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Kiwi K.A.R.E driver Toni Littermann, a German living in Australia, crossing the border between Poland and Ukraine.
A charity led by former Tauranga Mayor Tenby Powell has secured 16 decommissioned ambulances to send to Ukraine.
Powell, the director of Kiwi K.A.R.E. (Kiwi Aid and Refugee Evacuation), said in a statement the charity secured another shipment of ambulances for Ukraine, which landed in Port Bremerhaven, Germany, last Friday.
In August last year, with support from Hato Hone St John, Kiwi K.A.R.E delivered seven decommissioned ambulances filled with medical supplies to the war-torn country along with logistics support vehicles, such as large vans, 4x4 cars, and a 13-tonne truck. This makes 30 vehicles Kiwi K.A.R.E has deployed to Ukraine.
Powell, a former New Zealand Army colonel who resigned as Tauranga’s mayor after a partial term in 2020, said in the statement a team of 20 drivers from New Zealand, Poland, France, Germany, the United States, Canada, the United Kindom and Ukraine, successfully drove the ambulances to Kyiv, some 2000km away.
There, the vehicles will be serviced and painted in camouflage before being donated to frontline medical units.
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Powell said Kiwi K.A.R.E team leader David Meister, an American based in Poland, had done a “tremendous job” of assembling a top team while managing all the permissions needed to transit Europe in non-EU vehicles bound for Ukraine.
The vehicles have been used to deliver aid, transport refugees and evacuate the sick and injured, and for outreach health programme Road-of-Life, which helps civilians in Red Zone areas who have not seen a medical professional for, in some cases, years.
Powell said Kiwi K.A.R.E hoped to keep one or two of the latest ambulances for Road-of-Life.
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“Manaaki, meaning caring in te reo, is our only ambulance dedicated to Road-of-Life and we need at least another two assets, together with qualified staff, to meet the demand,” Powell said.
“The call by Ukraine for more ambulances comes in the wake of continued attacks on hospitals, medical centres and civilian infrastructure. We need all the help we can get and we are very grateful to the many New Zealanders who have generously supported Kiwi K.A.R.E.”
Powell said since the start of the invasion in February 2022, more than 800 Ukrainian hospitals and medical centres had been attacked by Russian artillery, drones and missiles, with 150 destroyed.
He said “atrocities” were still being committed in the “full-scale war” in Ukraine and the emergency vehicles “vital”.
Like the ambulances sent last year, these Mercedes Sprinters were not fit for purpose in an ambulance fleet but were still considered to be of a high standard in Ukraine despite having more than 200,000km on the clock.
Kiwi K.A.R.E had been using recycled electrical water boilers collected from all over Ukraine to fabricate stoves and water heaters.
Powell said Ukranians had described the project as “life-saving” and it was now being run year-round.
“To date, we have distributed over 2500 stoves to families in desperate need. Ukrainian fabricators strip and re-weld the recycled cylinders, and we distribute them to Red Zone areas where power and water infrastructure has been completely destroyed”.
Kiwi K.A.R.E remained committed to helping Ukrainians in need, Powell said, and the organisation could not do this without the support and generosity of many people and organisations in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, United Kingdom and Europe.
“The support has been overwhelming. Please keep it coming,” Powell said.
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Donations can be made on the Kiwi K.A.R.E Givealittle page or via its website.
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