Irish aid for Ukraine destroyed in Russian drone strike
Aid collected in Ireland for Ukraine has been destroyed in a Russian drone strike on a humanitarian warehouse near Kyiv.
The attack wiped out vital medical equipment and supplies meant for war hit hospitals, prompting fresh appeals for public support.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, co-founder of the charity Ukrainian Action, Anatoly Prymakov, said it has already been difficult to get supplies into Ukraine.
"It's always been difficult. Unfortunately, logistics get disturbed by the war a lot," he said.
"It's taken three weeks to get the truck full of aid from Ireland over to the one of the satellite towns next to Kiev ... It was delivered and unloaded on Friday and ready to be distributed this coming week, from today onwards.
"Unfortunately, the Russians destroyed it."
Authorities in Kyiv said Russia fired its biggest ever drone barrage on Ukraine overnight, just hours after US President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin "crazy" and warned Russia that it risked new sanctions if it kept up its bombardment.
Mr Trump has been trying to broker an end to the three-year war but has failed to extract any major concessions from Russia, despite repeated negotiations between his administration and Moscow and several phone calls between him and Mr Putin.
Russia played down Mr Trump's criticism, claiming Mr Putin was taking measures "necessary to ensure Russia's security".
Mr Prymakov said that he did not forsee deliveries of aid getting easier any time soon.
"It has always been difficult and I don't think it's going to get any better in the coming days, but that's not an excuse, we have to keep going," he said.
"We have to keep helping Ukraine."
Mr Prymakov praised the Irish people for their generosity in donating to Ukraine Action's cause.
"The Irish public have always been very, very generous when it comes to humanitarian assistance towards Ukraine," he said.
"People are more than happy to donate, both monetarily or goods. And whenever these sort of events happen, we have always had a strong response.
"I think the fact that three years into this big invasion, we're still able to put together a truck full of aid, collected for free from the public, and send it over to Ukraine shows that there's still very a lot of goodwill in Ireland," he added.
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