The war in Ukraine is an unspeakable tragedy for millions of people and in light of such horrific, unprecedented events, it is hard to stay neutral. Hundreds of thousands civilians left their homes to hide underground or to flee their country. People are in desperate need of food, water, and other essentials. Orphanages in Ukraine are already experiencing food shortages.

In particular, there is an extreme shortage of medical supplies and ambulances. With some hospital facilities destroyed or not in use due to the imminent threat of attack and a growing number of people requiring urgent medical attention, doctors across the country are pleading for any help they can get. The war doesn’t stop new life coming into the world. Some babies are now being born in basements, where there are no means to support their vulnerable mothers.

The situation is simply desperate. Every single bandage, every first aid kit and every mode of transportation matters.

We can never do too much when it comes to helping save lives. Please help us.

Who we are

We are a group of volunteers who are liaising with pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies and hospitals across the UK to procure medical equipment and supplies (as per list provided by doctors on the ground). We have partnered with Life Lines https://www.kingshealthpartners.org/our-work/lifelines, a philanthropic initiative to address challenges to connecting critically ill patients and families during the pandemic. Medical Life Lines Ukraine wants to provide a life line to Ukrainian hospitals in need.

We are also purchasing and receiving donations of ambulances that are equipped and in good working order, but have been financially written off in the UK. We send ambulances filled with medical equipment and supplies across the Poland-Ukraine border via a network of volunteers drivers for further direct distribution through local network of volunteers to Ukrainian hospitals most in need. We also directly support neonatal centres, where the staff is now struggling to care for premature babies in extreme conditions, often having to hide newborns in hospital basements. They urgently need ambulances, highly specialised neonatal equipment, essential medical supplies and baby milk.

Our story

Our movement was born on Saturday 26th February as a united response to the outrageous news that shocked the world just two days before that. It started with a selfless act of kindness of just one man, Alex, one of our friends, who bought an ambulance vehicle at his own expense to send to Ukraine. He started to fill it with clothes, long shelf life products and medication. His initiative quickly spread across the community in south of London. We also sent an appeal to a wider community for donations and dry food/clothes people could spare. In the first two days alone we had raised £8,000 and collected few truckloads of people’s generous donations, which have already reached the Ukrainian borders.

Overwhelmed with such a response, we launched the Medical Life Lines Ukraine campaign. Our crowdfunding initiative on JustGiving platform focuses exclusively on medical supplies, equipment and ambulances and aims to raise wider public support.

As at 28 March we raised over £45,000 through the JustGiving alone but as our wider campaign includes PayPal contributions and cash, overall collected total exceeds £61,000!

We have so far delivered 8 vehicles to such destinations as Kyiv City Hospital, Mykhailovsky Hospital, Boryspil neonatal centre and large children’s hospital Okhmatdit. These ambulances brought critically required tactical medicine (trauma kits), first aid kits, surgical and neonatal equipment (portable oxygen concentrator, incubators), as well as other medical supplies and essentials. We have achieved that through deploying the monetary contributions from our supporters, generous public donations in our collection centres (Wimbledon, Surbiton, Brentford) and an alliance with other volunteer groups. We would like to specially thank Wimbledon High School, Royal Wimbledon Golf Club, Rotary Club of Kingston upon Thames and Norwich and Norfolk hospitals medical professionals, in particular, Emma-Jane Thornton. We are forever grateful for all your dedication and support.

We are currently working on three separate projects for three different locations in Ukraine; updates to follow. We will keep going - as long as it takes.

What’s next?

We have recently changed the name of our group to Medical Life Lines Ukraine to align ourselves with the important work started by Life Lines to provide support to critically ill patients and families during the pandemic. This will help us to partner with NHS and other organisations who are supportive of the cause. We will be building on this strategically important relationship to help us fundraise further to secure the specialised supplies and equipment we need.