7th and 14th July 2025 – Sunflower delivered 1200 kg of medical supplies to a hospital in Sumy. This city is a stronghold in north-east Ukraine. Russia injures and kills people in the nearby villages and in Sumy every day. Located only 12 miles from the front, the city suffers from “Shahed” killer drones, gliding air bombs with 1,000 kg of explosives, and ballistic missiles. Sunflower brought two Transit vans of medical supplies donated by NHS England directly to one of city’s hospital.
We sincerely thank Roman Krol from NHS Bradford, John Beynon and the team at Jacob’s Well Appeal in Beverley, and Anna and Oksana from Hull 4 Ukraine, for donating medical aid. Thank you! Your aid was really well received, and it went where it is most needed. It is helping people already!
Sunflower never sends Ukrainian volunteers into the fire, to risk their lives in our place. Our British team goes all the way and gets the job done.
Our journey
We departed from Edinburgh on the 30th June, and we drove all the way through Europe and Ukraine. On the 5th of July, Oleg and Stevie arrived in Kharkiv. On the 6th we delivered a donation of jeans to orphans in the north of Kharkiv region. We agreed with the Sumy hospital that we would arrive there on the 7th.
In the morning on the 7th, we drove north from Kharkiv to Sumy. After a few hours, we arrived at a checkpoint. Because of the war, Sumy is closed off to any visitors. Ukrainian soldiers who know us from our previous work, came to meet us at the checkpoint, and guided us through the city.
We had to split our delivery in two. Our extra-large Ford Transit van (L3H3) arrived in Kharkiv fine. But the smaller Transit van – which also had a full load of medical gear – got into an accident in Vinnytsia. We spent a week fixing it, and finally we made the second delivery.
First delivery of medical aid
First, we brought the Ford Transit van. It was loaded to the brim with medical aid from NHS England. We sincerely thank Hull 4 Ukraine (Hull) and Jacob’s Well Appeal (Beverley) for providing emergency medical aid!
When we arrived in the hospital, the director was very nervous. She said that our van wav very big. She thought that is was very visible from the aid, and she was afraid of an attack by explosive drone (Shahed). She asked us to unload as quickly as possible and leave, in order not to put everyone in danger.
It was easier said than done. The L3H3 Ford Transit was tightly packed. We had lots of medical items: syringes, bandages, catheters, stoma bags, adult nappies, crutches, walking aids, hospital blankets, etc. etc.
About ten nurses and members of hospital staff, as well as Ukrainian soldiers, helped us to bring the donations into the hospital.
In 20 minutes, we were done. Everything was stored in two rooms in the hospital, and nurses started going through everything, counting the donated items and recording the number of everything we brought.
Second delivery
Our second Transit van suffered an accident on the road. We weren’t particularly overjoyed, but it’s OK, it’s a long way and such things happen.
Oleg stayed in Ukraine for an extra week. Hanna Teklyuk, the head of St Margaret’s Ukrainian Language School in Edinburgh, helped Oleg (Sunflower) to find a mechanic in Vinytsia – his name was also Oleg :). Together with Oleg’s cousin-in-law (his name was Oleg as well), our boys arrived in Vinnytsia.
Three Olegs got to work. They bought spare parts, and towed the broken van to a small garage. The boys straightened the bent parts with hammers, and reconnected the pipes.
After two days of hard work, the van was drivable. It wasn’t in the most perfect shape, but it was good to go.
Oleg (Sunflower) drove it to Sumy. There, he spent a long time going through security checks. But finally it all was sorted.
The second van was unloaded at the hospital. The doctors and nurses were really happy and thanked us for the donations.
We would like to pass on their words of gratitude, and sincerely thank NHS Bradford for donating all the medical gear. The items were high-quality, in-date, and were extremely useful for the Sumy hospital. Thank you so much!
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