02nd January 2025 – Sunflower Scotland delivered a van from Scotland to frontline medics of the 154th brigade. They will use Sunflower’s van to save lives and evacuate the wounded from the front line to the stabilisation point where they receive first aid. This van is critically important to the medics because it has replaced the old evacuation vehicle, which recently broke down.
Why Vovchansk?
Vovchansk is a “hot” front in the north-east corner of the Kharkiv region. The small town of 17,000 was attacked on 10th May 2024, when Russia decided to re-open the Kharkiv front. The town was annihilated. The Russia’s army group north was held back by the heroic resistance of a small number of Ukrainian defenders. They protected their land and many paid the ultimate price before reinforcements could arrive.
Now, the 154th brigade is protecting the area and is slowly pushing the occupation forces back where they came from. It’s a hard battle, both in the urban ruins and on the open terrain. There are many wounded. As a charity, we don’t get involved in the military side, but we help frontline medics to save lives.
How Sunflower responded
Sunflower Scotland decided to help frontline medics of the 154th brigade. Our team member Vitaliy Hryhorov met with one of medics – Pavlo – personally, and verified that their request was legitimate. Pavlo’s car, which they used for evacuation, recently broke down. They were struggling to perform their duties and save the fatally injured. Without a quick evacuation, someone with critical bleeding may die within 2-3 minutes. Having a vehicle is absolutely critical.
Our team at Sunflower reacted as quickly as we could.
A very kind person from Stirling donated a Renault Trafic van. It was in good shape but needed some repairs. Oleg (Sunflower) changed the steering rack, the turbo, did tracking, and fitted new winter tyres. Stevie (Sunflower) and Oleg drove to the Vovchansk area, and delivered the van directly to Pavlo and his commanding officer, Iryna.
Sunflower donated the van to the 154th brigade absolutely for free. We covered all the costs because we are an honest, legitimate charity. Unfortunately, there are some dodgy unregulated groups that sell vehicles to Ukraine’s defenders. Such practice is against the law and we condemn it (it is a criminal offence to import vehicles as humanitarian aid and sell them afterwards). We have never taken a penny from Ukrainian defenders, and never will.
We obtained the customs clearance, and the 154th brigade signed all the paperwork, which means the delivery was done according to the law.
The road was very tough: a dirt track through the fields, with vehicles stuck here and there. Drone and artillery danger. We drove 110km north-east of Kharkiv. There, we met with the medics and delivered the ambulance directly in their hands.
Why Sunflower did not provide a purpose-build NHS ambulance?
The short answer is, because the Renault Trafic is light and simple, and ambulances are heavy and complex. If you have ever been at the frontline, you know what the conditions are. Evac vehicles need to drive through the mud, metre-deep puddles of icy water, forests and fields. A heavy ambulance will be stuck immediately. A light Renault van with works much better.
The Renault van is mechanically simple and relatively cheap to repair. In the hellish conditions, vehicles break down all the time. Spares for a bigger ambulance van like Mercedes Sprinter cost much more.
Of course, if you can kindly donate a 4×4 van, it will be even better (please contact us if you want to donate).
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