A destroyed ambulance as a reminder of Russian war crimes

Targeted massacres in the suburbs of Kyiv, the bombing of a railway station flooded with civilians in Kramatorsk, various missile attacks on civilian hospitals such as in Kyiv and Mariupol, the “human safari” in Kherson and the mass abduction of Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories.

The list of Russian war crimes is long and grows daily. This makes it all the more important not only that Ukraine’s supporters continue to provide it with financial, humanitarian and especially military aid even after more than three years, but also that the Ukrainian civilian population knows that it is not alone.

Unfortunately, a certain phenomenon is becoming increasingly noticeable, especially outside of Ukraine. Unfortunately, a form of war-weariness is setting in among many people.

Russia has been at war with Ukraine for too long, one hears too often of the most serious Russian attacks on peaceful civilians and too little progress is being made on the front. The reasons for the rise of war-weariness will certainly vary from case to case, but it won’t change the result.

People are becoming increasingly indifferent to the Russian terror. In order to counteract this in Germany and to remind the German population again and again who is responsible for all the suffering, the Rosenheim-based organisation “Fellas for Europe e.V.” launched a very interesting project two years ago, which I would like to bring closer to my international readers in particular with this article.

The Barwinka from Derhachi

As Russian troops advanced in the first weeks of the full invasion and increasingly encircled the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Derhachi, a small town around 16 kilometres north-west of Kharkiv, was not spared from Russian attacks.

In order to evacuate injured civilians from the region, the local hospital had to rely on the Barwinka, the only four-wheel drive bus, without which the roads damaged by the Russian shelling were practically impassable.

On the 12th of March 2022, just over two weeks after the start of the Russian full-scale invasion, Russian troops shelled the local hospital in Derhachi with cluster munitions while the Barwinka was on its way to an evacuation.

Fortunately, the driver survived the attack, but sustained various serious injuries. The bus, on the other hand, was irretrievably destroyed.

However, thanks to a Ukrainian politician, the story of the Barwinka only really begins here.

With permission from the hospital in Derhachi, Olena Fedorova initially put it on display in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as a memorial to war crimes committed by Russia. From there, it later made its way to the Lithuanian capital for a short period of time.

In the second year of the war, Fellas for Europe, in collaboration with the Lithuanian Embassy in Germany, which covered the transportation expenses, brought the memorial to Germany as part of a long-term but temporary loan.

From Augsburg to Bayreuth, on to Bergisch Gladbach and Berlin, followed by a stopover in Dresden and Fulda. From there to Göttingen, Greifswald and Gütersloh, all the way to Hamburg and Hanover. Of course, the journey also included Kiel, Leipzig, Munich, Paderborn, Weimar and many other cities throughout Germany.

Since the association Fellas for Europe e.V. took over responsibility for the Barwinka in 2023, they have exhibited the memorial in over 140 different cities at their own expense!

Visitors include not only “ordinary citizens” and supporters of Ukraine, but also high-ranking politicians. Just recently, the head of the Federal Chancellery, Thorsten Frei, was interested in the Barwinka and therefore visited the ambulance at an exhibition in Berlin.

Most recently, the ambulance destroyed by Russia could be found for a whole week in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin for the ninth time already, while it then made the approximately 9-kilometre journey and was on display at the SPD party conference until the 28th of June. By now, the Barwinka is on its way to the next location, this time in Hamburg.

All of this is possible thanks to the countless volunteers who accompany the events and take care of everything else and, of course, thanks to the generous donations to the association.

After all, both the van and the trailer have to be regularly maintained and repaired, while the diesel also has to be paid for. Fortunately, Fellas for Europe always plans to make the shortest possible journeys in order to minimise fuel consumption and save money.

On site, three to four volunteers are usually available to answer questions from interested visitors, collect donations for the association and educate people about the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. At one event in Leipzig, there were even up to 10 volunteers on site helping for many hours.

However, the volunteers are not only collecting donations to continue funding the project, but also for the procurement of medical equipment and ambulances, which will be delivered to Ukraine, where the material is urgently needed.

As a result, in addition to various medical equipment such as stethoscopes, blood pressure monitors, blood glucose meters and more, several ambulances and other vehicles for patient transport have already been purchased and delivered to various cities in Ukraine — including Derhachi.

This completes the cycle. Although the Barwinka was destroyed in the first weeks of the Russian full-scale invasion, more than three years later, the ambulance is still helping to save many lives in Ukraine.

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Changelog

• 29th of June 2025 — Small corrections regarding who was partly responsible for bringing the Barwinka to Germany and clarification that the Barwinka is still owned by the hospital in Derhachi