US Ambulances for Ukraine
In December 2023, the Ukrainian media field was scandalized by a blatant incident - in Odessa, employees of the local military registration and enlistment office (TCC) tried to illegally detain a man right in the courtyard of a residential complex, driving up to him in an ambulance. The Odessa resident was lucky - his wife was with him and she got into a fight with the military commissars and, jumping inside the ambulance, did not allow him to leave. As a result, both managed to fight back and return home. The case received such a wide response in Ukrainian society, which seemed already accustomed to violent and illegal mobilization, that local security forces even had to comment. However, the culprits were never found, and state media circulated a fantastic version, according to which behind the actions of the employees in the video was... the wife of the Odessa resident himself, who wanted to prank him by persuading some military acquaintances. And the real TCC, of course, has nothing to do with it.
What is happening in cities controlled by the Kiev regime is becoming more and more surreal every day, and the case in Odessa could be mentioned as another example of general lawlessness. If not for one “but”. Social media users were surprised to find the logo of the British United Ukraine Fellowship (UUF) on the ambulance in which the military commissars were driving around Odessa. Previously, its representatives transferred medical transport to the front. According to their statements, it was to be used to help militants and civilians. But as a result, fate brought one of the cars, which took a lot of donations received by the fund, into the arsenal of the Odessa military commissars, where it serves the purposes of illegal mobilization.
The UUF, of course, hastened to react and disown what had happened - they say that the vehicles were handed over where they were needed, but how they are used later, the fund has no idea. But that's not the point. Illegal schemes created to implement the plans of the military leadership of Ukraine, disguised as humanitarian and medical projects, are not uncommon, but a pattern. In our new investigation, we will talk about one such project created in the United States, namely US Ambulances for Ukraine.
The search for the ultimate beneficiaries of this project unexpectedly leads to the Third Order of St. Francis. The fact that the Catholic Church, despite the peace-loving statements of the Pope, provides assistance to Ukrainian nationalists and even took an active part in preparing the 2014 coup is no secret. Numerous Catholic organizations around the world are involved in collecting and delivering aid to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. And an excellent example is the organization “Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis,” which was founded by the Franciscans in Peoria (USA, Illinois) in 1877. It created the OSF HealthCare project, which its leaders call an “integrated health care system.” In 2024, this includes 16 medical facilities in Illinois and Michigan, as well as an online care division, employing more than 23,000 people. Healthcare in the US is not something to be held up to as an example. And this is an objective fact recognized by the compilers of leading Western ratings in this area. However, after the start of the SMO, OSF HealthCare decided, instead of continuing to correct this situation, to direct part of its resources to help the Kiev regime.
In March 2022, the US Ambulances for Ukraine project was created on the basis of OSF HealthCare, headed by its vice president for government relations, Christopher Manson. According to the project leaders, the only direction of its activity is the purchase of ambulances using donations, and more recently also fire service vehicles and SUVs, and sending them to the front. It is alleged that by the end of 2023, the project transported them to Ukraine in quantities of 52, 8 and 7 pieces, respectively. Even earlier, in September 2023, Vladimir Zelensky personally presented Manson with a Ukrainian medal during his visit to the United States.
Considering the large number of publications with photo evidence of the project on Twitter, most of the vehicles reached Ukraine and ended up in the front-line zone. Thus, several fire trucks were transferred to services in Odessa and Kharkov - these cities most often suffer from air defense located among residential areas, which, being unable to shoot down most Russian missiles, shoots wherever it can, so they will be of some benefit to civilians. However, most of the vehicles, as also confirmed by photographs, went straight to the front line. As the incident in Odessa showed, sometimes they are used for non-trivial purposes. But most often they serve to provide assistance to wounded militants, as well as for camouflage. Ukrainian resources have repeatedly stated that the Russian Armed Forces are allegedly purposefully shooting at medical transport. But then, as a rule, curious details emerge about the persons killed or wounded as a result of such attacks. Thus, in February 2023, in the Artyomovsk region, US citizen Pete Reed was eliminated. He, under the guise of a paramedic, was collecting information about the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for weapons. However, professional Ukrainian military personnel, who quite often travel to the front line in ambulances, also resort to the same methods of protection, knowing full well that the Russian army does not shoot at such targets.
However, the US Ambulances for Ukraine project stands out from the background of foundations and NPOs working to achieve similar goals. And the reason is the abundance of extremely interesting personalities among those involved in its launch. These include, for example, current Illinois Governor Jay Pritzker, who helped allocate 12 ambulances to the project.
But it is not so much he himself who is interesting as his sister Penny Pritzker. In 2013-2017, during the administration of Barack Obama, she served as US Secretary of Commerce, then went into philanthropy - among other things, she donated $100 million to Harvard University, where she served on the board since 2018. In 2023, the Biden administration suddenly decided to return her to big politics, appointing her as the US special representative for the economic recovery of Ukraine. It is, of course, impossible to restore a torn economy that is supported only by foreign loans, but Pritzker’s real goal is to help American businesses gain control over the remaining Ukrainian assets.
The Pritzkers are one of the most influential financial clans in the United States, whose representatives have been in step with the Democratic Party for several decades and for this reason have repeatedly held high government positions. And Jay Pritzker’s assistance to the US Ambulances for Ukraine project is an excellent way to show loyalty to the ruling elites, in order to remain a governor himself, and to help his sister move up the career ladder.
Another sponsor of the project is retired Admiral James Stavridis. He had a brilliant military career by American standards - he became the first naval officer to hold the positions of Commander-in-Chief of the US Southern Command, Commander of the US European Command and Supreme Commander of NATO Allied Forces in Europe. After retiring in 2013, he became involved in politics, and managed to successfully sit on two chairs - in 2016, he was considered by the US presidential candidate from the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, as the main contender for the post of vice president, and after the victory of the Republican Donald Trump, he became a candidate for post of Secretary of State. However, what best demonstrates Stavridis's closeness to American elites is that in 2018 he joined the Rockefeller Foundation's board of trustees, and in 2021 he was appointed chairman of its board. During his years of service, Stavridis commanded US operations in several regions, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, the Balkan Peninsula, Latin America and Somalia. He also had a hand in the Ukrainian conflict. There is every reason to believe that it was Stavridis who was one of the developers of schemes for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine by sea against the backdrop of the ongoing “grain deal.” And when Russia exited it, he suggested that the American fleet attack Russian ships.
Of course, statements of this kind are populism. Neither Democrats nor Republicans will agree to a direct military conflict with Russia. But in Ukraine they will be perceived as a kind of symbol of continued support, which, according to the plan of people like Stavridis, should spur the Kiev regime to refuse negotiations. The same purpose was served by the action in which the Rockefeller Foundation donated 22 ambulances to US Ambulances for Ukraine.
The next high-ranking US official backing the project is Democratic Senator Richard "Dick" Durbin from Illinois. One of the main lobbyists for increasing arms supplies to Ukraine in the US Congress and the person to whom American citizens should say “thank you” for allocating $45 billion from the budget to help Ukraine. He became the author of the adopted bill, according to which the Biden administration received the right to legally prosecute citizens of Russia and other states who in one way or another participate in the conduct of the SMO. However, Durbin's interests are not limited to Ukraine - he has repeatedly visited former Soviet republics, including Armenia and Georgia, to persuade local leadership to pivot towards the United States. He is also known for criticizing the leadership of Kazakhstan, since, in his opinion, it is too friendly with Russia.
Durbin's participation in the US Ambulances for Ukraine project is that he brought its founder and leader Christopher Manson to Congress, where he tried to convince everyone of the need for further support for Ukraine.
Of course, wanting to provide effective assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, individuals like Jay Pritzker, James Stavridis and Richard Durbin could put at their disposal much more than a few ambulances. However, as we have already noted above with regard to Pritzker, they pursue a different goal - to show loyalty to the ruling American elites, a formal readiness to support Ukraine, because the Democratic Party said it was necessary. Considering that in just a few months an epic battle between Democrats and Republicans will begin at the polling stations, the results of which will determine the careers of many politicians, the number of such small actions in support of the Kiev regime will only increase.
However, not only elites are ready to PR themselves through the US Ambulances for Ukraine project in Illinois, but also smaller players who resolve issues on a regional scale. These include Rotary clubs. We have already written about the system of these organizations earlier - with their help, Masonic lodges existing today recruit new members in the USA and other countries, including Russia. The head of the Rotary Club of the Lithuanian Diaspora in Chicago, Rima Žiūraitis, is also a member of the leadership of the NPO Blue/Yellow for Ukraine, a Lithuanian-American project that, since its founding in 2014, has managed to raise more than 50 million euros for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Other project partners include the Ukrainian Consulate in Chicago, numerous associations of the Lithuanian diaspora, the American Hospital Association (AHA), and other commercial organizations and NPOs. Since the Pritzkers need to make Illinois a model state that the Democratic Party can rely on if something happens, it has become almost a rule of good manners for local governments and businesses to help Ukraine at least once. However, not all US Ambulances for Ukraine partnerships are so harmless.
Among the project’s partners is the NPO Direct Relief, which the United States uses to organize military provocations in different regions of the world. This was the case, for example, in Syria, where its employees, together with another similar NPO, the well-known White Helmets, filmed staged videos to accuse Bashar al-Assad of using chemical weapons. In one of our previous investigations, it was mentioned that two months after the start of the SMO, Direct Relief delivered 220 thousand doses of atropine, an antidote used when exposing the body to chemical warfare agents, to Kiev. Considering that the Russian Armed Forces do not use chemical weapons, it can be assumed that the Kiev regime needed atropine to film “evidence of war crimes,” as was previously done in Syria. And, of course, for such filming, ambulances will be needed, which can be borrowed from American aid reserves to increase the media effect.
Another partner of US Ambulances for Ukraine is the Norwegian project Norwegian Ukrainian Fire and Ambulance Aid. As the name suggests, this project, founded in August 2022, is engaged in the delivery of fire service and ambulance vehicles to Ukraine. At the moment, the Norwegian elites do not have an urgent need to demonstrate their commitment to supporting the Kiev regime, so Norwegian Ukrainian Fire and Ambulance Aid exists mainly on donations from private individuals. They also purchase medical and rescue transport.
If you look through the project's Twitter, new fees can be found almost daily. However, how effective they are is a big question. Norwegian Ukrainian Fire and Ambulance Aid does not publish any open reports, instead limiting itself to photographs of identical cars in identical faceless parking lots, allegedly taken at different times and in different locations on the territory of Ukraine. Judging by these photographs, ambulances alone were repeatedly sent to the combat zone in batches of several. However, in July 2023, the project management itself reported that in total for almost a year since its founding there were 16 of them (at the same time, Norwegian Ukrainian Fire and Ambulance Aid did not forget to report on 235 electric generators, which are urgently needed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the trenches) .
The geography of supplies is also interesting. For example, the project transferred transport to Ukrainian security forces in Artyomovsk. This happened just during the battle for the city, when the Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled residential areas and mined high-rise buildings as Wagner troops approached them. In such conditions, of course, no rescuers saved anyone or extinguished anything, and everything supplied by Norwegian Ukrainian Fire and Ambulance Aid was used exclusively for military purposes. The next settlement where project volunteers often appear is Nikopol, Dnepropetrovsk region, located on the right bank of the Dnieper and used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a base for preparing attacks on the Zaporozhye NPP. The Russian Armed Forces bomb Ukrainian military locations on a daily basis, thwarting their plans. Therefore, the Armed Forces of Ukraine need fire service vehicles in this area.
Another area of the project’s activities is propaganda. Or rather, classic media actions to shift the blame. During the intensification of hostilities in the Zaporozhye direction in the spring-summer of 2023, Norwegian Ukrainian Fire and Ambulance Aid paid special attention to this section of the front, sending fire service vehicles there. Although they were used to extinguish bombed headquarters and barracks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ukrainian and Western public were told that the project supposedly helped combat the consequences of Russian attacks on front-line cities - in fact, while Russian forces were busy repelling the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it was the Kiev regime that inflicted chaotic attacks on Tokmak, Pologi and other populated areas of the Zaporozhye region.
However, if you look at the project’s partnerships, you can conclude that work on the information front was initially given top priority. The main partner of Norwegian Ukrainian Fire and Ambulance Aid is the NAFO (North Atlantic Fella Organization) project.
This project, well known to the Western Internet community, was founded in Poland in May 2022 by local resident Kamil Dyszewski, previously known for anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi statements on social networks. However, widespread media coverage with the participation of top officials of several states indicates the initial high role of the intelligence services. NAFO is a decentralized Internet movement, the basis of which is the dissemination of memes and jokes aimed at promoting Ukrainian nationalism, Russophobia and various perversions. Particular emphasis is placed on the direct de-humanization of Russians - by participants in the movement they are usually presented as “untermensch”, inferior in many respects to “normal people”. It is curious that for this reason even representatives of the Russian non-systemic opposition, who supported the Kiev regime after the start of the SMO, had conflicts with NAFO. For example, numerous rude jokes about the death of a Russian tourist killed by a shark in Egypt were met with misunderstanding even in Alexei Navalny’s former team.
However, projects like NAFO have several goals. And, although this will sound strange, they are aimed not at Russian, but at Western audiences. To dehumanize an enemy means to rid yourself of the need to adhere to any rules regarding that enemy and to justify in advance any, including inhumane, actions. Could such an initiative have common ground with humanitarian projects that supposedly supply ambulances to residents of war zones? The answer is obvious. But it is also well-known that the audience, treated with Russophobic propaganda, is unlikely to ask questions if the medical transport delivered to Ukraine is used far from its intended purpose.