A group of Irish businessmen have set out to drive a convoy of vehicles and medical equipment to Ukraine – some of them for the second time.
The group of 22 men left Greystones, Co Wicklow, on Thursday with seven sports utility vehicles (SUVs), a truck, an ambulance and a 17-seater minibus.
The SUVs will be handed over to the Ukrainian army, while the ambulance is heading for a hospital near Lviv. The minibus is to be handed over to fellow Irishman Tom McEnaney’s charity, Effective Aid Ukraine, which is working with evacuees in the town of Rozdil.
Once in the hands of the Ukrainian army, each SUV will be used to deliver critical supplies of food and medicine, evacuate civilians in danger and retrieve wounded soldiers from the front line.
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“Many of the wounded soldiers would have arms and legs blown off so it is vital to get them to hospital fast. The jeeps will be used by the army to get the wounded soldiers from the front line,” said Sammy Byrne from Greystones, who is co-ordinating the project.
Each member of the group has raised money to buy the vehicles and cover the expenses involved in getting them to Ukraine.
For some of the drivers it will be the second time they have taken part in the convoy, which is linked to the British-led charity Jeeps for Peace. A smaller convoy took three SUVs to Ukraine last year.
The vehicles have been filled with medical supplies including wheelchairs, crutches and walking frames which another of the group’s co-ordinators, Finola Harrington, a nurse at St Vincent’s hospital Dublin, has sourced from hospitals and individual donors.
Local rector of St Patrick’s Church David Mungavin and Greystones priest Fr Des Hayden, along with pupils from St Patrick’s national school, took part in a blessing of the group at St Patrick’s church on Thursday before the convoy set off.
St Patrick’s school principal Rachel Harper said the school was delighted to be involved, not least because 17 Ukrainian pupils are enrolled in the school.
In an address to the pupils in the church before the convoy departed, one of the drivers, Michael O’Brien, said the convoy was “not going to Ukraine to help them to fight a war. We are going to Ukraine to to help them to fight for their personal survival.”
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