Omniva: helping support families in Ukraine
Since mid-March, Estonian residents have sent 820 humanitarian aid parcels with a total weight of almost 7 tons to Ukraine with the help of Omniva.
The new free parcel service, launched at the beginning of the Ukraine–Russia war, is aimed at private individuals. According to Marita Mägi, the head of the international parcel and letter service of Omniva, cooperation was started with the national postal service of Ukraine to send free humanitarian aid parcels to offer Estonian residents the opportunity to directly and immediately support their acquaintances and relatives living in Ukraine.
“The service that allows sending free humanitarian aid parcels to Ukraine is very popular. People have actively used the free parcel delivery service and the trend is growing,” said Marita Mägi. ‘The service is mostly used to send basic necessities, medicines, food, feminine hygiene products, and clothes to Ukraine.”
The first parcel was sent to Ukraine on 16 March. Most parcels have been sent from Tallinn. For example, almost 100 parcels have been sent from the Lasnamäe post office and almost 70 humanitarian parcels from the Pallasti post office in the Sikupilli region. More than half a hundred parcels have been sent to Ukraine from the Pärnu post office.
“In cooperation with the national postal service of Ukraine, we deliver parcels to the Ukrainian–Polish border, where a representative of the national postal service picks up the parcels and delivers them to post offices in Ukraine. Currently, the usual delivery time is 2–3 weeks on average,” added Mägi. The national postal service of Ukraine or Ukrpošta is well-functioning and very cooperative, despite the war situation and the extremely difficult conditions. Igor Smelyansky, CEO of Ukrpošta, thanked Omniva and post offices of other countries for arranging for free parcels to be delivered to Ukraine.
