Ukraine maritime businesses started sponsoring the border guard corps
They donated to defenders of Ukraine military equipment and “armor-piercing” books from Den’s Library series
All-Ukrainian Union of Crewing Companies [Crewing is recruiting sailors to man ships. – Author], group of crewing companies “V.Ships Ukraine,” companies “Bark Marine” and “Aquaservice,” and Foundation in Support of the Newspaper Den’s Initiatives recently presented Ukrainian border guards serving in the Donbas with a Mercedes passenger bus, US-made army folding beds, military equipment, and essential aid.
In addition, the border guards’ arsenal was supplemented with intelligent “shells,” as the men received a set of books on history from Den’s Library, including Ukraina Incognita, The Power of the Soft Sign as well as series “Armor-Piercing Political Writing” and “Subversive Literature.”
Sea captain and director general of the All-Ukrainian Union of Crewing Companies Viacheslav Kyslovsky said: “We sailors have a long-standing relationship with the border guards, because they are the last to see us off when departing and the first to welcome us at home. They are asking us for help now, and we have made a list of demands, raised money, bought and donated essential supplies. The boys were long asking for a bus, and we have bought it as well.”
Donations were presented in a festive atmosphere at the border guard base in Bortnychi. “When our boys saw this sign of the public concern for them, their eyes lit up, as the guards understood that people remembered them,” Kyslovsky shared his impressions with us. The men will soon go to Luhansk region to protect the border under constant bombardment by the separatists and from Russia.
The Ukrainian businessmen have been helping the border guards for several months already, providing the men with body armor and Kevlar helmets. They have now added intellectual nourishment to this protective equipment. According to Kyslovsky, the border runs through sparsely populated areas, where lack of reading material adds to other hardships facing the men. To rectify it, the boys have got patriotic publications to remember what Ukraine is. More generally, “intellectual ammunition” from Den is regularly sent to military schools, hospitals, and military units. Soldiers in the anti-terrorist operation area also constantly get fresh copies of Den, full of stories about their exploits. It was the border guards’ turn now to receive their shipment of “armor-piercing” literature, and the boys were excited about it.
Businessmen say that the guards are now lacking hygiene products, including towels and socks. Keep them supplied is difficult under combat conditions, while demand for them is constant. Businessmen are trying to provide soldiers with usual everyday goods. Director of the Marine Pro Service crewing agency Serhii Kozhan of Odesa region stressed: “With winter coming, we are going to buy warm clothes. More generally, we will send to them whatever the boys need. Our border guards bear great responsibility, because they are the first to meet the enemy.”
Kyslovsky noted: “I want peace to return. After a tour of duty in the Donbas, commanders change their outlook. We live peacefully in Kyiv, watch satellite TV, and patronize restaurants, while the boys in the east are only thinking about the peace, even their eyes look differently.”
