Whatever Happens, Ukraine Will Still Need Ambulances and Fire Trucks in 2025
The volunteer-run charity US Ambulances for Ukraine supplied 83 emergency vehicles to Ukraine in 2024.
“That's 64 ambulances, nine fire engines, eight SUVs, a wheelchair accessible bus, and one military surplus truck,” said Chris Manson, OSF HealthCare vice president of government relations and founder of US Ambulances for Ukraine.
This number is up from the 77 reported in October 2024.
The ongoing donation of surplus/used emergency vehicles by U.S. first responders and others continues to save lives in Ukraine. While the incoming administration seems to have a less sympathetic attitude to the war effort, Manson isn’t concerned. Whatever happens, his mission during 2025 is to keep sending donated ambulances and fire trucks to this embattled nation—whatever happens.
“I don't know if I foresee much change with regard to US Ambulances for Ukraine in 2025,” Manson said. “Our effort's always been about getting emergency vehicles to first responders—firefighters, medics, and [the people] they treat. If it's a medic on the battlefield, you could be treating a wounded Ukrainian or Russian, a wounded civilian or a firefighter. So, I don't anticipate any changes on our end as far as what the administration might do with Ukraine and what that might look like. I've said all along with this effort, as long as the vehicles are needed, and as long as people are willing to donate vehicles here in the United States, I'm more than willing to play a part in helping bring those two components together and do what I can to help out.”
Even if the war in Ukraine does end in 2025, the country will still need all the surplus/used ambulances and fire trucks that it can get. That’s because “before the war, Ukraine was a country that was still coming out from underneath the Soviet Union,” Manson said. “It was very poor, and very much steeped in the Soviet kind of bureaucratic government that really hobbled a lot of innovation and really limited this country from having the latest or the greatest first responder equipment. As a result, when we send 30-year-old donated ambulances and 30-year-old fire engines over to Ukraine, their response is like, ‘wow, these are brand new! These are better than anything we've ever seen here in Ukraine!’”
Given Ukraine’s pre-war poverty and post-war destruction, Manson sees no reason to slacken US Ambulances for Ukraine's efforts. “There's going to be communities that are going to need ambulances,” he said. “The fire service has been decimated because firefighters and EMTs are often targeted by Russian military attacks. There's just a lot of things where this equipment's going to be continued to be used, and having it will allow the Ukrainians to spend their limited resources on other urgently needed things. That’s why US Ambulances for Ukraine will continue to welcome donated equipment and do our very best to get it to them as fast as we can.”
