackery - England’s best. 100s individually wrapped and packed into plastic crates. Keeping spirits high and soldiers going

This project successfully funded on 31st May 2026