A delivery of equipment from the Bielefeld volunteer fire department Quelle Firefighting Department, which was delivered to Ukraine last year by the Ukrainian municipality of Neumarkt and the Valores association, Hilfe-Jugend-Kultur eV, is already being used by the fire and rescue unit in Mykolaiv.
The Kyiv fire department, which was originally intended for the delivery, asked for permission to send the equipment to the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv, as the material is urgently needed to save people in southern Ukraine due to massive Russian air strikes and daily drone attacks. “Of course, we immediately fulfilled the request of our Ukrainian comrades,” said senior firefighter and tax consultant Ralf Schweinheim from the Quelle fire station and thanked Neumarkt for its great support in delivering the goods to Mykolaiv.
“Due to its proximity to the frontline, Mykolaiv is currently under very heavy shelling from Russia, which is deliberately destroying civilian objects and residential buildings. We are very grateful to our driver Yevhen Hanzha, a member of the Ukrainian community in Neumarkt and the Valores Association, for bringing the aid to the heroic firefighters of Mykolaiv in cooperation with the state aid organization “Aid to Ukraine”. Almost every day we have to rescue people from destroyed buildings,” said Tatiana Aristarkhova, spokesperson for the Ukrainian municipality of Neumarkt.
In a personal video message, Deputy Fire Chief Yevhen Valyach thanked the Ukrainian community of Neumarkt, Valores Chairman Johann Kerner and Senior Firefighter Ralf Schweinheim for this much-needed aid delivery.
