Poroshenko and American organization Ukraine Focus hand over ambulances to TRO and Hospitallers
Twenty-two ambulances were handed over to the Ukrainian Armed Forces' territorial defense (TRO) and the Medical Volunteer Battalion Hospitaliers. The vehicles were purchased in France with money raised by the volunteer organization Ukraine Focus from the USA, and the Poroshenko Foundation also contributed to the project's financing, according to the website of the European Solodarity.
Ukrainian MP, leader of the European Solidarity party, Petro Poroshenko, personally tested one of the vehicles during transportation from the western border to the capital, where they were handed over to units.
"The convoy includes 22 vehicles for evacuating the wounded from the battlefield, which traveled a long way from France to Kyiv. When our longtime friend Brock Bierman and the Ukraine Focus Foundation shared the idea of bringing ambulances for the Ukrainian military, Maryna and I immediately volunteered and transferred the money. This project can be called a real ‘people's diplomacy,’ because, in addition to us, citizens from different countries - the United States of America, Canada, Great Britain, Germany and, of course, Ukraine - worked on its implementation," Poroshenko said.
One of the Ukraine Focus programs is a volunteer ambulance corps, which over the three years of war has delivered more than 380 medical vehicles to Ukraine without a single penny of budget funds, Poroshenko emphasized.
Evacuation vehicles are desperately needed at the front, because the enemy is constantly destroying them, and the wounded need to be quickly transported to stationary medical facilities, the military explain.
"Every month, one ambulance provides services to more than 250 soldiers - wounded, sick, evacuation services. Now multiply this by 380 and multiply by the number of months of the ongoing war. This is what these heroes do. This program collects donations from all over the United States, some from France, some from other NATO member countries. And this is the best diplomacy. Because it motivates incredible support from people, which Ukraine needs so much now," Poroshenko said. He also added that among the donors are US senators and congressmen.
"Territorial defense is volunteers who, from the first hours of a large-scale invasion, went to defend their native land," Poroshenko notes. Now these brigades and battalions are standing at the hottest points on the front.
"We must remember that the guarantor of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state is, first and foremost, the Armed Forces of Ukraine. So we will make them stronger," Poroshenko emphasizes.
