From Mykolaiv to Kyiv and Kharkiv, second-hand automobiles, pickup vans and minivans purchased in Britain and nonetheless bearing the acquainted UK quantity plates are on the frontline of the conflict in Ukraine.
The incongruous sight is due to a fighters’ fund established by Serhiy Prytula, 40, a Ukrainian actor and comic, who made his title with a Little Britain-style sketch present Faina Yukraina (Good Ukraine) however now acts in its place quartermaster to the Ukrainian armed forces.
The British automobiles are attractively priced, roughly half the price of their equal makes on mainland Europe, as right-hand automobiles should not in excessive demand internationally, based on Prytula, talking in his workplace in his headquarters in Kyiv, a six-storey workplace constructing taken over for the needs of performing as a group and distribution centre for donations.
He estimates that he at present receives about £7m a month in donations with which to stockpile and distribute army gear, starting from bulletproof vests and thermal telescopes to binoculars, drones, medical kits and electrical turbines.
With a portion of these funds, the British automobiles are purchased from each second-hand dealerships and people within the UK who will provide them for a bargain, typically accepting cryptocurrency as cost, earlier than being ferried throughout the Channel and pushed to Ukraine on the again of vans – a journey of 5 to 6 days. They’re then distributed throughout to the frontline to the place Ukraine’s forces are most in want.
Twenty British automobiles have been dispatched to this point – their journeys to the battlefront are generally known as “hell rides” to the volunteers in Kyiv – and an extra 20 are within the strategy of being bought. The Prytula volunteer hub has handed a complete of 60 automobiles from throughout Europe to the armed forces.
In Prytula’s workplace, there are fragments of a Russian jet, weapons and bloodstained army clothes, together with a balaclava and gloves taken from Russian troopers killed on the battlefield. He described the grisly assortment as “suggestions” as to the worth of the automobiles.
He mentioned: “It’s actually helped as a result of our items create cellular teams. And behind you, you may see a chunk of Russian jet Su-34. That’s precisely a present from our troopers. We assist them with a pickup and he destroyed this Russian airplane and this was one thing like suggestions for us.
“The very first thing that they introduced right here was this piece of shit Russian jet and a chunk of Russian rocket calibre and after that, I made a publish on Fb and I mentioned you may carry right here every part you need, ‘However no lifeless Russians right here.’ The following day they introduced clothes, a radio transmitter and hat from a Russian tank driver and after that they began sending every part they discovered on the our bodies.”
Maksym Kostetskyi, who has been managing the acquisition of automobiles from the UK, mentioned demand from Ukrainian items was 3 times the extent of provide, with items searching for automobiles, pickup vans and SUVs.
He mentioned: “There’s a lengthy ready listing. However we’re very hopeful in that we have now companions in the UK who’re giving and offering the automobiles with decrease costs.
“Particularly for pickup vans and used automobiles principally. Sure, and these SUVs are normally like £4,000 or £5,000 every. Often in Europe, individuals don’t purchase them as a result of they’ve right-hand drive, however throughout this time within the conflict occasions and within the subject this can be a nice time to purchase them.”
British automobiles had been additionally used when Russian forces first invaded the east of Ukraine in 2014. “A number of Ukrainian troopers, they know how one can drive this automotive with the steering wheel on the opposite aspect,” Prytula mentioned.
When the automobiles are formally taken over by the Ukrainian military, their quantity plates might be blacked out. However within the early weeks of the conflict that has hardly ever occurred, with the precedence being to get the automobiles in motion reasonably than take care of the paperwork.
Kostetskyi mentioned: “We’ve companions over there that wish to assist Ukrainians and wish to help all of us all the way in which they will. And we do consider that this is likely one of the greatest ways in which the society and other people of United Kingdom may help us as shopping for the identical automobiles in different international locations within the European Union prices twice as a lot.”
