HI teams depart from Dnipro to deliver humanitarian goods to Ivanivske, Ukraine. | © HI
In eastern Ukraine, accessing areas close to the front line of conflict is a key issue for humanitarian actors bringing aid for populations unable to flee the war. Thanks to the European Humanitarian Response Capacity (EHRC) - the EU’s new operational initiative designed to fill gaps in the humanitarian response - and the support of the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, HI transports essential goods and supplies from the city of Dnipro to the "last mile" of cities and towns located at the heart of the conflict, within twenty kilometers of the front line. These operations are implemented thanks to the funding and coordination by the European Commission’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid department, promoter of the EHRC initiative.
Our team of highly experienced project managers, logisticians, security experts and drivers offer safe, innovative and ethical logistics solutions to more than 20 partner organizations. The logistics platform operates within the framework of a global partnership with the organizations Bioport and RLH Coop.
Sunday, July 10th, HI received its 128th transport request in Ukraine since March. Save the Children wanted to send 10 tons of water and food to Bakhmut in less than two days.
The city of Bakhmut is located in the east of the Donetsk region. Before the war, it had nearly 80,000 inhabitants. Today, nearly 15,000 people remain, surviving just eleven kilometers from the front line. Since June 25, 2022, the town has been the scene of intense bombing, day and night. In Bakhmut, nearly no shops are open and the drinking water system has been heavily damaged. Residents had run out of their last food and water reserves.
Bakhmut was now classified as a "red zone." The day after the request, the city was bombed nine times in one day.
“Given this context, delivering to Bakhmut represented a significant risk for our teams,” says Bruno Michon, HI’s logistics operations manager in Ukraine. “However, we had to make the decision of whether or not to go. What was the humanitarian benefit of this transport compared to the security risk it poses?”
In Ukraine, HI’s teams ask themselves this question every day. To answer it, each transport request is meticulously analyzed by a team of humanitarian access experts.
“This time, the answer came quickly: Bakhmut was out of our reach. How could we get aid to those in need?” Bruno asks. The answer came from the inhabitants of Bakhmut themselves and the volunteers in charge of receiving the cargo from Save the Children.
“In less than 24 hours and after many twists and turns, they informed us that they had found a truck and a few liters of fuel. They proposed we meet to transfer the goods from one truck to the other, known as a ‘Kiss,’ ten minutes from Bakhmut in Ivanivske. We accepted their proposal. However, this ‘kiss’ had to be orchestrated down to the minute, without losing any time during the unloading and loading of the two trucks. It is at this precise step that the teams are most exposed to danger,” Bruno says.
On July 12, 2022 at 6:20AM, HI’s driver Taras left the city of Dnipro with the supplies to be delivered. At 09:40, after many checkpoints, the Save The Children volunteers in Bakhmut receive a signal: it's time! “They have only 25 minutes to get to the meeting point in Ivanivske. Tensions are high, there’s no time to waste.”
On-site at 10:05 am, the two trucks park back-to-back and the boxes pass frantically from one to the other. The "Kiss" lasts only a few minutes, before each truck departs in opposite directions, without skipping a beat.
That day, on the humanitarian map, HI’s "last mile" ended at the doorstep of Bakhmut. However, thanks to logistics expertise and a chain of solidarity, the people of Bakhmut were able to receive vital food and water for their families.
