An estimated €5 million worth of urgently needed medical supplies and equipment are being shipped from Ireland to Ukraine this week.
It is the largest medical aid shipment organised to date by Medical Help Ukraine, an initiative set up by a group of Ukrainian doctors working in the Irish healthcare system.
"Its heartbreaking to see my country like this, and we started this campaign with the goal of helping our Ukrainian colleagues... we talk directly to Ukrainian doctors and Ukrainian volunteering organisations, they are telling us what they want and where they need it," said Dr Kateryna Kachurets, a GP based in Tallaght and one of the founders of Medical Help Ukraine.
In February, the first consignment of first aid and emergency supplies was dispatched in two vans and an ambulance.
Since then many more deliveries have been made, and a further nine ambulances were also donated.
"We had one of our own ambulances and nine donated from the HSE," David Hall, CEO of Lifeline Ambulance Service said.
"Each of those ambulances was full of equipment, it was equipped to be able to operate as an ambulance when it arrived in Ukraine, and then it was also loaded with a huge amount of equipment to be given to the various hospitals."
Lifeline Ambulance Service is also coordinating Medical Help Ukraine's aid deliveries to the Polish-Ukrainian border, where they are then collected by a Ukrainian transport team and brought into Ukraine.
Dr Kachurets said that they are succeeding in getting aid to a number of cities throughout the country, including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Chernihiv.
"Just last week we were so so lucky that one of the ambulances that was donated to us... got to Chernihiv a couple of hours before the bridge was bombed," Dr Kachurets said.
Between yesterday and this coming Thursday, Medical Help Ukraine is sending a further ten vans and up to six articulated lorries of medical aid from Ireland.
The vans, which will set off on Tuesday, are transporting largely field hospital supplies, including bandages, dressings, burns equipment, tourniquets and surgical staplers.
One lorry, which will depart tomorrow, is transporting medicines.
One which departed yesterday is transporting much needed medical equipment.
Two more lorries, carrying similar loads, will also set off on Tuesday, and a further two are expected to leave towards the end of the week.
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Dr Kachurets said this scaling-up of its operation is needed as healthcare facilities in Ukraine are in "crisis".
"In the beginning of the invasion things weren't that bad because they weren't bombing the healthcare facilities directly but in the last couple of week they bombed over 100 healthcare facilities so the need to support the infrastructure there is much larger now," Dr Kachurets said.
The HSE confirmed that the 40ft lorry that departed for Poland yesterday was filled with equipment it provided, including ultrasound machines, mobile x-ray machines, ventilators, incubators, endoscopic equipment, screens, monitors and syringe pumps.
"This is the first container of the 4,500 items donated (by the HSE to Medical Help Ukraine) and further containers will ship next week," a HSE spokesperson said.
Private hospitals have also donated over €100,000 in supplies, and over €650,000 has been raised via a GoFundMe page.
The initiative is also being supported by the Ukrainian Embassy of Ireland, UPMC Ireland, Clonmel Healthcare, Ryanair, Irish Ferries, DFDS Seaways, and many others.
Professor of immunology at Trinity College Dublin, Luke O'Neill, was among those packing one of the vans with supplies today, and he will be travelling with the convoy on Tuesday.
"This van is heading off directly to the border with Poland, and then Ukrainians come across and collect the supplies and bring them straight to hospitals and it is a wonderful example of cutting out the middle man in many ways, and I was just asked to help, so I said "yeah, I'll come along," Professor O'Neill said.
This is just one part of Professor O'Neill's work in highlighting medical aid efforts to support those in need in Ukraine.
As an Ambassador for De Paul Ireland, Professor O'Neill will travel on to Bratislava in Slovakia, where De Paul is operating a medical supply mission into Ukraine.
