02/03/2026
Right now, as you read this, our life-saving medical bus has safely crossed the border from Ukraine into Poland and is heading toward Warsaw. Volunteers and paramedics are already waiting for it there. Hostel rooms are prepared, and families who are ready to take in our most vulnerable evacuees have opened their homes.
The bus has departed from Odesa and traveled on to Dnipro, successfully evacuating passengers in Kharkiv—despite daily shelling—as well as in freezing Kyiv and the border city of Lutsk.
This journey has not been without challenges. In Dnipro, the bus broke down and required urgent repairs. In Kharkiv, we evacuated a mother traveling alone with her three children. In Kyiv, under the sound of ongoing shelling, volunteers carefully boarded three passengers who are unable to walk.
This is a milestone for our organization: the first medical evacuation bus in our history, equipped to carry 44 seated passengers and 7 patients who can travel lying down.
This bus has existed for years, previously rented by partner volunteer organizations who generously shared seats whenever possible. But medical evacuations demand absolute certainty. We must be 100% sure that a trip will take place on a specific date and that the promised places will be available, especially for people who can only be transported lying down. Unfortunately, financial and coordination challenges meant we could no longer guarantee this reliability for our most vulnerable beneficiaries.
The passengers on today’s bus have been waiting since the end of last year. Faced with their growing medical risks and lack of alternatives, we decided to take the matter into our own hands.
Renting this specialized medical bus costs $3,600. That amount could have allowed us to evacuate 150 people on the Lviv–Warsaw route or buy about 70 standard tickets across Europe. But evacuating even one bedridden patient from Kharkiv or Dnipro can cost hundreds of dollars—and this bus provides seven fully equipped stretcher spaces at once. After careful deliberation, we chose to take the risk.
In addition to the high cost of evacuation itself, the situation was made even more complicated by the fact that, at the beginning of this year, the only free hostel for Ukrainians in Warsaw closed for good, which added to housing expenses. Add to that European travel tickets for people with disabilities and severe health conditions who cannot manage long journeys and transfers… In short, this turns into a “golden” trip—but a very necessary one.
This mission is made possible by an extraordinary team:
• Ритка Винокур, who organized dozens of evacuation buses between Narva and Riga, dispatching them up to three times a week during peak evacuation periods.
• Игорь Ильин, who for three years served as the vital link between Rubikus and the medical transport team.
• Lena Shmuter, coordinator of our Lviv routes, who knows Ukraine’s roads better than Google Maps.
• Victoria (Barrier-Free Foundation), who finds volunteers in any Ukrainian city and ensures that even the most severely disabled passengers can reach the bus.
• Rastsislau Permiakou, the long-standing leader of the welcoming Asymetryści team.
• Anna Mirkowska, who secures safe, compassionate housing for our most vulnerable evacuees.
• Ekaterina Tretjakova, former head of our Riga hub, is capable of resettling an entire busload of people with precision and care.
Our goal was to use every seat on the bus while carefully accounting for the unique medical and physical needs of each passenger.
Today, the medical bus is on the road. As it travels, we will share the stories of those who were able to secure the precious stretcher places—and those who, despite serious health conditions, will endure the journey seated. We will also tell you about passengers who are not only saving their own lives, but are helping complete strangers with severe illnesses survive a long and difficult journey.
The oldest passenger was born in 1946. The youngest—in 2024.
Among them is a young girl who has bravely beaten cancer, as well as several people currently fighting this disease. There are pregnant women, large families, wheelchair users, people with prosthetics—for most of them, a bus that can pick them up in their hometown is their only chance to escape. We chose to give them that chance.
While the bus is in transit, we urgently need to raise funds to cover:
• medical bus rental
• housing in Warsaw
• onward travel across Europe for passengers with complex medical needs
Our estimated total is $7,000 USD.
If we succeed, this medical bus will not be a one-time effort. It will mean we can repeat this mission next month—and save even more lives.
Please help us help others.
If you are ready to donate in US dollars, you can use:
Zelle: [email protected]
Venmo:
Or any bank card:
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5HHRTP968AYLE
If euros work better for you, you can also donate with any bank card, but please keep in mind that Rubikus e.V. is recognized as an “undesirable organization” in the Russian Federation:
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=RX494MS6H29Q2
