{"id":477256,"date":"2025-12-29T09:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T09:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/477256\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T09:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T09:10:10","slug":"san-diegans-help-buy-new-ambulances-for-ukrainians-at-war-with-russia-nbc-7-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/477256\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diegans help buy new ambulances for Ukrainians at war with Russia \u2013 NBC 7 San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/houseofukraine.org\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/houseofukraine.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">House of Ukraine<\/a> in Balboa Park, there are an estimated 15,000 Ukrainian refugee families in San Diego County. <\/p>\n<p>Many of them hope the New Year will bring an end to the war with Russia which reaches a fourth anniversary in February. Drone attacks this month have destroyed some ambulances used in the war zone. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey (Russia) hit anything that moves. They know that wounded soldiers will be transported in these vehicles. For them, though it is a civilian vehicle, they treat it as a military target,&#8221; said Mira Rubin, president of <a href=\"https:\/\/shieldoffreedom.org\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/shieldoffreedom.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shield of Freedom<\/a>. The San Diego non-profit organization continues to send medical supplies, equipment, and other support to Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;Wheels of Hope&#8221; campaign is a fundraiser to replace ambulances and medical vehicles lost in combat. Rubin said, &#8220;a new ambulance costs $10,000 to $20,000 depending on how it is outfitted.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>According to the organization&#8217;s website, &#8220;reliable medical transport saves lives, preserves limbs, and gives the injured a fighting chance to survive.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_5571.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"   alt=\" \"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tShield of Freedom<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tShield of Freedom<\/p>\n<p>This is one of the medical transport vehicles destroyed by a Russian drone attack in the Ukraine war zone. A replacement ambulance costs as much as \\$20,000.<\/p>\n<p>The local grassroots campaign continued with no expectation or consideration for the meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Trump scheduled in Florida, Sunday. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;People are actually talking about Ukraine, remembering this is the fourth year of the war. Maybe somewhere mentioning that Russia is losing this war. That&#8217;s not what Putin is trying to communicate,&#8221; Rubin told NBC 7.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the Ukrainian army have sent back to San Diego video messages of appreciation. One solider said, &#8220;Thank you for equipment which keeps us alive, and helps us protect what we value most, our families.\u201d<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Donations can be made through the Shield of Freedom<a href=\"https:\/\/shieldoffreedom.org\/end-of-year-giving-1\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/shieldoffreedom.org\/end-of-year-giving-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> website.<br \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_5681_3024e3.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\"   alt=\"Mira Rubin, president of Shield of Freedom, shows a jacket she was gifted by a Ukrainian soldier, December 28, 2025.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Mira Rubin, president of Shield of Freedom, shows a jacket she was gifted by a Ukrainian soldier, December 28, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to the House of Ukraine in Balboa Park, there are an estimated 15,000 Ukrainian refugee families in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":477257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,3657,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-477256","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-sandiego","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115802080837843764","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}