When the Ukrainian military plane, bursting with 22 tons of medical supplies, took off from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport at 7:30 a.m., March 22, Dmytro KAMKOV, Acting Consul General of Ukraine in Guangzhou, felt greatly relieved. For the past 12-plus hours, he, together with his colleague Mykyta MARTYNOV, had been working nonstop into the late night loading cargo, while three shifts of airport staff members had come to help.

"Without the full-fledged support from Guangdong Foreign Affairs Office (GDFAO), Guangzhou Customs and the Baiyun Airport, the mission would have been impossible," said KAMKOV. Sitting in his office two weeks later on April 3 in Citic Plaza for an interview with Silk Road Post, the diplomat, when recalling the experience, was still overwhelmed with appreciation for all Guangdong Authorities and the Chinese people who helped him to make the airlift possible.

Dmytro KAMKOV, Acting Consul General of Ukraine in Guangzhou [photo/Becky]

"There're only two of us here, and as newly appointed diplomats, we didn't have direct connections with the airport, customs, and relevant departments," said KAMKOV. "It's was a big amount of cargo with different varieties, like COVID-19 test kits from Jack Ma Foundation, masks, gloves, goggles, bought by Ukrainian businessmen and received from other sources as donations."

"When we received a call requiring our assistance at the local level, I wasn't 100 percent sure we could do it due to lack of time," he added.

"Ms. Li Jielian and her assistants from the Department of Diplomatic Issues of Guangzhou Customs came back in weekend to the office to assist us," he related. "And so many others pitched in with the procedures and the cargo loading. A couple of months ago, I did not even know these people, and they were there helping us. I was so warm inside, we all were doing a great job for my country."

They were first informed of the critical situation of COVID-19 on January 21 by the Note Verbal of the GDFAO, according to KAMKOV. After the first briefing on the epidemic, the province's FAO created a WeChat group for all consuls general and brought in its Deputy Director General, and Deputy Director of the Consular Division to answer questions and inquiries about the epidemic and related issues.

"At the beginning of the outbreak, we were all trying to understand the situation," said KAMKOV. "And thousands of calls were coming in from our citizens, asking what's going on and what should be done. We also needed to inform our HQ together with the Embassy in Beijing regarding the situation at our areas of responsibility (Guangdong, Guizhou, Hunan, Hainan provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region)."

"Thankfully the GDFAO explained everything for us and said there would be daily briefings,," KAMKOV said. "They are doing 200 percent and even more of what they can, and I don't remember one question left without reply in that group."

KAMKOV said they received the first supply of 100 masks (3 times), from the GDFAO, and some more from the Ukrainian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Consulate General of Turkey later. Even though masks were hard to come by at that time, they sent out almost all they had to Ukrainian citizens, and now they are still sending 20 masks per person to some 80 families.

The Acting Consul General explained that there are approximately 500 Ukrainian citizens living permanently in Guangdong (mostly in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan), and another 5,000 may be traveling on business, tourism and other short-term visas. Since the outbreak, phones in their office has never stopped ringing.

To keep citizens informed, they translated all information about COVID-19 from local Chinese authorities into the Ukrainian language and posted it on their official website, which turned out to be helpful even in Ukraine, as the situation evolved there. "Two months ago when I told my friends in Ukraine that people here are all sitting at home, they wouldn't believe me, and now they are asking how the Chinese people have done it," KAMKOV said. "When they ask me questions, I'm sending them the links to our official page with small adds-on. We explained everything there, from sanitization to protection guidelines."

Even as the epidemic situation in China abated, KAMKOV and MARTYNOV, the only two Ukrainian diplomats in South China, don't get the luxury to relax a bit. As the epidemic spread to Ukraine, they have been busy seeking medical supplies and any donations they could get, to aid people back home. With countries closing borders, international flights cut and airfreight demand rising, international cargo transportation also became a problem.

"We have been receiving messages and phone calls, even through social media, from different regions of Ukraine, saying that they need medical supplies," the diplomat said. "We are now trying to knock on more doors, and even asking friends and people around where assistance might be available for our people at home."

Having been spinning 24/7 with work for months, the Acting CG said he and his colleague are aspiring for some good rest once the epidemic abates. He also plans to meet authorities of other provinces in his consular district, build links, bridges or a sister-city relationship between Ukrainian and Chinese cities and explore opportunities of economic cooperation with Guangdong province in sectors like electronic vehicles and agriculture.

As of April 5, Ukraine has reported 1,225 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 32 deaths, according to the Ukraine Cabinet of Ministers. The Ukrainian Ministry of health warned on April 4 that the peak of coronavirus morbidity in Ukraine may occur in 10 days, or about April 14.

Author: Sophia, SilkRoadPost

Editor: Sophia