Preparations
After our tenth transport, during which Michael and Annette, together with our partner organization “Lawyers’ Move”, brought one 4WD VW van and then handed over several vehicles from the previous trip in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, the eleventh transport was another large one, with a total of five vehicles. We were able to procure a VW transporter, a Nissan Navara pickup truck, a Nissan Pathfinder and a Mitsubishi Pajero in accordance with the wishes of the receiving units. Right before our transport, we received the donation of another Mitsubishi Pajero, which we were able to pick up on the Tuesday before our departure. We would like to thank the generous donor, Rainer Schall. This van will be converted into another evacuation vehicle. We found seven more drivers for the route to the Ukrainian border and beyond. This time, Malte was also there again and came all the way from Bavaria the day before.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Yuriy Bublyk for his efforts inspecting the cars we purchased. Together with Dave and Michael, he also checked the Pathfinder and Navara at a garage to ensure that they were ready for the long journey to Ukraine.
Preparing and loading the vehicles was more challenging than usual this time.
The Freiburg University Medical Center had once again donated a full pallet of gloves, which Frank brought to Annette’s garage with his trailer. On the Tuesday before departure, Annette was also able to load PCs and equipment from a disbanded doctor’s practice in Wiesloch.
On Wednesday evening, a loading meetup was planned at Annette’s for the donated Pajero. It was supposed to carry the four spare wheels of the other Pajero. Stephan brought the vehicle from Walldorf to St. Leon and realized on the way that it was “hopping”. After a short test drive and inspection of the tires, it was clear that one tire was defective,and the others were no longer in a condition that would allow us to drive 2000 km east. A kind neighbor helped us out with a large jack and some expertise so that we could at least swap the wheel with the completely ruined tire against the spare.
On Thursday morning, Michael brought the VW bus to the Heilbronn area and, together with Heinz, loaded two more ophthalmological operating chairs and large quantities of donated materials from pediatric clinics and from an orthodontic practice, as well as instruments for laparoscopic operations. Many thanks to Drs. Uhl and other doctors from the Heilbronn area.
The next day, we had a special appointment: We had planned (as always before our trips) to load two vehicles with surgical materials with Kati at the Begegnungshaus in Walldorf. This time, however, SWR television was there. We aren’t allowed to say anything yet – but the news will be revealed soon. Stay tuned. Afterwards, we drove to Heilbronn in the evening. Silvio Kempf and Lingner had invited us to Villa Rosenberg where Silvio had an exhibition his photography. He auctioned off a photograph for our benefit and, together with donations in a collection box, we raised a very generous amount that which we will now use to purchase additional medical equipment for army medic Olena. We will publish our report shortly.
We also moved heaven and earth on Thursday and finally managed to get four new tires mounted to the Pajero on Friday,, so Annette brought the Pajero to Walldorf, Dave picked Annette up there with the Pathfinder, and in St. Leon the Pathfinder was loaded with gloves and a large donation of ruggedized laptops, tablets and other IT equipment. Stephan then picked up the Pajero from the tire shop in Walldorf a little later and noticed on the drive home that it wasn’t running smoothly, wasn’t accelerating properly, and was leaking oil.
Michael and Annette spoke on the phone in the evening and decided to take the risk anyway and take the car on the journey. The current inspection was due to expire in August, and the vehicle would probably not pass the next inspection, at least notwithout significant expense. Heinz was also able to get a spare wheel for the VW bus at the very last minute.
Saturday, 20 July 2024
The driver teams set off bright and early. We met at a rest stop on Autobahn A6, Michael explained a few rules, Malte and Annette took over the problem Pajero, the convoy order was defined and we set off eastwards. Heinz joined us on the way. The target speed was 120 km/h, but the Pajero’s engine overheated on every hill. We agreed on 110 km/h as a compromise, turned up the heating in the Pajero and opened all the windows while driving in order to help cool the engine. The drivers got a “convertible”feeling and Annette assumed a babushka look. We kept taking short breaks to check and replenish the oil.We stopped counting how many liters of oil had to be added. At some point, the rear window of the vehicle was covered in an oil film:Not a good state. At a stop in Poland, we kept the engine ventilation running while parking, with the result that, to make matters worse, the battery was flat when we wanted to start up again. So the pickup gave a quick jump start ,and we then decided to leave the engine running for the rest of the journey. We started using somewhat heavier oil, which alleviated the overheating for the time being. We arrived in Radymno after a good 17 hours. The customs papers were drawn up and we spent a quiet night in the hotel.
Sunday, 21 July 2024
We had breakfast at the hotel at 06:00, including birthday cake for Dave. Michael, Malte, Heinz, Annette and Olena immediately set off for the border with the five vehicles. Malte took over the problemPajero. Stephan, Matthias, Dave and Astrid later walked to the train station to take the train back. This time the border control was again very quick and very friendly. The Polish border guard said “thank you” in German, referring to our purpose. Olena managed to collect all the documents on the Ukrainian side – there was a fault in the Ukrainian border control software, but Nadia was able to re-supply the customs declarations immediately. Heinz’s passport was not stamped, but that could also be done later by returning into the border area.
We hadn’t planned to stay in Lviv this time, but we still drove briefly to a suburb and picked up Olena’s friend Nastya, who joined Olena as a second driver. We set off directly for Kyiv. Malte drove the Pajero in the convoy, but it became increasingly clear that this vehicle could not keep up with the group speed. The engine was almost constantly overheating, and at a stopover about halfway along the route, the coolant was boiling and the oil was just dripping out of the vehicle. Malte’s head was buzzing from hours of involuntary convertible ride.
We made the difficult decision to split up the convoy. The four working vehicles drove to Kyiv under Michael’s leadership. They arrived after sunset, there was a power outage and no light, so, the first check of the supplies together with Mariia required mobile phone lights.
Annette took over the problematic Pajero with the aim of getting it to Kyiv slowly but steadily and without the engine overheating. Getting to the destination is everything. Heater on, windows open, scarf around the head, encouragement, short breaks, leaving the hood open, and letting the engine cool down, refueling, checking the oil level, adding some more oil, refilling the coolant. With the emergency blinker on, driving inthe emergency lane at speeds between 30 and 60 kmh, always keeping a close eye on the temperature gauge. When it became clear after dark that the dashboard lighting was not sufficient, the cell phone provided light. Finally, Annette also arrived in Kyiv with the Pajero before curfew. We later learned from Anna, the Ukrainian SAP MD, that our dear colleague Elena (who had organized the tow truck for the 10th transport) had been on standby the whole time. We are grateful for our network of kind helpers in Ukraine.
Monday, 22 July 2024
The first night in Kyiv was quiet, withno air raid alert. On Monday morning, we had some time to explore Kyiv on foot, and saw Khreshchatyk Boulevard, the Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the memorial wall for the heroes and the square in front of St. Michael’s Monastery with the wrecked tanks, and took in the view of the Dnipro river. We then took the metro to the vicinity of the Okhmatdyt Children’s Clinic and, with the approval of the security officer, were given an insight into the destruction on site by the russian missile attack earlier in July. Annette was particularly impressed by the fact that patient care continues to function in the parts of the buildings that are still standing.
In the afternoon, we drove the problem Pajero – very carefully – to the Lawyers’ Move offices and then met Victoria Spashchenko, a Ukrainian expert in intercultural counseling. We talked to her about our work and possibilities of cross-border fundraising.
Two heavy thunderstorms caused delays, but we were still able to unload all the vehicles and then sort the materials with Mariia.
We took a large part of the items off to Nova Poshta, where Mariia took care of forwarding them to the various recipients.
Ruslan then showed us the conversion of the VW bus that we had delivered on our trip in May. It now had a gurney, wall organizers, a seat for the paramedic, auxiliary heating, red and white interior lighting, an inverter to provide AC current, a night vision camera for driving in the dark and blue lights for driving in normal traffic. It has also been repainted in an artistic camouflage pattern. A few technical checks are still pending, but then it will be ready for use. We will share pictures and a report soon.
Our friend and advisor Serhiy came over and we were delighted to see him again! In the evening, we met Nadia, Mariia and Ruslan for dinner. A huge full moon rose over the city.
Unfortunately, there was a critical air raid alert around midnight. After a short stay in the hallway of our hotel, we went into the nearby underground passage. The alarm was over after a short time.
We noticed that diesel generators were running all over the city due to power outages, even at night. Some generators are small, like two moving boxes next to each other. Some are as big as ships’ diesel engines and supply entire buildings with electricity.
Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Michael, Annette and Malte set off for Kryvyi Rih in three cars on Tuesday morning. We had never been there on our previous transports, so the route was new, and we took smaller road instead of highwaysfrom Kyiv to the south, roughly parallel to the Dnipro. Directly south of Kyiv we saw beautiful hilly country, all green, with the occasional lake and village.
After that, the landscape becomes more and more flat farmland. Grain, corn and sunflower fields stretching to the horizon, now and again interrupted by rows of trees, and occasionally villages or towns. We made good time and arrived at our destination shortly before 13:30. At around 14:00, Serhiy’s brother arrived to accept the VW bus on behalf of his unit. He was – to put it mildly – very excited about the reunion, and so were we.
We have grown fond of this unit.
A member of the second unit, which received the Nissan pickup and the Pajero, turned up a little later. The recipient was initially rather reserved, businesslike. We had been referred to him by the staff of the hotel in Lviv where we had stayed so often. After a while, he warmed up a little and explained how happy they were about the vehicles and how suitable the cars were.
He took us to the train station and we had a 6-hour buffer. Kryvyi Rih is considered at over 100 km in length the longest city in Europe but does not offer much in terms of sights. A power outage and sweltering heat are what we got. We found a small café near the train station, where we had croissants and water.
Later, there were several air raid alerts in succession, but no specific threat, just a “possibility.” We decided to stay outside and looked for shelter behind thick walls with little glass, and then waited. In the evening, the heat eased up a little, and we discovered an old Soviet memorial in a somewhat withered park that was nonetheless frequented by many young people and couples
Our overnight train back to Kyiv departed in time at 21:45. The three of us had a four-person compartment, which meant a bit more comfort and space.
Wednesday, 24 July 2024
We arrived in Kyiv early in the morning. We stopped by our usual hotel in there andconvinced the manager to let us use a room for a couple of hoursto shower and clean up. . Wonderful. Afterwards, we had breakfast, then returned to the train station to store our baggage until it was time to leave in the evening
We then took a large in a café for lunch and to meet up with friends and acquaintances again and to network. This time we didn’t have to rush from meeting to meeting, but were more or less “stationary.” Sasha and Nadia came. We still had some paperwork to do with Nadia. She also brought us the thanks of the reconnaissance unit that had received the Citroen van from Berlin. They are very happy with it.
Malte had put us in touch with a historian who came by and had a long chat with Michael. Oleksiy Makukhin, director of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, joined us as well. Sasha provided us with pyrizhki, i.e. pies, for the journey. In the afternoon, Annette had an appointment with Anna that lasted longer than planned. Michael and Malte met other SAP colleagues for a guided tour of the Podil neighborhood. In the evening, we had dinner on a boat on the Dnipro. Serhiy dropped by and then drove us to the train station in record time. The train was on time, the night was quiet, only Michael’s backpack was inspected by the Ukrainian border guards, and everything actually might have gone very smoothly.
Thursday, 25 July 2024
On Thursday around lunchtime, after the Ukrainian border control, we unexpectedly waited for two hours at the Ukrainian-Polish border. The conductor explained that “the Poles aren’t opening the border”. When asked “why,” the conductor then replied, suitably exasperated, “ask the Poles.”
At the same time, we were informed that our return flight had been canceled because of the Last Generation’s protest at Frankfurt Airport, gluing themselves to the runway and wreaking havoc on air travel across Europe. We had to book a hotel Kraków and were able to meet Heinz and his wife in the evening, who were spending a few days’ vacation there.
Friday, 26 July 2024
The return flight left early in the morning, with a stopover in Vienna.
Thanks to Hansi for picking us up in Frankfurt on Friday afternoon.
We thank you, friends of Ukraine and of our association, for the continued financial support that allows us to bring vehicles to the defenders and first responders of Ukraine. They do the hard work that also benefits us.
Already started fundraising again for the next transport in October.
