Ukraine has received passenger buses from Schiphol Airport. These are 29 electric buses that until now were used to transport landed passengers from the plane to the gate.
The vehicles are being sent to Ukraine to transport children to and from school and for city transport. Yesterday the buses were handed over to the Ukrainian embassy.
Schiphol CEO Pieter van Oord came up with the idea to give the buses to Ukraine when he saw that the National Park De Hoge Veluwe had donated five off-road vehicles to that country. "I thought: what a wonderful initiative. Then, when I drove around the airport and saw a long line of dozens of buses that we had since replaced, I wondered what we were going to do with them."
The buses turned out to be for sale, after which the Schiphol CEO decided to investigate whether there was a need for them in Ukraine. Inquiry with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ukrainian embassy showed that the buses were very welcome there, so it was decided to donate them together with four charging stations to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian embassy has determined where the buses are most useful. Ambassador Andriy Kostin is grateful for the solidarity action and says the buses will help people in Ukraine in their daily lives.
Hard needed
The vehicles have been equipped by the Dutch Foundation Protect Ukraine with generators and PowerStations, large charging stations. Protect Ukraine, which has good contacts in Ukraine, has regularly traveled with convoys to the country since the Russian invasion to deliver goods such as trauma packs, medical supplies, and pickup trucks.
Founder Jaap Scholten says the goods in the bus are urgently needed and are used by both civilians and soldiers at the front for electricity. But the buses themselves are also necessary, he says. "By deploying them in Ukraine, the practical barrier is removed, the transport from home to school or office and back."
This is confirmed by Khristina Matvienko. She is a teacher in Kyiv and organizes camps for mothers and wives of soldiers at the front. She says many schools have been destroyed by Russian attacks, and the schools that are open are required to have a shelter. Because not all schools have that and children sometimes live far away, the buses are "essential for education."
After a Russian attack, the government in Ukraine determines whether it is safe for a school to open, she explains. When that is not possible, children must go to another school, but they must be able to get there. Buses help enormously with that.
Many of the children she teaches have known nothing but war, says Matvienko. "By the sound of a rocket, they recognize what kind of projectile it is and whether it is necessary to go to the shelter, sometimes better than adults."
According to Scholten, Schiphol's donation is a good example of how Dutch companies can help Ukraine. The business community can do more, he believes. Since the Russian invasion, the foundation has raised 30 million euros in money and goods, of which less than 7 percent comes from the business sector.
That share could be larger in his opinion. "It would be interesting if companies try to imagine what they could do without and what could be useful in Ukraine." Companies should think of off-road vehicles, vans, generators, and machines they have written off but that people there could use very well, he says.
Scholten emphasizes that the Dutch government does a lot, as do citizens through foundations and initiatives. "Now the business community still."