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Charity donates ambulances to support Ukraine war

Maria Felix Vas/BBC Head and shoulders image of Julie Rowlandson standing in front of an ambulance. She is smiling, has shoulder length, brown, curly hair and is wearing glasses and a navy fleeceMaria Felix Vas/BBC
Julie Rowlandson said the fully-equipped ambulances were "very much needed"

More than 850 tonnes (850,000kg) of donated humanitarian aid has been sent to Ukraine by a Lancashire charity since the the Russian invasion.

Chorley-based International Aid Trust, said it had sent more than 30 emergency vehicles to the country since February 2022, as well as lorries full of clothes, food, medical supplies and generators.

Six more "very much needed" fully-equipped ambulances and a pick-up truck have now set off from the charity's warehouse in Tarleton to be driven to Poland in convoy by a team of volunteers, Julie Rowlandson said.

The community ambassador for the trust said the vehicles could travel over difficult terrain to bring the injured to hospitals for treatment.

Maria Felix Vas/BBC Six ambulances lined up on a snow covered carpark, with a blue sky and trees behind themMaria Felix Vas/BBC
Chorley-based International Aid Trust, said it had sent more than 30 emergency vehicles to Ukraine

"We know one of the pick-up trucks we sent saved over 50 lives in its first week of service just by getting people to where they could be treated quickly," she said.

"Everybody's worked really hard in making sure everything's prepared well, it's been a really big team effort."

The vehicles will be handed over to the charity's team in Krakow, before being taken to a number of agreed locations in Ukraine, to help refugees and those injured in the war.

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