UKRAINE
Every time rescuers respond, they risk becoming the next target
In Ukraine, emergency responders are operating under relentless pressure. Fire stations, vehicles, and crews are being deliberately targeted in missile and drone attacks designed to overwhelm emergency response systems and increase civilian casualties.
Rescuers are responding to collapsed buildings, mass casualty incidents, and large-scale fires while facing the constant threat of secondary strikes.
Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine, as of 21 June 2026
Our response
Since 2012, FIRE AID has worked alongside Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, UK fire and rescue servicesand partners to strengthen training, equipment and professional exchange.
Since the full-scale invasion, that long-standing partnership has expanded as FIRE AID brought together the wider fire and rescue community to responded to priorities identified by Ukrainian services.
equipment donation
UK fire and rescue services retire equipment that has reached the end of its certified service life under UK regulation while remaining fully functional.
We match that equipment against requests from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and from volunteer fire departments, raise the funds to move it, plan the convoy routes and recruit the crews who drive it. 9 convoys have run since the full-scale invasion, carrying 169 vehicles and more than 300,000 pieces of equipment. CONVOY 10 is in progress.
Psychological and Trauma Support
Brave Minds, founded by FIRE AID is an independent mental health programme for Ukraine's firefighters and rescuers. It provides confidential therapy, crisis support and mental health resources at no cost to the responder, delivered independently of the employing service so that accessing it carries no professional consequence.
The independence is the point. A responder who believes that disclosure will affect their fitness to serve will not disclose. Brave Minds is structured so that the choice to seek support and the decision about someone's operational future sit in different places.
Training and Knowledge Exchange
Between 2017 and 2021, 30 UK firefighters ran training in Zhytomyr, Poltava, Kyiv and Lviv. The design was deliberate: train the trainer sessions were structured so knowledge could be shared within their own services after the UK team left.
That relationship now runs in both directions as Ukrainian crews have accumulated operational experience of mass casualty response, secondary strike protocol and sustained wartime firefighting that no European service has, and the exchange increasingly moves west.
Institutional Partnership
FIRE AID's partner in Ukraine is the State Emergency Service, and the relationship predates the invasion by a decade.
That standing relationship is what allows requests, donations and training to be planned against the service's own priorities rather than against an external assessment of them.
coNVOY 9
“FIRE AID provides real, honest help and support that played a huge role in the first days of Russia’s full scale invasion into Ukraine. The equipment donations felt like a breakthrough. The technical support it provided from day one gave us the tools to respond and save lives.”
project TIMELINE
2012
FIRE AID begins working with EASST and Kent Fire and Rescue Service to equip and train the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
2017–2021
Working with UKRO and Kent Fire and Rescue Service, and funded by the UK Embassy in Ukraine, FIRE AID sends UK specialists to train local instructors in Zhytomyr, Poltava, Kyiv and Lviv. Those instructors go on to train their own colleagues, so the capability stays in place long after the UK teams return home.
- 7 training programmes
- 30+ UK firefighters
- 160+ Ukrainian firefighters trained
- 15 fire and rescue vehicles
2022–2023
Following Russia's full-scale invasion, FIRE AID mobilises the UK and European fire community, bringing together fire and rescue services, charities, manufacturers and suppliers to coordinate convoys of vehicles, equipment and humanitarian support for Ukraine's firefighters.
- 113 thermal imaging cameras
- 87 generators
- 84 full RTC sets
- 9 boats
- PPE for 7,500+ firefighters
2024
Brave Minds launches as an independent mental health programme for Ukraine's firefighters and rescuers, providing confidential therapy, crisis support and resources at no cost. Of those who have worked through the therapy programme, 69% feel more confident carrying on without regular support.
- 280+ hours of therapy delivered
- 200+ Ukrainian firefighters engaged via station visits
- 60,000 firefighters and rescuers eligible
2026
Convoy 9 reaches Ukraine, taking the total delivered by FIRE AID and UK fire and rescue services since 2022 to 175 vehicles. Across all nine convoys, donated vehicles have now been used at more than 6,000 emergency incidents.
- 175 vehicles since 2022
- 220,000+ pieces of equipment
- 6,000+ emergency incidents attended
Nov 2026
Convoy 10 is planned, continuing deliveries of vehicles and equipment to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
- Convoy 10 planned
Across the programme
450 firefighters trained at Lviv State University of Life Safety. Two Ukrainian delegations hosted, one in the UK and one in Poland.
- 600+ volunteers
- 40+ fire and rescue services
Our impact since 2012
A message from BRAVE MINDS
“We are here to support rescuers without judgement when they need us. I feel incredibly grateful to be a part of the team helping transform the way our ‘heroes without weapons’ experience support, recognition, and care. Everyone needs a safe space and someone who will listen, understand, and help them preserve their inner strength, resilience, and belief in themselves.”
- Viktoriia Kryvolpachuk, Brave Minds CEO
SUPPORT RESCUERS NOW!
Just £3 a month, the cost of a coffee, provides independent psychological support to Ukrainian rescuers.
firefighter to firefighter
Craig Lloyd-Cowtan is Station Manager, Fleet and Equipment Services at Kent Fire and Rescue Service. He has been involved in every convoy FIRE AID has run to Ukraine since 2022, and drove on the most recent one.
Moving 21 vehicles and 74 volunteers across 4 countries in 4 days is a logistical operation in its own right. Every vehicle arrives with its own quirks, and this is how Craig gets it done.
get convoy 10 on the road
Every £1 donated towards Convoy 10 is matched, pound for pound, by the EBRD Community Initiative, for as long as the matched fund lasts. Our £50,000 target becomes £100,000.
“These vehicles and equipment are lifelines, helping to save lives, protect firefighters, and strengthen the resilience of communities under constant threat.”
Ukraine news
Become part of the story
Every project is built through collaboration. Whether you represent a fire and rescue service, a company or simply want to support our work, there are many ways to help strengthen fire and rescue capability around the world.
About the data
Figures on this page are drawn from FIRE AID operational records and from published State Emergency Service of Ukraine data, and are dated at the point of use. Equipment counts are of items transferred, recorded at the point of handover.