Electric bicycles for the frontline villages

Representatives of UNHCR and Humanitarian Mission Proliska handed over first electric bicycles to frontline villages and cities.  First recipients were paramedics in the villages of Orikhove and Ozarianivka, a local volunteer in the village of Novotoshkivske in the Luhanska oblast and a postal worker from the village of Kurdiumivka in Donetska oblast.
Due to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the number of people in these villages is constantly decreasing. Infrastructure is very poor. For example, there are no pharmacies in Kurdiumivka, and there is only one shop and a medical center covering the three nearest villages. There are many people with disabilities and they don’t have access to social services and sometimes even food.
“I have been working as a paramedic for 40 years. All patients are already like relatives for me. Before the conflict, 700 people lived here; now there are less than 300. Sometimes, in order to get to them, I have to walk for 10 km every day. From now on, I will begin getting acquainted with my new transport here. It is a bit difficult, but I think I will be able to cope with it,” Tetyana Bykova, Head of the first-aid post in the village of Orikhove, shares her first impressions.
These electric bicycles can ride at a speed of 40 km/h. Therefore, they should make life in communities easier. Moreover, due to the fact that the basket can hold about 100 kg, postal workers will be able to deliver food and hygiene products to locals, while paramedics could get them some medicine.
“The main goal of the project is to increase mobility of medical and social workers, postal workers, volunteers, who continue to provide services for the elderly and people with disabilities near the contact line even during lockdown”, Evgen Kaplin, coordinator of the Humanitarian Mission Proliska, said.
In May, Humanitarian Mission Proliska, with the financial support of UNHCR and the United Nations OCHA plans to deliver 75 electric bicycles to the settlements along the contact line. UNHCR is grateful to the European Union’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) for the generous support which enabled us to provide these bicycles to social services providers, paramedics and volunteers in conflict-affected localities along the ‘contact line’.