Estonian police donate 31 police cars to Ukraine

The Estonian Police and Border Guard Board has donated to the Ukrainian police 31 cars that were previously used by local police officers in Estonia and are no longer in use.

With this donation, Estonia helps to renew the vehicle fleets of the Zhytomyr and Chernihiv police.

Director general of the Police and Border Guard Board Egert Belitsev said that the Ukrainian police are working on the front lines of the war, facing numerous crisis-related tasks.

«At the beginning of the year, a small delegation from the Police and Border Guard Board visited our colleagues in Ukraine, where it was mentioned that their vehicle fleet had been partially destroyed in the war and is very old; for example, they are still using Soviet-era equipment. In addition to ensuring daily security, the Ukrainian police are investigating war crimes, and a lack of vehicles should not hinder their work. We decided to donate our old cars to Ukraine because we were also updating our vehicle fleet at the time,» Belitsev said.

The donation includes 15 Volkswagen Tiguans and 16 Skoda Octavias, which were previously used by local police officers and have now been replaced.

The cars were handed over to the Ukrainian police in the cities of Zhytomyr and Chernihiv, who are long-term partners of the Estonian police. The vehicles were delivered to the Ukrainian officers in the border town of Rzeszow, Poland, by a 39-member team of the Police and Border Guard Board.

«Our people have a strong desire to support Ukraine and help them achieve victory, and our police officers delivered the donation in their free time. There were many times more volunteers willing to help than there were cars,» Belitsev noted.

On Sunday, Ivan Vyhivskyi, chief of the National Police of Ukraine, thanked the Estonian police for their assistance in Lviv.

«Estonia supporting us means a lot for the Ukrainian police, and we are pleased that cars that previously served Estonians will now help Ukrainians,» Vyhivskyi said.

In addition to the cars, 175 bulletproof vests that are no longer used by the Estonian police were sent to Ukraine. These vests will be used to equip police cadets in Ukraine.

The donation was facilitated by the Estonian group of the International Police Association (IPA), Circle K, and Rohe Auto AS.