When Russia invaded Ukraine, People responded overwhelmingly in help of the Ukrainian folks. Final month, South Pierce Fireplace and Rescue, headquartered in Eatonville, added to that effort by donating two emergency automobiles to Ukraine’s frontline rescue efforts.
The automobiles – two ambulances geared up for emergency rescue operations – had been scheduled to be retired by South Pierce Fireplace and Rescue because the division up to date its fleet of emergency response automobiles. After an public sale wherein neither car obtained bids, the 2 had been resulting from both quietly rust or be taken aside for scrap.
This trajectory was drastically modified when a volunteer firefighter, Mikhail Zyalik, noticed how these automobiles may fill a determined want.
Zyalik is Russian by delivery and grew up in Siberia, an unlimited area within the east of the nation. He emigrated to the US in 1997 and has lived in Washington state ever since. Zyalik labored two jobs for a few years: a full-time job with Delta Airways and a job with the state of Washington’s social companies. After pandemic cutbacks ended his profession with Delta, he started volunteering as a firefighter and shortly gained a fame as a tough employee and conscientious colleague.
“Mikhail’s been a giant a part of our division since he’s been right here,” SPFR Chief Todd Wernet mentioned. “He’s obtained some life expertise, a implausible angle and a special perspective.”
Zyalik’s first connection to Ukraine got here in 2011, when he participated in a summer season internet hosting program that organized for Ukrainian orphans to remain for just a few weeks with Slavic households in the US. Zyalik’s household related so nicely with the 2 youngsters they hosted that they quickly determined to undertake them. This led to the Zyaliks touring to Ukraine, assembly their adopted youngsters’s household and visiting the orphanage the boys had lived in. Upon returning to Washington, they grew to become engaged within the state’s giant Ukrainian neighborhood, elevating funds for the orphanage and serving to develop the summer season internet hosting program.
“We got here from nothing and got here to the land of a lot,” Zyalik mentioned. “As soon as we noticed the necessity in Ukraine, we realized we may give these youngsters a future.”
When Russia invaded Ukraine, the Zyaliks’ church determined to ship help, and Zyalik joined a gaggle that flew to Poland to ship meals and medical provides to refugees fleeing throughout the Polish-Ukrainian border. Zyalik was the perfect candidate for the job: His expertise as an emergency employee ready him to satisfy refugees in dire circumstances, whereas his language expertise — he speaks English, Russian, Ukrainian, German and a few Polish — and expertise in social companies helped him have interaction with folks in a trauma-informed means. When Zyalik requested refugees and emergency staff what they felt the best want was, he mentioned the reply was unanimous: higher emergency automobiles to rescue wounded troopers from the battlefield.
Like many lower- and middle-income international locations, Ukraine’s paramedics depend on flippantly geared up vans, which have confirmed woefully insufficient for the frontlines of a struggle that has been outlined by relentless use of artillery by either side. Civilian automobiles are incapable of navigating terrain that has been churned up by explosive shells, and which means that Ukraine’s ambulances typically can’t assist troopers on the frontlines. In contrast, the automobiles utilized by SPFR and different emergency rescuers in the US are more durable and extra sturdy than civilian automobiles, with extra engine energy and house for carrying medical provides and gear.
When Zyalik heard that two emergency automobiles had been accessible in south Pierce County, he moved quick, reaching out to Ukraine’s honorary consul in Seattle, Valeriy Goloborodko, and advocating for SPFR’s administration to donate the items. Wernet was very happy to observe Zyalik’s plan.
Because of Zyalik’s networking, the emergency automobiles had been delivered to Goloborodko final month. The following stage of the method is delivery them to Ukraine. Standard delivery choices for comparable automobiles are prohibitively costly, so Goloborodko plans to partially disassemble the automobiles with the assistance of a mechanic and match them right into a delivery container. From the Port of Seattle, the container will likely be shipped to Poland, almost certainly to town of Gdansk. When the container arrives in Gdansk, Zyalik plans to be there to satisfy it. He and one other volunteer will drive the items roughly 450 miles to the Ukrainian border.
As soon as in Ukraine, the automobiles will likely be handed over to the Ukrainian military. Goloborodko mentioned one will likely be despatched north to a navy unit patrolling the Belarusian border as Belarus is allied with Russia and due to this fact a risk to Ukraine; the opposite will likely be despatched east to an lively service unit on the frontlines of the struggle.
Washington state has been residence to a big Ukrainian diaspora neighborhood for many years, and this shut connection to Ukraine translated into an outpouring of help from Washingtonians when Russia invaded. When Zyalik’s church despatched provides and volunteers to jap Europe, considered one of Zyalik’s suitcases was stuffed with priceless surgical gear donated by a neighborhood Kaiser Permanente hospital. Goloborodko recounted many extra cases of generosity: King County workers banded collectively to donate over $250,000; the Seattle Mayor’s Workplace organized a live performance that raised over $400,000; and peculiar Washingtonians have labored to boost lots of of hundreds extra for Ukraine. Goloborodko mentioned nearly all of donations undergo church buildings and nonprofit organizations which might be engaged on the bottom in Ukraine.
Goloborodko and different Ukrainians fear, nonetheless, that because the Ukraine struggle fades from U.S. headlines to get replaced by home points, the generosity of People in the direction of Ukraine’s plight will fade additionally. “Consideration is shifting, however individuals are nonetheless dying in Ukraine,” Goloborodko mentioned, including that People mustn’t cease supporting the Ukrainian combat for freedom. “We defend our values, values that had been preached to us by the US and European international locations — and we don’t wish to give them up.”
