The horror of the war in Ukraine is what the Ukraine Grenoble Isère association wanted to show to the public on Saturday October 2. An ambulance machine-gunned by Kalashnikovs was exhibited in the Jardin de Ville. 200 impacts, which alert passers-by to war crimes committed by the Russian army. The action also aims to collect donations to finance new vehicles on the front.
This project, carried out by a collective of 46 Franco-Ukrainian associations, aims to recall the violence experienced by Ukraine, at war since February 2022 against Russia: “It is important to show it to say that by doing this, by attacking civilians, we are flouting all the rules. There are rules even in war and they are set by the Geneva Convention”, explains Tatyana Lyubchyk, of the Ukraine Grenoble Isère association, in charge of action in the capital of the Alps.
The ambulance was immobilized at the start of the war, in April 2022, in the Kharkiv region. It was then occupied by Russian troops. It was during an intervention to rescue an injured man that the vehicle was targeted. In front of the ambulance, Ali stops for a long moment: “it is riddled with bullets. They are being bombed and killed, what is happening is serious,” describes the passerby. For members of the Ukrainian community, accustomed to this type of image, it is especially painful. “I have family there and a friend on the front, it hurts to see this ambulance coming from my country being mistreated“, says Olya, who has lived in France since she was 4 years old.
A collection of donations to buy new ambulances
The ambulance has already been exhibited in several places: Nice, Marseille, Montélimar and even Valence. In total, it will pass through 40 cities and its next destination is Annecy. The initiative also aims to collect donations: “We would like to raise funds to be able to buy more ambulances like this. In Ukraine, their lifespan is on average only about fifteen days. On the front, these ambulances are victims of gunfire, or even mines”pursued by Tatyana Lyubchyk.
It is possible to participate in this collection of donations, online, through the prize pool launched by the Union of Ukrainians of France.
