Thousands of people, mostly women and children, are currently standing on the Polish border every day to escape the Russian war of aggression in their Ukrainian homeland. A privately organized group of eight men took the opposite route from Moosburg a week ago. In a flash action, contrary to the long stream of refugees, they drove into the war-torn Ukraine, unloaded urgently needed aid supplies in Lviv (Lemberg) and returned immediately to Poland and from there to Germany. Departing Friday midday, returning late Sunday afternoon. 2400 kilometers within two and a half days, up to 35 hours without proper sleep. And the certainty of having made a valuable contribution to alleviating at least a little the great need in Ukraine.
The initiative for the campaign came from Reinhard Hofmann. His wife has an acquaintance who is active in the Ukrainian church in Landshut. “They collected a bunch of relief supplies there, but didn’t know how to bring them to Ukraine,” reports Anton Stengl, who also belonged to the group. Hofmann, who runs a carpentry shop in Moosburg, spontaneously decided to drive there with a delivery van from his company. Stengl reports on a first conversation on Tuesday. The decision was made on Wednesday. Hofmann organized three other vans from other Moosburg companies and, in addition to Stengl, phoned six other drivers together with Christian Weigelt, Christian Rott, Thomas Bärnthaler, Thomas Geiner, Rudi Keuschnig and Martin Braun. “On Thursday we founded a Whatsapp group and we left on Friday afternoon,” says Stengl.
From blankets to baby food, they have everything – even cat food
The aid convoy from Moosburg had “everything that is needed, from blankets to clothing, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, disinfectants and medical supplies to baby food – and even cat food was there,” reports Stengl. The arrival via the modern and well-developed motorways in Poland went smoothly. In the Polish border area to the Ukraine, not only were the Moosburg helpers divided up, but also the relief supplies. A part was left in Poland to provide for the refugees arriving there. The four drivers, who had the necessary valid passports, brought the rest with two vans to Lviv, around 70 kilometers from the border.
A Ukrainian contact picked up the volunteers from Moosburg at the Polish border, where many refugees from Ukraine were queuing to seek protection from the war in the neighboring country.
(Photo: private)
All of this was only possible because the Ukrainian church in Landshut has the necessary contacts. Through a businessman who runs a company for police uniforms in Lviv, a somewhat mysterious contact was found. He picked up the Moosburgers right at the border, made sure that they could cross it without any problems, drove them to Lviv and finally brought them back to the border. “I don’t know whether he was directly from the military, but his car had a special number plate and he was able to get in everywhere at the border station without any problems,” reports Stengl, who was part of the quartet that drove to Lviv.
He and his comrades-in-arms weren’t really afraid of going to a country at war, he says. “You don’t think about any dangers at the moment.” In the west of the Ukraine, the war wasn’t really noticeable at the time, “so there weren’t any tanks or anything.” However, one was checked every five to ten kilometers by marshals. “And at all the junctions to side streets, they felled trees and blocked the way.” However, the Moosburg group was able to travel unhindered to Lviv, deliver their relief supplies there and return to Poland. “It was all over in two and a half to three hours,” said Stengl.
Two further aid transports are already planned
He and his fellow campaigners were delighted that the Landshut Vespa Club had collected donations to enable them to stay overnight in Kraków. They also received donations for the petrol, although the helpers had to bear a good part of the costs themselves. “We paid 1,700 euros for the fuel alone,” says Stengl. Don’t let that deter you. The group around Hofmann and Stengl is already planning further aid trips from March 18th to 20th and March 25th to 27th. Other drivers have already been found, “so that we can split it up a bit,” says Stengl. They also want to work with the Moosburg aid organization Navis in the future. “They have easier access to expensive bandages and medicines, and get them for a fraction of the normal price.”