NORRIDGE, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- If you drive along Cumberland Avenue in northwest suburban Norridge, you may have noticed an imposing armored vehicle in the parking lot of the Self Reliance Credit Union right next door to St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic Church.
It's a former U.S. combat vehicle that's going to be shipped to Ukraine to help evacuate wounded from the battlefields.
Olga Maihutiak works with several groups helping Ukraine and is involved in the effort.
"This is not so easy to ship, you have to get special permits and licenses, but with help of good people we got all those permits so it's going to be ready to be shipped once we pay for it," she told WBBM.
So far, about half of the $100,000 needed to complete the purchase of the armored vehicle has been raised.
Olga said her friend and fellow Ukrainian ex-pat Igor Kurylyak is leading the effort.
The two of them spoke to WBBM in front of the armored vehicle on a recent evening with Olga saying the vehicle will "be a clinic on wheels...like a mobile mini-hospital" and that it is "pretty much indestructible."
"When you're evacuating heavily injured soldiers you need to have ventilators, you need to have defibrillators, and you can equip all of this with that," she added.
Maihutiak said one of the reasons there's such a need for these vehicles is that the Russian army "deliberately target(s) the vehicles that target (the) injured."
Olga translated for Igor, saying this vehicle "is for people who are from his hometown, fighting on the frontline. More than 100 vehicles are needed urgently and he's ready to do everything that he can to send them."
Donations are still being accepted.
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