As the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine worsens, Maritimers are doing what they can to help.
Oleksandr Rekhnyuk of Moncton, N.B., has flown to Poland.
On Monday, he spoke with CTV News before he drove to a refugee centre near the Ukrainian border to offer refugees a ride or help with whatever they need.
“I don’t know what I will do, but anyway, they find for me a job,” Rekhnyuk said.
The van he rented is now equipped two small flags on the dash -- one for Canada and one for Ukraine.
In the trunk he’s hauling two bags containing 55 medical kits from New Brunswick.
It’s aid Randy Collette of Dieppe, N.B., helped collect.
“They’re great people. They have hearts of a warrior,” Collette said of Ukrainians
He said one of his friends, a nurse originally from Ukraine, flew back to help. He’s a K9 handler so he gave her his bulletproof vest and helmet along with medical supplies.
“I will be travelling with the tourniquets and distributing them through a unit or one per one and just making sure that they get to the right places,” Collette said.
Maritimers have stepped up to help by doing everything from selling pierogis to boxing up and shipping out humanitarian aid.
A post on its Instagram page indicates Iron Sights Training Centre in Hanwell, N.B., donated $30,000 worth of military boots, pants and shirts to the Ukrainian communities of Fredericton and Moncton.
A truckload of humanitarian aid from across the Maritimes and Quebec has already been flown to Ukraine, said Oleksii Shatov of Topaz Trucking.
He and others in the Ukrainian community helped organize the effort, which is ongoing.
“My family’s there. This is terrible,” Shatov said. “But anyway, we are strong. We are strong and I believe our army is very strong as well.”
Shatov said his team of volunteers now has access to a warehouse, thanks to MacKay’s Truck and Trailer.
“We will need people,” Shatov said.
The team is in the process of creating the Atlantic Ukrainian Association, a non-profit, and a website to accompany it. That way people can see what items are needed.
Chalice Canada, a Catholic international aid group, has been sponsoring children in Ukraine since 1998.
In the wake of war, it has launched the Ukraine Regional Assistance Fund to help the children and families survive the current crisis.
All donations are being matched by a private donor from Calgary until they reach $250,000.
“We like to think of ourselves as second responders, there to help individual families meet their needs in regular times and times of crisis,” said Randy Spaulding, Chalice’s international operations manager for Ukraine.
Russian-Canadian sailor Sergei Morozov has sailed solo around the world.
He’s now planning to sail to Ukraine to protest the war. He hopes to gather more boats and support along the way.
“And if it will be necessary we can pick up the refugees and bring them to Georgia, or Turkey or Canada,” he said.
“What can I do more? Just stay in the internet and make posts comments? No, that’s not my way. I wanted to do something -- action.”
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