NHS trusts will donate a surplus fleet of ambulances to Ukraine to help replace vehicles lost during the Russian bombardment, the government has announced.
The Foreign Office said a donation of 20 ambulances will bolster the resilience of Ukraine’s emergency services that have been stretched by Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion — now in its sixth week.
The vehicles are expected to arrive in the country’s western city of Lviv later this week, before being transported to the areas most in need.
The department added they will help replace Ukrainian ambulances lost due to shelling, and comes after a Russian strike on a maternity hospital in the besieged port city of Mariupol last month.
They include four ambulances being provided by the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust and the health secretary, Sajid Javid, insisted the donation of ambulances “marks the first of many”.
Under the NHS’s national ambulance service fleet strategy, vehicles are taken out of service and replaced after five years. Decommissioned ambulances are normally kept back for resilience, given to approved charities or sent to auction.
The move comes as Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, vowed to push Russia’s economy “back into the Soviet era”, as she attempts to urge EU allies to step up sanctions after the atrocities exposed in the town of Bucha.
In a statement, she said: “We have sadly seen day after day the horrific impacts of Putin’s cruel war on the people of Ukraine, including evidence of appalling acts by Russian troops in towns such as Irpin and Bucha.
“The UK has been among the biggest aid donors, providing food, medicines and generators to help those affected.
“These world class NHS ambulances will now bring lifesaving care directly to those injured in the conflict.”
According to the Foreign Office, the UK has donated in excess of million items of medical supplies to Ukraine, including 380,000 packs of medicines and 3,000 adult resuscitators.
Paul Kempster, the chief operating officer of South Central Ambulance Service, which has donated four ambulances, added: “We hope that this small gesture goes some way to helping provide immediate frontline healthcare support to the many people who desperately need it.”
