In this huge 2,000 square meter warehouse in the north of Lublin, Poland, hundreds of boxes pile up. The Polish Red Cross occupied the site the day after the start of the war in Ukraine. “Donations from all over Europe are sorted here,” explains Pavel Romanski, a volunteer who came here.
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Because the association, through its various national branches – French, German, Ukrainian, Polish – mobilizes thousands of volunteers to deliver food and care products to the affected population of Ukraine, regardless of whether they stayed in the country or fled. The region of Lublin, located near the border with Ukraine, is a strategic hub because it is the crossroads of this first aid.
On the one hand, the Red Cross stores food. On the other hand, medicines and hygiene products. The association is primarily looking for dressings, compresses, disinfectants and thermal blankets. “But above all without clothes!” says Pavel. The Red Cross no longer collects it here. And not in vain: “See these huge piles of white bags? This is what is left of all the clothes that were given to us three months ago during the refugee crisis on the Belarusian border.” This is how fourteen thousand kilograms of clothes are piled up. “For example, on his bag it says “six kilograms of children’s trousers.” So we don’t really need to collect more.”
In the basement, cans of tuna and bags of water are grouped together. Upstairs, “all the baby diapers on the pallet,” proudly launches 26-year-old Luke, in charge of sorting them. “I came here for just three days to help,” says this London lawyer. “We looked on Google and saw the Red Cross. It’s only two hours from London by plane, so we decided to come!” The man really wanted to act closer to the needs of the Ukrainians.
“All of our friends help out by posting on Instagram, but it doesn’t really help much, so we wanted to do something with our own hands!”
Luke, a London lawyer who came to help
on Franceinfo
Then the products are transported either to places of refugee reception, in particular to Poland, or directly to Ukraine. A new van is about to leave the warehouse, “full to the ceiling,” Valentina Prishko describes. Destination: premises of the Ukrainian Red Cross, Lutsk, in the north-west of the country.
This Ukrainian Red Cross van is about to leave Lublin, Poland, full to capacity, in the direction of Lutsk, Ukraine, on the other side of the border, Monday, March 7, 2022. (AGATHE MAHUET / RADIO FRANCE)
“Don’t worry” about the three hours and fifteen minutes drive, assures the representative of the association from the Ukrainian side. “Lutsk was not affected by the war,” she explains as she gets into the van. Every day, five or six Red Cross vans leave Lublin and cross the border to deliver essential goods to Ukraine.
Ukraine: Red Cross on the border with Poland – report by Agatha Mahue
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