From Generators to Buses: How European Allied Cities Have Been Helping Vinnytsia Since the Start of the Full-Scale Invasion

'War always puts cities to the test. In times like these, it becomes particularly clear who is truly there for you. Aid poured in from all directions – to hospitals, schools, shelters, transport, and humanitarian centres. Karlsruhe sent generators to Vinnytsia, equipment for resilience centres, everything needed for hospitals, shelters and rehabilitation centres, furniture, buses, building materials and machinery. Ventspils came to the rescue during one of the most difficult periods – with generators, transport, heaters, food and essential items. Other partner and twin cities took on another important area – the rehabilitation of children of military personnel and children of fallen defenders,' says Halyna Yakubovych, Deputy Mayor of Vinnytsia.

Karlsruhe, Germany

Equipment for resilience centres, tents, generators, heaters and technical equipment for urban infrastructure – all of this was delivered to the community to ensure that warming centres remained operational during blackouts, so that people could charge their phones, receive basic assistance and cope more easily with the power cuts. To collect supplies in Karlsruhe, charity fairs and community initiatives were organised, involving local residents, the Ukrainian community, businesses and civil society organisations.

In 2023, aid from Karlsruhe was scaled up. Two large lorries arrived in Vinnytsia carrying hospital beds, bedside tables, desks, chairs and blackboards for school shelters. They also delivered cots, high chairs, car seats, clothing, footwear, nappies, toys, mattresses, blankets and other everyday items. In the same year, Karlsruhe donated a modern refuse collection lorry to Vinnytsia for the municipal company ‘EcoVin’. During visits by representatives of Vinnytsia to Karlsruhe, the mayor thanked the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Karlsruhe for its ongoing support of Ukraine and Vinnytsia.

In 2024, the partners focused on the items most urgently needed by hospitals, rehabilitation centres and children. Vinnytsia received a Fiat Ducato minibus for a veterans’ rehabilitation centre, an anaesthesia machine, a mobile ventilator, and special tables for patient recovery. Separately, aid was delivered to one of the city’s secondary schools, where a radiation shelter for 850 children and adults was set up. Seating, first-aid kits, blankets, water and other essential items were brought there to ensure people’s safety and comfort inside the building during alerts.

In 2025, volunteers delivered 800 school desks and chairs for secondary schools, over 19 tonnes of aid for the ‘Vinnytsia’ humanitarian hub, 50 fire extinguishers, a coach and two more low-floor Mercedes-Benz Citaro city buses with ramps, which have been transporting passengers on one of the most popular routes for several months now. The humanitarian hub also received 7 medical couches, 5 wheelchairs, 25 items of furniture and 19,600 kg of building materials for the repair and restoration of the premises where people are being helped.

Support from Karlsruhe continues. Vinnytsia recently received a new humanitarian consignment from its twin city: over 200 metres of pre-insulated pipes for the district heating company, as well as 20 modern hospital beds, bedside tables and rehabilitation equipment. The aid was delivered with financial support from GIZ as part of the ‘Support for Ukrainian Municipalities During the War’ project.

Most of the medical equipment will be transferred to the rehabilitation department of Vinnytsia City Clinical Hospital No. 1.

The pipes and fittings will be received by the city’s heating supply company — this will help to resolve network faults more quickly and provide a more stable service to residents.

Nancy, France

Support from this twin town focused primarily on the community’s healthcare facilities and on assistance with the treatment and rehabilitation of patients. In January 2025, two lorries of aid arrived in the community, which was distributed among hospitals and primary healthcare centres. This included beds, medicines, medical consumables, wheelchairs, furniture and other equipment. By March, the partners from Nancy had delivered a further 10 tonnes of supplies to the city: adjustable beds, rehabilitation equipment, medical furniture, an exercise bike for patient recovery, as well as 472 boxes of medicines, dressings and consumables.

Münster, Germany

This partner city stepped in to support Vinnytsia at a time when the community needed both aid for resilience centres and equipment for medical services, civil protection and municipal services. In late 2022, Münster provided the community with aid for resilience centres – food, kitchen equipment, generators and other essential supplies. In July 2023, rollators, exercise machines, spinning bikes and other rehabilitation equipment were delivered to the rehabilitation ward of City Clinical Hospital No. 1. And in August, the community received a minibus, two more generators, tools and equipment for civil protection services and municipal utilities.

And as early as February this year, as part of the Vinnytsia–Münster–Lublin partnership, the city received a specialised minibus for social services. It is used to transport people with disabilities, war veterans and residents with limited mobility.

Münster continues to support Vinnytsia to this day. Recently, rehabilitation equipment for hospitals and over 60 sets of school furniture – desks and chairs – were delivered to the community. All of this was distributed among medical and educational institutions where such assistance is most needed.

Ventspils, Latvia

In 2022, following attacks on energy infrastructure, the municipality of Ventspils and its residents promptly donated two diesel generators, rated at 50 and 60 kW, to Vinnytsia. These helped to keep the city’s infrastructure running during power cuts.

The following year, Ventspils donated a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter minibus to Vinnytsia, which had previously been used for passenger transport in the Latvian city. It was used to deliver generators, heaters, clothing, food and other essential items. This proved helpful both during the cold spell and in providing day-to-day support for the people.

Kielce, Poland

In 2022, Kielce provided the community with food and hygiene products, and in December, a 9-tonne consignment of food arrived in Vinnytsia for large and socially vulnerable families. The following year, the city donated a further 9 tonnes of food and hygiene products for internally displaced persons and local residents. In 2025, this support continued: Vinnytsia received three generators.

Panevėžys, Lithuania

In spring 2022, a large consignment of food, hygiene products, medical supplies, children’s drawings and stationery arrived in Vinnytsia from Panevėžys. In 2025, the partners donated three generators to the community. One was installed at Vocational School No. 11, and the other two at Nursery Schools No. 67 and No. 75.

Peterborough, United Kingdom

Our twin town, Peterborough, began supporting Vinnytsia from the very first months of the full-scale war, and later focused specifically on helping children.

In 2022, the community received a 10-tonne shipment containing food, first-aid kits, clothing, hygiene products and household cleaning products. This helped meet people’s basic needs during the first months of the major war. Another important area of support from Peterborough concerned children. In 2024, British volunteers donated Chromebooks to Vinnytsia, which were distributed to vulnerable children for their education.

A separate area of international support is the rehabilitation of children of combatants, in particular the sons and daughters of Ukraine’s fallen defenders. The programme was joined by Kielce, Gdynia, Karlsruhe, Münster, Nancy, Dijon, the Liberec Region, Panevėžys, and Ventspils. Over four years, with the support of partner and twin towns, 730 children benefited from the health programmes. For them, this was an opportunity to spend time in a safer environment, to rest and to recover, at least to some extent.

For Vinnytsia community, it is important to feel that there are friends nearby who support us not with words, but with deeds. We thank our partner and twin towns for their friendly support and for standing by us.