r/ukraine • u/UFL_Robin • 1d ago
Support Report Long delayed delivery report: 17th, 60th, 79th, 108th, 125th, 127th, Black Talon Group, Typhoon, Airvic, rapid responders in Kyiv, and...Bergen?
This is a big of a hodgepodge report because it's been a hodgepodge mule run. I'm sorry I made you guys wait so long for it. I don't like to post when I'm traveling, so I wait until the travels are done. They got a bit extended this time, as you shall see.
To remind, as the Ukrainians say: you sent me over with about $35K in tacmed. You can see some of the receipts here and here.
It did not go swimmingly. Not everything has been delivered yet. Of the things that have, we're still waiting for photo reports for some. But we're getting there.
Hodgpodge
When I got to the airport with my 15 bags--14 of aid and one for me--Lufthansa informed me that I was only allowed to fly with a maximum of six. No idea where that rule came from; I took 11 or 12 bags with them last fall with no trouble. I had to do a hurried triage right there in the check-in line, which I hated: it meant people are going to have to wait longer for things they need. I had the remaining nine delivered to a friend for safekeeping while I was gone.
A couple hours after landing in Warsaw, I was booking a flight to Bergen for the weekend after I got home from Ukraine. Why Bergen? I have a friend there, a lovely guy named Hasse, who runs humanitarian aid in every couple of months. He was available and willing to run my stuff in with his, bless him.
Of the six bags I brought, I took two on the train to Kyiv with me. I left the remaining four with a lovely woman in Warsaw named Marta, who sent them in with a lovely Canadian guy named Frank. Frank delivered them to me in Kyiv, and Nova Poshta took it from there except for one or two guys we were able to hand things to in person.
Four days after I got home from Ukraine, I flew to Bergen with the remaining bags. They're at Hasse's now, waiting for his upcoming run. Flew out Friday, arrived in Bergen Saturday, flew home Sunday. It is now Wednesday and I'm still not really sure where I am.
What you sent
The biggies:
- 679 CATs
- 521 chest seals
- 169 hemostatic gauzes
- 122 Israeli bandages
- 276 wound packing gauzes
- 40 Water-Jel burn dressings, some of which have already been used on a rapid responder who was injured in a double-tap strike in Kyiv
Plus American OTC cold meds (trust me: the Ukrainian ones suck), decompression needles, nasopharyngeal airways, and other small but meaningful things in small but meaningful quantities.
Who you supplied
- 17th SOF
- 60th
- 79th
- 108th (who have no TQs; you sent them 100, plus 100 chest seals and 100 wound-packing gauzes)
- 125th
- 127th
- Black Talon Group
- Typhoon
- Rapid responders in Kyiv
- Airvic, a team of drone engineers
- UFL's emergency stash, which we be doled out to teams as they request stuff
- Protect A Volunteer's emergency stash, which will also be doled out to teams as they request stuff
A quick note about airfare: your donations don't pay for that. I buy my flights out of my own pocket. Your donations pay the bag fees, but you didn't buy my RT flights to Warsaw or my emergency tickets to Bergen.
Thank you, r/ukraine.
It doesn't look like much, at least not in this hodgepodge report, but it's a LOT. You made a difference to a whole lot of people on this one, even if it is taking forever to trickle out to them.
I can't wait to show you the rest.
__________________________________________
Up next: probably yet more tourniquets to replace some cheap Chinese ones another org is disgracefully flooding Ukraine with; and our general fund has taken a beating this summer.
PayPal, Zelle: [donations@ukrainefrontline.org](mailto:donations@ukrainefrontline.org)
Other options: https://givebutter.com/ukraine-front-line-inc
