Since January, members of Palladium’s humanitarian response team have been deployed to Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic as part of the UK’s response to the crisis in Ukraine.

So far, 14 flights have delivered over five million medical items from the UK to Ukraine via Poland, including resuscitator masks, wound-care packs, ICU items and vital medicines.

According to a recent survey, the most pressing needs from those in Ukraine are medicine and health services. “Over the last couple of days, we’ve seen more and more people moving from the east of Ukraine to perceived safety in the west,” reports Sarah Dalrymple, a member of the Humanitarian and Stabilisation Operations Team (HSOT) in Poland. “These people, many of whom are vulnerable women, children, and elderly are trapped with limited access to medical supplies.”

The team, which operates out of Warsaw and Rzeszow, is coordinating the logistics of the aid operation, while also liaising with partners and local civil society organisations to assess the needs of refugees crossing into Poland.

According to Rachel Kessler, HSOT Humanitarian Adviser on the ground, there are more than 12 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in towns and cities across Ukraine.

“The British Government has brought in flights with medical supplies, surgical supplies, and basic drugs and these have gone to hospitals including Lviv, Kyiv and further afield,” Kessler adds. “we’ll be continuing these flights because Ukraine urgently needs medical assistance.”

The record number of medical items donated to Ukraine is part of the UK Government’s wider humanitarian response to this emergency, which currently stands at GBP 394 million of Official Development Assistance, including GBP 220 million of humanitarian aid.

The latest reports from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) find that nearly 6.5 million people have been displaced within Ukraine and over 53 percent of those displaced are women. “Food and water is running out and the electricity has been cut in many places,” explains Dalrymple. “We’ve worked quickly over the past couple of days to agree on funding to support the IOM to provide heated shelter and thermal blankets to the Lviv area of western Ukraine.”

In the latest update, the UK is donating a fleet of ambulances to Ukraine to provide urgent care for those injured by Russian attacks. “We’re sending around 20 ambulances donated by UK NHS Trusts, which will be handed over to the Government of Ukraine,” explains Steve Mottram, HSOT’s Global Warehouse and Inventory Manager at the UK Disaster Response Centre in Gloucestershire. “They will help replace Ukrainian ambulances lost to the Russian bombardment and provide urgent care to those injured.” Mottram’s team has been organising the outload and delivery of the vehicles from the warehouse.

The conflict has stretched Ukraine’s health services and the donation of NHS ambulances will help bring vital lifesaving care to those remaining in towns and cities in Ukraine and replace those ambulances lost during the attacks.

Palladium manages the implementation of the Humanitarian and Stabilisation Operations Team (HSOT), a program funded with UK aid from the British people. HSOT provides the UK government with capacity and specialist expertise to support effective responses to sudden-onset disasters, crises, and complex emergencies around the world. For more information on HSOT’s work, visit their LinkedIn or contact info@thepalladiumgroup.com.