On behalf of the Ukrainian Equestrian Federation, I want to express my sincere gratitude for your support and help.
My name is Mykhaylo Parkhomchuk. A lot of you know me. I am the General Secretary of the Ukrainian Equestrian Federation.
At this time, I am in Belgium and I am engaged in the opening of a charity fund with the help of the Ukrainian equestrian community. Yesterday, I had a conversation with the President of the FEI Ingmar De Vos. He promised help from all of our global society.
Tomorrow I’m going to Ukraine with a horse truck with humanitarian cargo. On my way back I will evacuate several horses to Poland.
The procedure of crossing the border with live horses before the war looked like this:
- Crossing point – Korčova / Krakovets (only one where horses are allowed to be transported to the EU);
- Each horse must have a veterinary certificate of health status;
- Every horse should have a passport and a microchip;
- Blood tests and vaccinations must be carried out for the issuance of a veterinary certificate;
- Veterinary Certificate issued by a State Veterinary Doctor of Ukraine.
In addition to the veterinary documents, it is necessary to go through customs control.
A lot of bureaucracy. I think nothing has changed for today.
I will be at the border and will negotiate with the Polish veterinary service about the possibility of simplifying the procedure of crossing the border with horses for humanitarian considerations.
On the Ukrainian side there will be no problems with the border crossing.
Because of the military state, Ukrainian men do not have the chance to leave Ukraine. Therefore, drivers will be either Ukrainian women or foreigners.
I want to try to make an agreement with the owners of the Lesna Wola horse club in Rzeszow
to make it the hub for a humanitarian mission (admission of horses from Ukraine for the first time). For the past 20 years, we have been making a stop there when taking horses to Europe or Ukraine.
By the end of the week, I hope we have a full understanding of how to act.
May God help us.