A total of 48 retired emergency vehicles, including ambulances, that have been refurbished by a businessman in Changhua County are soon to be delivered to Ukraine to help rescue workers there.
At a donation ceremony on Friday, Pai Tsan-jung (白璨榮), director of Shenkang Township (神岡)-based Sun Jen Textile Co, said he came up with the idea after hearing a friend discussing plans to assist Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion.
The initial plan was to purchase used emergency vehicles from abroad and deliver them to Ukraine, but that idea proved to be too expensive, Pai said.
Photo: Liu Hsiao-hsin, Taipei Times
So instead, he decided to buy retired ambulances and fire trucks from the government, and get them refurbished by local garages, Pai said.
At first, the plan was to send about four vehicles to Ukraine, but after receiving a donation of about 100 government-owned emergency vehicles from across Taiwan, the scale of the plan increased exponentially, he said.
Pai said he has already spent about NT$10 million (US$321,182) on refurbishing the vehicles, and the first batch is set to be shipped to Ukraine on July 13, with assistance from the non-profit Taiwan Association of Community Advancement (TACA) and the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan.
Despite being retired, the vehicles have been refurbished and would continue to be useful in Ukraine, TACA head Chang Tsai-kai (張再凱) said at the ceremony, which was also attended by Department of European Affairs Director Vincent Yao (姚金祥) and Olga Kulish, a convener of Ukrainians living in Taiwan.
Kulish said that since the war started, the lack of medical resources has been a critical issue, with many hospitals destroyed and a general shortage of ambulances and fire engines.
She thanked the people of Taiwan for the emergency vehicles, saying they would be used to save lives in Ukraine.
In a prerecorded video, Kira Rudik, leader of the liberal Holos party in Ukraine, said that Taiwan has been helping Ukraine since the beginning of the war, and that support shows little sign of abating.
When Ukraine was invaded 16 months ago, not many people believed Ukrainians could resist this long, Rudik said.
However to this day, Ukraine continues to fight back, because its people are fighting for their freedom and future, she said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
RSS