Two people who worked abroad to help deliver supplies collected in Edmonton to Ukraine have been killed, according to organizers in Alberta.
The delivery was part of an effort to deliver United to Ukraine, a donation boost in Edmonton led by former Prime Minister Ed Stelmakh and former MLA Thomas Lukashuk.
Read more: Donations are sought to replenish the aircraft from Edmonton to help those in Ukraine
“At the border in Poland and throughout Ukraine, we have a network of groups and individual drivers unpacking our containers and our air cargo,” Lukashuk told Global News on Saturday. “And then, breaking it down into smaller loads and delivering it in passenger cars and minibuses, in a very hidden way to places where items are most needed.”
On Saturday, Lukashuk said on Twitter that two of those drivers, believed to be Ukrainian and Polish citizens, had been killed near Mariupol.
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UPDATE: Ed Stelmach and I are saddened and angry to have to inform you that two drivers believed to be Ukrainian and Polish were killed by Russians while delivering some of our United to Ukraine supplies to Mariopol . They are heroes. #Ukraine #cdnpoli #abpoli pic.twitter.com/NutqUGxLtG
– Thomas A. Lukashuk (@LukaszukAB) April 30, 2022
Read more: Alberta begins to welcome people displaced by the war in Ukraine
Lukashuk said medical and emergency supplies were important to those in Ukraine and that the risks of supplying them were well known to drivers.
“The Russian army is monitoring these supplies, which support Ukrainian soldiers and Ukrainian citizens,” Lukashuk said.
“We understand that they were captured and killed just outside Mariupol.
“These people are heroes.”
Read more: Ukrainians plead for evacuation of Mariupol as Russian forces advance
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He said that although the group has no plans to reveal more details about its delivery plans or exactly where the incident took place, they have “several” additional shipping containers leaving Alberta this week. The group managed to collect 300 tons of goods worth more than $ 20 million to ship.
1:46 Efforts in Edmonton to donate protective equipment, medical supplies to Ukraine Efforts in Edmonton to donate protective equipment, medical supplies to Ukraine – March 3, 2022
Lukashuk believes that there will be no shortage of volunteers in the region of Ukraine, despite this incident.
“I do not believe that any of them will be discouraged in any way in doing this work. “They literally save lives with every delivery,” he said.
“I know they will continue to do so. They know what risks they face and they take those risks consciously – and I think that’s what makes them heroes. “
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