I've created a new thread for this but if Mods wish to attach it to the Ukraine thread please do so.
I’ve just had the opportunity and enormous privilege to be part of a volunteer team of 16 driving 8 ‘end of life’ ambulances to Lviv in Ukraine. The vehicles were loaded with a vast amount of medical and other equipment sourced by parallel charities. 4 vehicles from a Suffolk based group and 4 from East Yorkshire.
Of course, this has been many months in the preparation and totally reliant on donations to fund not just the purchase of the vehicles but accommodation, fuel, insurances, breakdown cover etc. (Food and liquid refreshment being the responsibility of the volunteer).
The administration of vehicles which are being exported and load manifests to cross borders is no mean feat. Experienced people working in the background within UK and Ukraine to assist with the administrative bureaucracy of the undertaking.
Last Saturday, 1st June, the convoy of 8 ambulances left a village in East Yorkshire and made its way to North Sea Ferries in Hull for the overnight crossing.
The following day the convoy made its way through the Netherlands and onto East Germany, around 400 miles. An overnight stop and then two stops in Poland with around 300 miles between each. Wednesday saw us undertake the final leg out of Poland and across the border into Ukraine, destination Lviv, about 70 miles.
You might well imagine that a convoy of 8 marked ambulances heading into a war zone would be cut some slack but oh no. Firstly we were sent to another crossing point (around 40 miles) because they no longer dealt with that type of vehicle at that checkpoint. And, whilst fairly quiet, it took around 4 hours to get through due to some minor discrepancies over vehicle kerbside weights shown on the required export/import paper work. This was eventually resolved and we entered Ukraine and onto Lviv.
The first indication of the war was graveyards we passed were significant number of Ukrainian flags flying over the graves of those casualties of the war.
We had a rendezvous point in Lviv where we were met by the Ukrainian reception team and the press. The vehicles, equipment and paperwork were formally handed over. To see a member of the team, bow their heads and form the heart sign with their hands was a significant touching moment indeed.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZKTFaugfEg
(I have a transcript if any one is interested)
The vehicles, not even cold, were to be driven to Kiev to go through workshops for modifications then camouflaged painting before being sent on to the front line – Odessa region, Kramatorsk, Sumy. Cherkasy region, Slavyansk and Karkiv.
We were driven to our hotel in the centre of Lviv. The following day we had the morning to have a wander and sight see. There was a veneer of normality with people going about their day and exploring the city centre but you could sense that all is not as it should be. Generators outside a lot of the commercial buildings. Churches and monuments boarded up or covered in anti-blast scaffolding and netting. Dis proportionality in numbers between males and females and significant numbers of males with prosthetic limbs to what you would normally see.
At 09.00 hrs there was an announcement over loud speakers and then it went quiet. Everything, and I mean everything, stopped whist they undertook one minutes silence. This is a daily event. Whilst celebrating our contribution over a meal and a few drinks we were reminded that we would have to leave by 23.00hrs as the staff had to clear up and get home because of the curfew.
We were collected by minibuses at midday and transported back across the border to Krakow where we spent the night and the following day the group split as its members commenced their journeys home.
It was around 23.00 that night as our air raid Apps sounded and had we been in Lviv we would have had to seek shelter. The alert was stood down at 04.00. The whole of Ukraine was under a red threat. This was anticipated as retaliation for the damage inflicted on the bomber basis. There were no strikes on Lviv and we were immensely fortunate with our timing.
Around 1200 miles in total. The only issue was with one vehicle with pneumatic rear suspension which slowly deflated but we had a small compressor. It also threw up an injector fault code and struggled up the inclines a bit. But it completed the journey.
I’m home and back to normality but for the people of Ukraine the fight goes on. I’m extremely humbled to have had the opportunity to take part and hope to have made some difference no matter how small.
And the significance of ‘Operation Alex’ in the title? If you’ve seen the film Ice Cold in Alex you will know it’s a 1958 film about getting an ambulance across the desert with the where at the end they consume a very cold beer. With temperatures into the 30’s I can now relate to that.
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Well done you!! That was a brave and incredible thing to volunteer to do, and it was so good to see the deserved appreciation you received on delivery. Must've been a real eye opener actually "being there", despite how accustomed we are to seeing it on telly and elsewhere.
I'm quite happy that this should stand in it's own thread and not get lost in volumes of chit chat.
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Well done and may the rest of us feel humbled. Hope you're safely back home now.
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Amazing for doing that FC and hats off!
Thanks for sharing the adventure - thats not the right word, it doesn't sound worthy for what you've done!
And thanks for letting us know what its really like over there. It really is sobering!
Last edited by: zippy on Sat 7 Jun 25 at 20:34
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Well done FC.
Just catching up after being aways for a couple of weeks.
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Operation Alex – Ukraine or Bust. - smokie
