Buy and Transport Essential Aid to the Front

We are on the brink of a totally avoidable disaster that will have global implications.  More on this shortly.

I am Simon Atkinson, a former British Army Officer, and resident of Bishopbriggs, Glasgow.   I have spent the last six weeks embedded within the Ukrainian diaspora, successfully evacuating Ukrainian non combatants to places of safety where they can be supported until it is safe to return home.
 
I now have access to an in-country logistics and distribution network staffed by Ukrainians, who will transport food, and other humanitarian aid from origin to destination.  We have offered this capability to aid agencies who have humanitarian aid piled in their border warehouses.  Still, they would rather it stays where it is for unknown reasons.
 
I am incredibly frustrated by the lack of impetus shown by large aid agencies, which all have massive funding but who have not distributed donated aid to the front lines where it is most desperately needed.
 
Therefore, I propose that we do this ourselves.  We will buy, transport and distribute essential aid to the people needing it the most - be them in Mariupol, Odessa, Kharkiv or Kyiv.

The problem I am faced with is that I’m not a big name, I’m not a brand, I’m not a celebrity, I don’t stand there clutching at pearls at an Oscar ceremony crying about how awful things are whilst taking home a 150k value goody bag.  I do however get frustrated at the lack of tempo and the bureaucratic intransigence of big brand agencies who claim that they are putting our donations to good use, whilst - comparatively speaking - they do very little.

Warehouses in the country are at critical levels and the supply chain is essentially dead.  Not just for food and consumables, but also for essential medical resources to stock hospitals, clinics and pharmacies,  Some may say that  is understandable - but it is actually mostly avoidable.  

Big name NGOs have had multi millions donated to them to procure aid that is sat outside of the country - or even worse, are using it in funding beautiful offices and 6 figure salaries on K Street. 

I am  frustrated at the lack of momentum, ingenuity, determination, drive and good old fashioned guts, shown by groups sat on millions whilst I hear of women and kids in Mariupol eating dog food because they have nothing else.  

Why is this  a humanitarian disaster in the making with truly global implications?  Aside from the terrible privations at the national level, Ukraine is one of the world’s biggest exporters of grain.  The harvest will not happen, as most people are fighting.  This will produce a grain shortage that will drive up global food prices to levels we have not seen in our lifetimes.  Next year’s crop may not be planted - certainly not at the scale needed.  Coupled with the fact that neighbouring Belarus is a huge global exporter of potash (a hugely important fertiliser), and that sanctions have banned its export, we are putting in place the chess pieces for long term shortages of staple items.

The huge price increases will drive up cost of food basics.  These price rises may be absorbed to a degree by more developed nations.  However, poorer nations will not be able to afford it.  The result?  Massive famine across Africa and elsewhere in the next two years.  The further impact?  More destabilisation and war.  It is a perfect storm.

The war in Ukraine needs to end for much bigger reasons than the local humanitarian tragedy.

That said - I can only fight the battles I can win.  Through the network I am embedded within, I have access to an impressive Ukrainian logistics network that can securely transport and distribute food and medical aid and other material needs throughout the country.  It isn’t elegant, it isn’t ’smart procurement’ but it  works - because we make sure it works.  

What do I need? 

I need organisations who are sat on stuff they cannot move to get n touch with me.  I will move it.

Any and all donations to assist in direct purchase and delivery of aid.

Contacts who are able to assist with direct donations of pharmaceuticals and/or medical consumables to assist in restocking clinics and hospitals.

Any assistance in raising the profile of this campaign so we can quickly meet - and exceed - its initial aims.