9 h 40.- Tatiana Muller: “Give them a little comfort”
Tatiana Muller is a volunteer and interpreter for the association Échanges Lorraine-Ukraine. She is part of the convoy. His goal: “Bring a little comfort.”
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8 h 40.- The convoy pauses in Frankfurt
The convoy is stopped at Frankfurt, Germany. Relay drivers will arrive from the airport. We take this opportunity to show you the inside of the buses, which are overflowing with donations.
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8 h.- A team has gone ahead to prepare for the arrival of the convoy in Poland
Victor Jacquet, Francois Grosdidier’s chief of staff at the Metz Eurometropolis, and Doctor Raphaël Pitti, emergency war doctor and elected representative from Metz, have already left for Poland. They head for Przemyśl upstream to prepare for the arrival of the convoy.
They are coordinating his departure, scheduled for Monday March 7 at the start of the afternoon, and the proposal made to the refugees, who have arrived in large numbers in this city on the Polish-Ukrainian border, to leave with the convoy to be welcomed in Metz.
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7 h.- The convoy crosses Germany
Messin buses arrive at Kaiserslautern, Germany, and continue their journey towards Poland. A journey of nearly 1,400 kilometers.
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5 h 30.- The humanitarian convoy left Metz
This Sunday, March 6, the Metz humanitarian convoy left at 5:20 a.m. from the Schidler Coaches warehouse. Four buses and trailers were loaded donations, clothing, hygiene and first aid products harvested in recent days.
On board, two doctors, four nurses from the medical reserve of the Eurometropolis of Metz, volunteer drivers, four interpreters from the association Échanges Lorraine-Ukraine, coordinators from the City and the Eurometropolis as well as Marie-Louise Kuntz, representative of the Department of Moselle and Jean-Pierre Burger, president of the Licra and representative of the City of Metz.
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5 h.- The convoy leaves Metz, direction Przemyšl in eastern Poland, a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border
The humanitarian convoy leaves in the direction of Przemyšl. It is the oldest city in southern Poland, after Krakow. This city of 60,000 inhabitants, which is the size of Quimper or one and a half times that of Thionville, has seen the arrival of whole waves of Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war on February 24.
In the Carpathians, Przemyšl is located less than 100 km from Lviv, one of the main cities in eastern Ukraine. It is located 15 km from the Polish-Ukrainian border.
The humanitarian convoy which has just left Metz will pass through Frankfurt am Main, Erfurt, Chemnitz and Dresden in Germanybefore cross the Polish border. Buses will then pass through Wraclav, Katowice and Krakow, before arriving in Przemyšl.
Several drivers, including Thierry Schidler will take turns. The convoy also includes several volunteers from the Echanges Lorraine-Ukraine association, including translators, coordinators, medical staff and journalists from local media.
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Sunday, March 6, 4:50 a.m.- Make donations and help refugees in their flight
For several days, the City and the Eurometropolis of Metz have been working in collaboration with the coach operator Schidler and volunteers from the association Echanges Lorraine-Ukraine to set up a humanitarian convoy. The purpose of this convoy is to deposit the numerous donations collected but also to return with refugees Ukrainians and to house them.
Four buses chartered by the Métropole and Schidler Coaches will therefore leave Metz this Sunday morning, heading for Przemysl on the Polish-Ukrainian border. The buses were loaded with humanitarian donations this Saturday, March 5. Some 250 Ukrainian refugees could be on the return trip.
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Contact has been made with a hotelier in this region of the Carpathians, the final destination of the buses. It is he who, with other inhabitants, will offer the refugees this supervised exodus to France. An announcement with the departure time (scheduled for this Monday, March 8 at 2 p.m. from the Gloria hotel in Przemyšl) was also posted on social networks. City and metropolis always looking for inhabitants ready to open their house. But for the time being, the organizers still do not have the certainty that women, children and the elderly will agree to move away from their country.
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The City and the Metropolis, in partnership with the association Echanges Lorraine-Ukraine, call for continued donations
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