Bombing in Dnipro: the European Union and Atlas Logistics help the victims
On 14 January 2023, a missile strike hit a high-rise building in Dnipro, East Ukraine. 46 people died, including six children, and 81 persons were injured.
Danish Refugee Council teams distributing thermal covers to Dnipro’s affected population ©DRC | ©
Some patients are still hospitalized. The European Humanitarian Response Capacity (EHRC) operated by Atlas Logistique immediately mobilized their team to help humanitarian actors such as the Ukraine-Dutch Charitable Foundation, SMART Medical Aid, and the Danish Refugee Council to rapidly respond to the emergency.
Helping humanitarian organizations deliver life-saving medical aid in Dnipro’s health centers
In the immediate aftermath of this tragic attack, the EU and Atlas Logistique mobilized its team to rapidly respond to the needs of their partners to deliver life-saving aid to victims. Among others, the Ukraine-Dutch Charitable Foundation SMART Medical Aid, which has been using the EU’s and Atlas Logistique’s common logistics services for six months, provided emergency support to the Regional Medical Center of Family Healthcare. This facility admitted heavily wounded people after the missile strike, including many injured children. Thanks to the reactivity of the EU and Atlas Logistique’s hub, SMART Medical Aid was able to deliver emergency health equipment to the medical facility, such as an anesthesia station for the pediatric intensive care unit, breathing circuits and specialized heaters for liquids and blood. This equipment was used to save the lives of intensive care unit patients.
Iryna Rybinkina, founder of the Ukraine-Dutch Charitable Foundation SMART Medical Aid:
"I'd like to give special thanks to the European Union and Atlas Logistique team for the prompt response to our request. Usually warehouse delivery takes three days from the moment a request is made. But in a situation where urgent assistance was required, our partner accelerated all internal procedures. We've been cooperating with the EU and Atlas Logistique for half a year now. We've provided all the necessary equipment to eight perinatal centers in Ukraine with the help of this logistics system. “
People have lost everything: from their homes to the most basic items
Dnipro’s local authorities received over 400 statements of loss or damage to accommodation. People are left on the street in the middle of winter. Windows are shattered in many nearby apartments. As for SMART Medical Aid organization, many other operational partners have been supported by the EU and Atlas Logistique for the shelling immediate response such as the World Health Organization (WHO), through withdrawal of emergency medicine stocks, or the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), through shipment of thermal covers and hygienic kits. Over the next weeks, these organizations, thanks to our logistical hubs, will continue providing humanitarian assistance to the affected families in Ukraine.
The European Humanitarian Response Capacity (EHRC) is the European Union’s new set of operational tools designed to fill gaps in the humanitarian response to sudden-onset natural hazards and human-induced disasters.
Coordinated by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC), the EHRC is based on 3 pillars:
1. provision of common logistics services to EU humanitarian partners (among others, air and land transport operations and warehousing systems);
2. prepositioned stockpiles of emergency items in critical areas worldwide;
3. provision of expertise, mainly in the health sector, currently under development.
Since April 2022, Atlas Logistique – one of HI's operational units – is intervening in Ukraine though the first pillar of the EHRC instrument. The EHRC and Atlas Logistique have been providing European logistics services to humanitarian partners via the logistics hubs in Vinnytsia, Dnipro and Kharkiv as well as the establishment of a trucking system to deploy humanitarian supplies to hard-to-reach areas where the needs are the highest.
