Markus Wasmeier in the Ukraine: relief supplies brought up to 250 kilometers from Kyiv
Created: 03/15/2022, 07:00
By: Jonas Napiletzki
Markus Wasmeier (l.) brought relief supplies to the Ukraine with vans and five friends.
The group made the return journey with three Ukrainian women and three children.
© Private
Ski legend Markus Wasmeier and five other drivers brought relief supplies to Krasnopilka.
The Ukrainian village is 250 kilometers from the capital Kyiv.
Schliersee – Markus Wasmeier had driven 1,692 kilometers to the east when he said on the phone: "We're right in the middle." And right in the middle, says Wasmeier, "it's extremely quiet." These are the first impressions that the former ski racer has in the Ukraine collects.
Not the first at all – Wasmeier has had close ties to the country since the Ukrainian Week, which he organized in his open-air museum in Schliersee in 2009 at the latest.
But these are the first impressions he has had since the start of the Russian war of aggression.
The 58-year-old left for Krasnopilka on Sunday with three vans, another five drivers, surgical equipment, oxygen, clothes, food and "everything that reaches across the field in medicine".
Because the power grid is also damaged in some parts of Ukraine, the group also packed aggregates.
With a red cross behind the windshield: Markus Wasmeier drives to the Ukraine
The village of 1,600 is located about 250 kilometers south of Kyiv in the Ukraine and, according to Wasmeier, serves as a kind of intermediate station.
"It's a bit quieter here," says Schlierseer.
At the time of the phone call, he had had a short night's sleep.
"We left at half past five in the morning on Sunday." Because there is a night curfew in the affected area of Ukraine, the convoy spent the night on Monday at the border on the Hungarian side.
At six o'clock we continued.
At 12 p.m. Wasmeier then reported on Facebook: "Our aid transporters have arrived in the Ukraine and are now being loaded!"
Up until then everything was going smoothly.
Because transports to the Hungarian border – away from NATO – are not well received by all those involved in the war, Wasmeier’s squad stuck red crosses behind the windshields of the transporters.
But A4 paper with masking tape is not enough, Schlierseer estimates.
But the transport was lucky.
The convoy passed the borders and a total of six checkpoints unhindered.
"We had support from customs and received transit permits."
Wasmeier and his comrades-in-arms rescue three women and three children from the Ukraine
Is he afraid?
"For me, it's really about helping," says Schlierseer.
He's willing to take a risk for that.
On site, however, everything is still "clearly structured", the people are calm and focused.
The six drivers head home with three Ukrainian women and three children.
Wasmeier reports: "One of the mothers is seriously ill."
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