Journalist from Luxembourg rides on bike to Vinnytsia to help Ukraine

Michel Merten, journalist from Luxembourg, has travelled over 2,000 kilometres on a bicycle in order to raise funds for Ukrainian volunteers and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Merten’s charity bicycle tour started at the beginning of July, and the activist has reached the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, as reported by the Vinnytsia City Hall.

Besides raising funds, Merten also helps to implement a Kharkiv project of packing dry rations and supports a children’s rehabilitation centre in the Carpathian mountains. 

Michel writes about his bike tour in his blog. He revealed that he had planned to go on a bike tour to Istanbul, but in December of last year he received an offer to accompany the LUkraine asbl public organisation in a motorcade from Luxembourg to Ukraine.

"When I stood on a vantage point in Kyiv shortly after Christmas and looked down on the [Dnipro], it became clear to me, despite the air alert: you have to return here in the summer of 2023. And so I took some time off and will start a charity bike tour from Luxembourg to Kyiv on July 1. It’s a sign of solidarity with a wonderful country in need," Michel explained.

On 6 July, Merten arrived in Vinnytsia where he was welcomed by the cyclists from the sports schools of the city of Vinnytsia and Vinnytsia Oblast.

The route to Vinnytsia laid through Luxembourg, Shengen, Nuremberg, Plzen, Prague, Oświęcim, Krakiw, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Bar.

Merten carries different flags in his pauldron – of Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Czech Republic and other countries. He tied a Ukrainian flag on his shoulder.

"Ukraine is a great country where wonderful people live. To my mind, Luxembourg has had close and long-standing ties with Ukraine, we have a similar history. On 10 May 1944, Luxembourg was occupied by the Nazis. So for us 10 May is of the same significance as 24 February for Ukrainians. Luxembourg has become one of the countries that started to help Ukraine with ammunition right away," Michel Merten reveals.

The LUkraine asbl organisation, to which Merten donates, helps Ukrainian refugees with accommodation and the language, supplies them with humanitarian aid, provides vehicles for rescue workers, emergency tourniquets for medics and other necessary things, and also provides information about the war in Ukraine.

Background: Earlier, a 32-year old volunteer and veteran of the Azov regiment Petro Skrypka organised a walking marathon from Kyiv to Lviv in order to raise funds for injured soldiers.

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