“These should be left as operations between authorities”

Currently, the men are with ten other volunteers in Ukraine on an aid trip. This time, 12 wounded Ukrainian soldiers are also on the way back to Finland.

interviewed the men by phone and met the traveling party on Friday in Kyiv, where humanitarian aid was delivered. After that, their journey continued towards Kharkiv.

– We received a request for help from the Ukrainian authorities. It’s about people who have already received the most acute treatment here, but have, for example, had a limb amputated or have other similar injuries that require rehabilitation in Finland, says Timo Kangastie.

According to Kangasti, the purpose is to lighten the burden of medical care in Ukraine. Ukraine has banned men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country, but according to Kangasti, the permits are in order for those going on board.

According to him, the “green light” for bringing soldiers to Finland has been received from the Immigration Office Migri. Manager of the reception unit Pekka Nuutinen I don’t think it’s that clear cut.

– We have received information from them that something like this is going on. But the Finnish Immigration Service or any other agency is certainly not in a position to give the green light to such an operation, says Nuutinen.

He is not aware that volunteers have previously brought wounded soldiers to Finland.

In Pekka Nuutinen’s opinion, there are big risks involved in bringing wounded and sick people. Who will take responsibility if something happens, he wonders.

– In our opinion, these should be left as operations between authorities.

According to the news, there has been talk of official requests for help before, but it is difficult to verify them.

– No concrete entities or names have been presented to us.

Timo Kangastie, who organizes refugee transports, says that he has been in contact with the authorities about his intentions. In his opinion, the attitude has sometimes been harsh.

– There’s always someone on vacation or it just feels like they’re not interested. Or they say that we will have time for it later. But help is needed today.

According to Timo Kangasti, the volunteers have also been in contact with hospitals in Finland.

The hospital district of Helsinki and Uusimaa vs. the chief administrative physician Veli-Matti Ulander’s according to the hospital received information about possible incoming wounded soldiers on Friday.

According to Ulander, helping refugees is important, but if the injured are being taken to hospitals, it should be announced well in advance.

– It has to be planned. I don’t think it is advisable to suddenly bring injured people to, for example, the emergency room. The medical care is already in an unprecedentedly difficult situation and dozens of surgery patients are waiting for urgent treatment, Ulander reminds.

According to Ulander, there is currently one patient brought from Ukraine through cooperation with the authorities to be treated at HUS. Cooperation between authorities is coordinated in Finland by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

Wounded soldiers also need help with their mental injuries. According to Kangasti, provision has been made for this as well.

– We have a doctor-level person with us on the trip. Through Migri, we try to get them help in Finland as well, preferably in our own language, says Kangastie.

According to Migri’s Pekka Nuutinen, those who arrive in Finland and apply for temporary protection are of course entitled to the health services that are available through Migri.

– The situation is being assessed, but such an operation is not our partner in providing such services. If and when such people come, our partners will be authorities here as well.

The proposal to apply for soldiers came from the Finland-Ukraine national defense association and its founder, from Vantaa Kirill from Rintine.

He takes care of all the arrangements in Ukraine through his own contacts. Rinne founded the association when he noticed that refugees are helped much more generously than the Ukrainian army.

– Most of the aid that goes to Ukraine is humanitarian aid. But the war is not won with diapers. Thanks to my military and reservist background, I know exactly what is needed at the front, says Rinne.

The association supplies selected units of the Ukrainian army with the supplies they ordered, such as bulletproof vests, binoculars, field uniforms, and the like. The association is also ready to help volunteers who would like to go and fight for Ukraine, and now a new occupation would be to send injured soldiers to Finland.

According to Rinne, treating the wounded in the war would also benefit Finnish medical expertise.

– It is an experience worth its weight in gold. In Finland, for example, there are no shrapnel wound patients and they cannot be treated. From the point of view of Finland’s security, it is good that people with war wounds are taken to Finland for treatment, Rinne thinks.

Timo Kangastie, who has already made 20 aid trips, has no relatives in Ukraine, but still a full-scale war near his own country touched a lot.

– I personally thought that if a country attacks Finland, I hope that other countries would help Finland and its people to safety. Nothing justifies an attack on another country, says Kangastie.

On Monday, Rinne, Kangastie and a group of other volunteers had already left Kharkiv with a total of 80 Ukrainians.

Picking them up right near the Russian stations, in a city under almost constant bombardment, was a nerve-wracking experience, describes Timo Kangastie.

– Shots and a bang from somewhere were heard almost all the time. Here, of course, we are in danger all the time, but there it was very special.

According to Kangasti, the party in Kharkiv was also supposed to document the destruction of the war.

According to him, the party was protected by a military convoy in Kharkiv. The participating volunteers are also equipped with, among other things, bulletproof vests.

– We have informed our next of kin that we know that there is also the possibility that there is no way back.

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