The demand for military protection material to send to their relatives at the front multiplies among Ukrainian refugees
A thousand euros in one euro coins weigh five and a quarter kilos. They know it in the Ranger military effects store in Ribera de Curtidores in Madrid since, one afternoon in March 2022, a priest appeared with a bag and 1,600 euros of a collection collected coin by coin. He came to buy defensive material to send to the relatives that his Ukrainian parishioners – the majority of whom are Ukrainians – have at the front.
The priest bought camouflage uniforms, boots and warm military clothing. The clerks didn’t know how to count so much coin, so they they asked in a Mercadona. There they recommended: “Weigh them & rdquor;. And it was then that Álex, one of the managers of the establishment, finished verifying the phenomenon that had been taking place for days: combat shirts, pants with many pockets, resistant and quick-drying boots, tactical gloves, ballistic glasses, magazine pouches, knee pads, vests. bulletproof… Material that before the war was only bought by the military, police and fans of AirSoft games was selling faster and faster.
Today the drip is sustained, so much so that they are scarce in the stores of the sector lowa bootsand they have finished, without replacement for the moment, certain polar garments made of recycled fiber and sleeping bags suitable for weather conditions below zero.
A wave of shipments to Ukraine that does not stop selling out the same shelves in specialized stores throughout Europe, confirm those asked by EL PERIÓDICO in Madrid and Barcelona.
vans
The phenomenon began a year ago, a week after the Russian tanks broke into on Ukrainian territory. “At first a few appeared, tricklingly, very discreet people, speaking softly, with a Russian accent. Some were bricklayers who had been in Spain for a long time and who I always thought were Romanians…”, recalls Álex.
They were not Russians or Romanians, but Ukrainians. The first mobilization of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense to face an invasion that was advancing through eleven entry points caught recruits and volunteers without sufficient equipment. It was March. They lacked everything. Winter had no signs of leaving northeast Europe yet, and refugees began to arrive in Spain with no more resources than those gathered in haste before fleeing the missiles. That is why the first things that started to be sold were cheap outerwear, some thermal blankets of 1.90 euros… until they started asking for the sleeping bags below zerowhose cost is around 90.
During this year of war, the supply of uniforms, boots and protective material has grown considerably in Ukraine with donations from the governments of Western countries. In fact, one of the first shipments of military aid from the Ministry of Defense included an Air Force Airbus A400M in the belly two pallets with 5,000 kevlar helmets. But the families continue making their shipments a year later, because the war devours material.
From various points in Madrid, every Thursday and Friday vans leave for Ukraine with packages sent by relatives in a private way. It has to be this way, because from kyiv or Lviv it is useless to order through Amazon: no courier van will enter the country.
When the defensive material has begun to be scarce in Spain -and in France, and in the United Kingdom, and in Italy…- the refugee relatives have used Amazon or other teleshopping systems to buy in Turkey and Greece, bring to the West and send from here in the aid vans on the way to the war zone.
Collect 600 euros
Buying kevlar helmets is not possible if it is not in an armory and with limitations. But you can in militaria stores, even now, atAcquire some of what turned out to be more urgent: bulletproof vests. Although the grade 4 ceramic plates with which to fill them are more difficult to obtain.
A refugee family in Madrid or Barcelona with a father, a son, a niece mobilized by the Ukrainian army has to make a considerable effort to supply him with the material that he will miss when I get to the trenches of Donbas.
The vest without plates is 145 euros, 190 euros for a pair of tactical boots, 109 for the Multicam uniform, with green and ocher that reproduces the color of the Ukrainian plains, 15 euros for knee pads, 11.9 for elbow pads, 35.95 M-PACT gloves, 15.50 magazine pouches, 79.90 ballistic glasses…
All this without counting more thermal blankets, socks, T-shirts, sleeping bags “which are the first things to wear out and have to be resent,” says David, another of Ranger’s employees.
The boots of the German firm Lowa are the most scarce in all stores, among other reasons because the company itself has diverted a notable portion of its production to war from Ukraine. During this war year, the most common sizes of the Zephyr GTX model of that boot have come to have a six-month waiting list.
In Morgan Surplus of Madridanother of the stores consulted, indicate another product that could not be replaced as before the war: Miltec backpacksalso German, with various camouflage, whose price is around 50 euros.
Also first aid kits
The soldiers of one of the platoons that the Ukrainian Territorial Defense scattered through their forests sent a photo to the Ranger store wearing the material sent by their refugee relatives in Madrid. Now, after one year, they have sent a signed Ukrainian flag there as a gift, which hangs from the ceiling.
One of those responsible for the trade recounts that, shortly after the bombing of cities in Ukraine began, “we had hundreds of people here, also many Spaniards who wanted to help & rdquor ;. Collaborate, for example, send us ifacks. This is what they call light first-aid kits in slang, which can be carried attached to the backpack.
For the most part, this is all material imported by Madrid, Álava and Catalan companies. comes from china. In the middle of last year, with the war raging in Ukraine, supply chains broke and the shortage grew even greater, with refugee families crossing calls to businesses across the country. “Here too, of course,” says a person in charge of Gi-JOE Barcelona. The Ronda de Sant Antoni store is one of the most prominent in the sale of “surplus material”, surplus from the armies.
“Suddenly there was a brutal logistics of these things”, they explain, but in the Barcelona store they prefer not to say what is in short supply at the moment, because “the best thing we can do to help is not to talk too much, you know what I mean”.