The Ukrainian Canadian Association of Yukon (UCAY) will be making a fourth trip to Ukraine with the intention of delivering medical supplies and other gear to help resist Russia’s occupation of the country.
Three UCAY members are scheduled to land in Poland on Nov. 9 to deliver the supplies for the front lines, according to Grant Zazula, a member of the humanitarian mission.
“Members will depart Whitehorse in early November with suitcases full of medical supplies. The members will pick up two vehicles in Europe and drive them to Ukraine,” reads an Oct. 2 press release by UCAY.
Chortkiv, Whitehorse’s sister city in western Ukraine, will serve as the rendezvous point for the drop off. Zazula, Lesia Hnatiw and Anastasia Matlashevska are set to make the delivery.
Zazula, Hnatiw and Matlashevska plan to drive two four-wheel-drive vehicles to Chortkiv for front-line evacuation duties. They are also bringing antibiotics, military first aid kits, tourniquets and various other medical supplies, according to the release.
The three members will fly to Calgary on Nov. 7 to collect and repack prescription medications. They will use Calgary as a rallying point to organize medical supplies, said Zazula.
Working with Health Partners International Canada, they will transport $50,000 worth of antibiotics and other medications in 20 suitcases for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.
The group plan to procure two late-2000s model trucks for the equivalent of $10,000 in the Polish city of Krakow upon arrival on Nov. 9. The vehicles will then be driven across the border into Ukraine, according to Zazula.
“We're going there for two weeks. We are going to be doing a bunch of volunteering work,” Zazula said.
The humanitarian trip comes as the conflict continues into the winter months, with temperatures in Russian-controlled areas dropping below freezing.
“These supplies will help save Ukrainian lives while the trip shows solidarity with Ukraine and our sister city of Chortkiv. We hope the war will end soon, with an independent Ukraine standing tall,” said Eileen Melnychuck, president of UCAY.
The association has completed three supply drop-off missions to Ukraine. In February 2023, Jeff Sloychuk, Vita Kurylo and Parviz Ahangi delivered over two dozen suitcases filled with winter clothing, communication devices and medical supplies to the Ukrainian communities of Chortkiv, Buchach and Yuzhnoukrains’k.
During the trip, members of UCAY met with Dr. Serhii Lupov, the municipal hospital director of Yuzhnoukrains’k, in the country’s southern Mykolaiv oblast.
According to the association’s website, Sloychuk, Kurylo and Ahangi were surprised to learn that the hospital had not received any non-government organization support prior to their visit last year.
In June 2023, the association delivered over $50,000 in medical supplies to Yuzhnoukrains’k hospital during their second visit. They also donated $10,000 to help the hospital procure a sterilization unit, a motorized chair for head and throat procedures, intensive care unit syringe pumps and neonatal equipment, as per the association’s website.
During their third mission to Ukraine in March 2024, the association included vehicles in their itinerary. A Volkswagen T5 van stuffed with supplies was driven from Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, across Europe through Germany and Poland before reaching Yuzhnoukrains’k.
Zazula confirmed with the News on Oct. 8 that the Volkswagen T5 is still in operation and is used to transport wounded Ukrainian soldiers.
A formal leaving send off for the fourth mission is planned for Nov. 2, with details pending.
The Whitehorse Firefighters Charitable Society has partnered with UCAY to allow people who make donations to the association to receive tax receipts.
Sponsors and individuals are actively supporting the UCAY's mission to aid Ukraine in its defence against Russian occupation.
Contact Jake Howarth at jake.howarth@yukon-news.com
