When Russia attacked Ukraine, "experts" said the country would collapse within days.
It's not.
One of the reasons he saidwas that the Russian military was not as effective as people thought. Another is that Ukrainians have surprised the world with their courage to defend their country.
A third reason is thatvolunteers from all over.
experienced combatants joined the Ukrainian Foreign Legion. . Doctors, nurses and others with medical experience maintain the country's healthcare system. Thousands of others are conducting humanitarian activities such as distributing food and medicine.
For my video this week, Stossel TV's Executive Producer Maxim Lott traveled to Ukraine to record them at work.
He rode with Didrik Gunnestad, an ambulance driver and his 27-year-old volunteer from Norway. Gunnestad brought supplies and drove the sick out of the danger zone.
"It was learning by doing," he says. I desperately needed an ambulance. "Most of what happens here is done by volunteers, not government officials."
Tom Palmer, an American at the Atlas Network think tank, is Ukraine. He flew it to Poland, then drove part of it to Ukraine himself. He worked with Ukrainian volunteers to find where aid was most needed.
"It's been amazing for this network to emerge," says Palmer. "It wasn't centrally directed... [volunteers] solved a lot of micro problems that weren't visible in the big hierarchy."
Volunteers also reduce waste.
"There is a lot of loss" in large charities like the Red Cross, says Gnestad. "It's not that someone is skimming from above. It's just the cost of being a big organization."
Governments are even more bureaucratic.
The Polish government certainly wants to help Ukraine, but its bureaucracy often makes it difficult. When I went to the depot where I received the goods, I realized that the bureaucracy had changed the rules. Gnestad was to write to the Polish government to procure supplies. There was no time to wait, so they left empty-handed.
Even the Ukrainian government makes it unnecessarily difficult for volunteers to deliver supplies. Most people are forced to stand in long lines at the border. There were still miles of lines when Lot and Ganestad crossed this summer.
Ambulances are at least generally allowed to skip lines. "But sometimes there are security guards who don't like it," he says Gunnestad. "I've had patients almost die because of guards like that."
He sighed as he passed a long line of trucks. Some people have been lining up for days, even weeks!
We were going to do it, but we were only allowed 400 Ukrainian trucks a day,” says Palmer. "It's not just. Why couldn't they bring in more? If you need more inspections, get more inspectors!"
The bureaucrats did not.
"Perhaps he has seven checkpoints, but he only has two open," Gunnestad complains. "They could at least open all seven."
Lott said. They are not supplying the military with supplies or fuel. But they are saving lives.
For example, Ganestad's team picks up patients in overcrowded hospitals and takes them to less busy facilities.
They also deliver supplies to neglected Ukrainian hospitals. Smaller hospitals often get nothing from the government or the Red Cross, says Gunnestad. “We have a chance to help forgotten places,” he says.
You can help Gunnestad do this work by donating to his GoFundMe his page. This is a way to help Ukrainians without taking risks like Gnestad does.
His ambulance has been shot. Fortunately, the volunteers were not attacked.
"I was always the one to get into dangerous situations," he says. "This job means so much to me that I would die for it."
John Stossel, creator of Stossel TV and "Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media."
