Ukrainian volunteers face problem of bringing humanitarian aid into country – experts
Ukrainian volunteers are faced with the problem of bringing humanitarian aid into the country, representatives of volunteer organizations have said during a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.
"Now there are enough donors on the territory of the European Union who are interested in providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but they need the Ukrainian side to take it. Because of this, Ukrainian public organizations refuse humanitarian aid or transfer it to other organizations, as they cannot cover the cost logistics component of the delivery," Head of the Ukrainian Exporters Club Yevhenia Lytvynova said.
Commenting on the transfer of thermal imagers and quadrocopters to Ukraine, she noted that such goods require a letter of guarantee from the end user, the author of which can only be a military command body of the Ministry of Defense or another military formation.
In turn, Head of the International Technology Transfer Association (ITTA) Artem Honcharenko said that the Ukrainian army today needs medicines, in particular hemostatic drugs, as well as drugs against ulcers, diarrhea, dysbacteriosis, and a runny nose.
He stressed that there is currently a strong demand for anthelmintic drugs, flea, tick, mosquito and antifungal drugs. In addition, the Ukrainian army requires basic medicines such as paracetamol, ibuprofen, as well as syringes, bandages and elastic bandages.
In turn, Director of the Center of the Academy of Construction of Ukraine Ivan Perehinets announced plans to create an international fund Ukraine to finance the construction of houses for people who lost their homes due to the Russian invasion.
"More than a million families were left without housing... We are now in the process of registering the Ukraine International Construction Fund, which will deal with the construction of houses," Perehinets said.
In turn, Head of the International Relations Department of Kontramarka Help Oleksiy Honcharov announced plans to purchase a mobile field hospital.
"We are currently working on a mobile hospital that can drive close enough to the front line, deploy in a matter of minutes and provide full first aid," Honcharov said.
According to him, such a field hospital was found in Turkey and funds are being collected for its subsequent purchase. The hospital is partly financed by charitable contributions from concerts held, most organized with the support of Kontramarka.
President of the Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils Serhiy Chernov said that on February 15, based on information from foreign colleagues and Ukrainian intelligence, the association decided to create a coordination center to assist local governments in providing humanitarian assistance, studying all possible consequences of hostilities, and working with religious denominations and preparation of documents "on the destruction caused by the Russian Federation, as well as compensation for losses."
Restaurateur and volunteer Maryan Burmylo announced cooperation with the United States. "Ukrainian volunteers from California organized charitable assistance to medical institutions in Ukraine. Odesa residents Natalia Hryschenko and Oleksiy Buyadzhy (UkrainCA public initiative), with the help of the Mission to Ukraine team, arranged the supply of medicines at the expense of American funds of Cincinnati and Baltimore - sister cities of Ukrainian Kharkiv and Odesa. Aid in the form of the supply of surgical kits is provided by the International Surgical Health Initiative (ISHI, the USA)," he said.