Dozens of cars for the Armed Forces of Ukraine transported from abroad by a woman from Rivne
Volunteer Liudmyla Sydoruk from Rivne has been bringing cars from different countries of the European Union since the beginning of the full-scale war at the request of the military and charitable foundations.
She delivers cars, buses, and jeeps, often packed with “gifts” for the enemy. She follows a call to pick up vehicles that are waiting for her on the other side of the border, on Polish territory. But, sometimes, she picks up “iron horses” in other countries, traveling thousands of kilometers.
One wonders where such a fragile woman gets her strength! And she still has to go to work – she works as a cashier-operator at the bus station and is the chairman of the Condominium Board.
“I can’t do differently,” says Liudmyla, ”Everyone must work for Victory to end this war. We cannot leave it to our children.”
She went to get the first car for the military on the 15th day of the war
Liudmyla Sydoruk learned about the outbreak of war from a friend’s call. At the time, she says, it seemed like the ground was going to give way under her feet. But she told herself: don’t panic, keep a cool head. First of all, she had to take care of the children’s safety. So she took Mykhailo and Tymofiy abroad and returned to Ukraine.
In early March, Maria Dymukhametova called: “Do you drive cars with manual transmission?”
When she heard an affirmative answer, she added: “Most of the girls drive an automatic. Guys from Poland gave me a car, I need to drive it here.”
She and Maria arrived at the Ukrainian-Polish border, and there were so many people fleeing the war! They approached a border guard: “We need to pick up a car for our military!”
He radioed his colleagues to meet them.
“We crossed two borders in just 15 minutes, or rather, we ran across,” recalls Liudmyla. ”People, who were standing in a long line, were cursing us. The border guard calmed them down: “They will come back soon, but you will not!”
There was a problem with the first car
“The first car we drove was a Citroen,” says Liudmyla, ”and it got a flat tire on the way. We stopped at a rest area. I approached a Polish policeman and pointed to the flat tire. He looked at it and said: “Yes, ma’am, there is a problem!”. I approach the firefighters and heard the same thing again: “Yes, ma’am, there is a problem!”. I thought maybe the driver of a large Polish bus parked here could help. But he repeated the same thing. I said to them: “Can you at least borrow me a pump?” Again, I heard the same thing: “We don’t have one!”
My friend Masha suggested looking for help in the city of Przemysl. But just then a bus with Ukrainian license plates pulled into the parking lot. I turned to our driver:
“Maybe you can help me, I have a flat tire.” Without hesitation, he replied: “Of course I will help you!”. We inflated the tire and drove off. He even escorted us for a while: “You go ahead and I’ll follow you. If you get a flat tire, I’ll blink my headlights.”
We arrived at the border and spent the night there because the border guards’ computer system was not working. Guards, who were passing by, saw that we had a flat tire. They immediately helped us.
Before we reached Lviv, we realized that the car was running hot and needed oil. We stopped at a gas station and opened the hood. The older gas station attendant asked, “Girls, have you thought carefully about whether you really need coolant and oil?” Maria replied: “Yes, we do. And we also need a man’s hands to help!” The man added coolant and oil, and gave us recommendations on how to run the car.
If at the beginning of the war many people were surprised that we were carrying tools or buying something not typical for a female, now they are used to it.
A Citroen car was delivered from Poland to Lviv andthe military drove it to Dnipro, then to the front.
We didn’t pay for the first cars – they were given to us by Ukrainians, Dutch, Lithuanians. They drove the cars to the Polish border, and we picked them up from there for the military and charitable organizations.
Polish border guards asked: “Mrs., is this your car?” “No, it’s for the Armed Forces of Ukraine!”. “Go ahead, ma’am!”. In the first days of the war, none of them looked closely at the documents or inspected the vehicles. They started doing this about two months after the start of the full-scale invasion. I picked up donated cars with letters from the military, and filled out the declarations myself at the border. It became much easier to cross the border when electronic declarations were introduced.
“Ma’am, I’m letting you in for the last time!”
At the beginning of the war, Liudmyla Sydoruk traveled abroad with an old-style Ukrainian passport – it took some time to get an international one. When crossing the border in April 2022, the Poles said: “Ma’am, this is the last time I’m letting you through!” “What was I supposed to do?” the woman smiles, ”I entered Poland through the Ustyluh checkpoint and left through Krakivets. The next time I entered through Yahodyn and left through Ustyluh. Polish border guards repeatedly made comments: “Ma’am, this is a Ukrainian passport!”. “Where is the expiration date, for how long is it valid?” I answered with a smile: “Until I die!”.
I can say that the attitude of Poles towards us, Ukrainians, is generally good. They are well aware that we are at war with the evil empire. Once I had to quickly change registration of a car. I drove up with my friend to the Kielce City Council, where car registrations are handled, and there was a long line. It would take three days to get there. I said: “I can’t wait that long!”.
They advised me to go to the mayor of the city. A young man met us. After listening, he called the employee of the car registration department. He said that Ukrainians need help in this difficult time. After that, he directed us to the office on the first floor: “They are waiting for you there.” And indeed, we were greeted cordially, even asked if we wanted tea. Within 5 minutes, we had the documents in hand.
The cars always come packed with aid
Currently, we do not change Polish registration, but rather fill out the documents for the export of cars with Polish customs officers at the border, which saves a lot of time. Although in Estonia it is a mandatory procedure.
The vehicles are never empty, they are packed with necessary things for the military. Andriy Popyk, Ukrainian who lives in Poland, helps with “gifts”. He opened a charity foundation in Rzeszów and is doing a great job. Since 2014, he has been accepting military equipment from friends, acquaintances and charitable foundations from all over the world and passing it on to our volunteers and military.
The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations represented by Kateryna Argiru, UAID STICHTING from Amsterdam represented by Sofia Bezugla, the Help to Live Association (Italy), Dogma NGO from Dnipro, Hero of Ukraine Charitable Foundation, Military Post and many others help.
Ukrainian drivers help out
In Europe, business life stops on Saturday and Sunday. Therefore, if your car breaks down, it is difficult to get emergency technical assistance. The only thing that is available on weekends, is a tow truck.
One day, Mrs. Liudmyla stopped at the rest area because of a burned out headlight bulb. She started looking for cars with Ukrainian license plates. The driver was Mykola from Drohobych. When he found out what had happened, he said with a smile: “No problem!”. Liudmyla bought a light bulb, he replaced it, they talked, had coffee, and she drove on.
Different situations arise while traveling. For example, at the Budomezh-Hrushev crossing point, Lyudmyla Sydoruk had a nerve-wrecking experience. “I paid a fine because my vehicle was overloaded with batteries,” she says, ”but it was nothing. I had an interesting conversation with the border guard. At his request, I opened the car. He took a look, directed me to a control point and ordered me to unload the car.
He came back to the car, opened one box, examined it and left in silence. I sat on a bench and waited. Later on he came up to me again and said: “Why is the lady sitting there?” I answered: “Maybe you want to inspect something else? Because I won’t have the strength to unload and load the car again. One battery weighs 25-38 kg. But I didn’t have to do that.”
Ambulances from Italy
Ukrainian Angela Shevchuk-Kotyk lives in Italy, in the city of Trento. She organized a fundraiser to purchase ambulances for Ukraine. Thanks to this woman, our military received dozens of these vehicles.
Our fellow countryman Andriy, who lives in Poland, keeps in touch with Mrs. Liudmyla. Once he called and asked if she had been to Italy lately. When he heard that she hadn’t, he said that her tickets had already been booked and that there was an ambulance waiting for her to pick it up.
From Italy, the route went through Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland. The meticulous German police asked about the license plates that were pasted on the windshield.
“We got them in Rome after taking the car off of Italian registration,” Liudmyla replied, ”It was a little strange that they didn’t know about this, since the two countries are members of the European Union. By the way, car license plates in Germany indicate the car number and the date by which the car must leave the European Union. This date also indicates the date until which you have insurance. The Germans inspected the car, checked the documents and said: “You have a crack in your windshield, there is a fine for this. But since this is a humanitarian aid, with all due respect to Ukraine, you can go!”
Friends respond quickly
Lyudmyla Sydoruk has friends in many cities near and far abroad – in Tallinn, Kaunas, Warsaw, Krakow, Israel. Amsterdam, and others, and all over Ukraine. She has many friends and acquaintances whom she knows only by phone conversations. And this helps a lot in her volunteer work. They often call or she calls to find out who can pick up humanitarian aid along the way.
“My friends respond to my request for help quickly, without objection,” continues Liudmyla. ”For example, once I was driving from Tallinn to Dnipro. I called my friends: “Who hasn’t seen their friends in Dnipro lately?” One of them, Yuriy, said: “I haven’t seen them for a long time!” On the appointed day, he got behind the wheel and drove the car to the city near front lines. In the meantime, I contacted the Volyn Express, a Dnipro-based carrier, and asked them to pick up our volunteer. I received the traditional answer: “We’ll pick him up, we’ll deliver him!”.
Volunteer Liudmyla Sydoruk has good friends among passenger transportation companies: PAVLUKS-TRANS, GDAMALER. Savchuk, TransTempo, Ternvoyazh, and Volyn-Express. Whenever necessary, a woman is always booked a seat on the bus for free, and she quickly gets to the border or a foreign city.
When a truck with military equipment arrives in Rivne, friends and acquaintances immediately come to unload it after Liudmyla’s call.
In the spring of 2024, we received a call from soldiers in Chernihiv:
“We need to pick up a car in Lutsk. Can you do it?”. The car was needed at the front, so, there could be only one answer: “Yes!”.
Liudmyla delivered the car to Kyiv. In the capital, she was met and told: “Our fighter will drive it from now on! It’s not safe for you to go to Chernihiv” (at the time the enemy was mercilessly bombing the city).
Ukrainians living in Alaska help
“We were raising money to buy a car for my cousin,” continues Liudmyla Sydoruk, ”I posted an announcement on Facebook, and my relatives did the same. We managed to raise a certain amount of money. But the lion’s share was raised by Ukrainians living in Alaska. Mr. Hryhoriy helped me with this by transferring almost $2000 to my volunteer card. Later, he apologized for not raising more.
I sent him a report on the funds used. In general, I inform in detail everyone who helps us.
While on the way to buy a car for my cousin, we received another call from Chernihiv:
“We need to buy another car!”. The guys in Tallinn quickly found options. They made a down payment, and two days later, when the documents were ready, Maria Tarnohurska went to pick up the jeep. It’s a long road – 2200 km to Rivne alone. She also brought “EcoFlow”.”
Mrs. Liudmyla volunteers while her husband is at war
When Liudmyla was driving cars (she often spends weeks doing this), she had a reliable helper at home. Her husband Hennadiy took care of children, cooked. Now the situation has changed. He is now at the front serving as a Explosive Ordnance Disposal Specialist (sapper). So when she travels abroad, her mother Nadiya and aunt Tamara look after the children.
“My husband joined the army because we have to protect our country and our children”, says Liudmyla, “We cannot leave this war to our children.”
On the road again
Recently, the military asked Mrs. Liudmyla to drive another car from Tallinn, which came from distant Alaska thanks to Mr. Hryhoriy and his family. So once again she is getting ready for the road.
Vasyl Zakrevskyi
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