Cork convoy told they have saved 'many lives' as aid safely delivered across Ukraine border 

A Ukrainian doctor has said a group of Cork volunteers have saved “many lives” by successfully delivering humanitarian aid across the Polish-Ukrainian border after two failed attempts.

Cork Humanitarian Aid Ireland, which is made up of ten volunteers from Cork Penny Dinners and Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery (CCMPSAR) left Cork last Tuesday with 15 tonnes of humanitarian aid donated by the people of Cork.

Turned away

The volunteers were turned away from the border crossing at Medyka on Friday night, when Polish border officials told them they could not enter the neutral zone between Poland and Ukraine to hand over six tonnes of medical supplies and baby food to a Kyiv-based doctor who had traveled to meet them.

Officials told the Cork group they could enter Ukraine but might not be allowed return to Poland for an unspecified period of days.

Border police had been allowing foreign humanitarian aid into the neutral zone until Thursday, but local sources said the Polish authorities had doubled security since Thursday.

Six of the Cork volunteers returned to Medyka early on Saturday morning, where they queued for almost nine hours before being allowed into the neutral zone but were then turned away again, this time, border officials said, because they did not have the original logbooks for their rental vans.

Finally allowed through 

At this point, Dr Anastasia Koloka, a cardiologist who had journeyed from Kyiv to collect humanitarian aid from the Irish group, and who had been waiting in the neutral zone for over 24 hours, contacted the Ukrainian consulate, and the Cork volunteers were allowed through.

Dr Koloka told The Echo that there is a critical shortage of medical supplies and baby food in Ukraine and the aid from Cork was desperately needed.

“Our friends from Ireland have saved many lives with the supplies they brought to us.

“We are very thankful to all the people who travel thousands of miles to save the lives of Ukrainian babies,” she said.

Caitriona Twomey, co-ordinator of Cork Penny Dinners, said it had been a great day for the Irish group, and she and the other volunteers had delivered over seven tonnes of humanitarian aid to Redemptorist priests in Leżajsk, and had bought €2,000 worth of aid for the refugee reception centre at the train station in Tarnów.

“Father Kristoff told us the aid we had delivered would help many people in Ukraine,” Ms Twomey said.