A tragedy that united the Ukrainian diaspora

Vladimir Palamar: “We had many partners here in Estonia who came together to help Ukrainians – private companies, NGOs, state institutions! But a great deal of help came from ordinary people… a woman from the island of Muhu knitted socks from Estonian wool for Ukrainians.”

Last week, at the invitation of Olena Khusainova, the Association’s chairman Vladimir Palamar was a guest on the Ukrainian programme “Chervona Kalyna” on Raadio 4.

They talked with the host about the war in Ukraine, how it has united the Ukrainian diaspora in Estonia, and the Association’s wide-ranging work in 2022, a year that became a real challenge for the whole team.

According to Vladimir Palamar, the Association worked very practically and extremely fast during the hot phase of the war. “Of course, we had many partners here in Estonia who came together to help Ukrainians – private companies, NGOs, the Estonian hunters’ and fishermen’s union, the Ministry of Culture, the Tartu-based organisation Vaba Ukraina, which still supports us today! But a great deal of help came from ordinary people.

I want to tell you about one such case:

“When we were sending humanitarian aid and labelling the boxes, Chernihiv was already encircled, the bridges had been blown up and parcels were passed on by hand. So we were very worried about our parcels, as they contained important things, including medicines… We write to them – did you receive the aid? And they happily reply – yes, we did, thank you, and show us an Estonian box full of socks! We say – but we sent medicines?? And they say – don’t worry, we got parcels with Italian medicines from Poland, maybe they got mixed up on the way. And the socks are very important to us!!

Those socks were brought to us by a woman from the island of Muhu who had knitted them from Estonian wool. She once called us and said – I remember how cold I was in Siberia, so I know my socks will definitely keep your people warm,” the chairman shared.

We invite you to listen to the recording of the programme, which is well worth hearing. 

Thank you, Olena, for the invitation! We look forward to even more programmes in Ukrainian)