{"id":28217,"date":"2023-12-04T18:31:18","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T18:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=28217"},"modified":"2023-12-04T18:42:55","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T18:42:55","slug":"this-van-provides-a-lifeline-service-to-ukrainians-could-it-be-under-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2023\/12\/04\/this-van-provides-a-lifeline-service-to-ukrainians-could-it-be-under-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"This van provides a lifeline service to Ukrainians. Could it be under threat?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article by Kataryna Farbar was first posted by openDemocracy<\/a>. Kataryna argues that Ukraine’s mobile postal service braves shelling to deliver packages and pensions. But privatisation could be afoot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

THIS VAN PROVIDES A LIFELINE SERVICE TO UKRAINIANS. COULD IT BE UNDER THREAT? <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As soon as the Ukrposhta van stops in the centre of Kryva Luka, a dozen residents, mostly older people, gather round. They are here to collect money, pensions and parcels, and to buy some basic products.<\/p>\n

Ukrposhta, Ukraine\u2019s state postal service, has been operating this mobile post office system since 2020, two years before Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion. Today, however, it is not just convenient: it is a lifeline for those living in areas where infrastructure has been destroyed.<\/p>\n

Kryva Luka is one of these areas. It is 30 kilometres shy of Ukraine\u2019s front line against Russia in the Donetsk region, close enough to face bombardment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here to buy some sweets,\u201d says pensioner Zinaida Shanyhon, 66. In the local village store, she adds, the goods she wants are up to twice as expensive as they are here. Like all elderly Ukrainians, she only has a small pension, so every\u00a0hryvnia<\/em>\u00a0counts.<\/p>\n

Shanyhon has remained in Kryva Luka, despite the risk posed by the nearby Russian-Ukrainian front line. For her, like many residents of villages like these, Ukrposhta is a sole point of contact with the Ukrainian state.<\/p>\n

But there are fears that that core role could be at risk if Ukrposhta is privatised.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyi\u00a0signed<\/a>\u00a0off on restarting the large-scale privatisation of state enterprises, originally a pre-war initiative, as the wartime government seeks to attract new revenue.<\/p>\n

Ukrposhta is one of Ukraine\u2019s biggest companies. Its 50,000 employees cater for the country\u2019s businesses and their logistics \u2013 as well as residents of towns, cities and villages, where tens of thousands of people like Shanyhon live.<\/p>\n

Like Ukraine\u2019s much-vaunted state railway network, Ukrposhta serves a critical function for Ukrainian society \u2013 and is often one of the first state institutions to move into areas previously occupied by Russia.<\/p>\n

Ukrposhta is not so far on the potential\u00a0list<\/a>\u00a0of large companies slated for sale, but prior to Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion a partial privatisation of Ukrposhta had been actively discussed, including by the company\u2019s CEO Ihor Smilanskyi.<\/p>\n

Instead of \u201cdefending [its] imaginary \u2018national property and strategic assets\u2019\u201d Ukraine must \u201cfind another way to remain relevant and competitive in the world economy \u2013 with the involvement of partners who have either money, or technology, or both,” Smilanskyi\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0in 2019.<\/p>\n

Speaking to openDemocracy, Ukrposhta said: \u201cWe do not rule out that we will return to the issue [of partial privatisation].\u201d A spokesperson added the company was currently \u201cfocused not only on immediate duties, but also on supporting the country and confronting the enemy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dangerous work<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need us \u2013 that\u2019s what we always focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria Synelnikova, 33, is head of the Lyman mobile post office. She spoke to openDemocracy as Kryva Luka residents holding their wallets flocked to the van.<\/p>\n

Nataliya Pidhora, a younger resident of Kryva Luka, has come to pick up parcels of clothes she bought online. Pidhora, a cleaner in a local community centre, has a five-year-old daughter who was hoping to pick up a toy microphone from the postal van, but the postal worker forgot to bring the parcel. Driver Vodolymyr Krynykachanskyi apologises to the little girl and promises not to forget the parcel next time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Nataliya Pidhora and her daughter collect post from the Ukrposhta van in Kryva Luka – Kateryna Farbar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As critical infrastructure in remote areas, Ukrposhta is responsible for paying pensions and social benefits to Ukrainians, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n

But in areas like the villages outside Lyman \u2013 and closer to Bakhmut \u2013 that work is dangerous. A little over a month ago, the Russian military renewed assault operations in the Lyman-Kupiansk direction, a territory that the Ukrainian army liberated last year. In the worst affected parts of the wider Donetsk region, Ukrposhta employees drive armoured cars and wear bulletproof vests as they do their rounds of villages.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation is rapidly changing. At the moment, the conditions are particularly uncomfortable due to the intensification of hostilities,\u201d says Mykhailo Zuevskyi, Ukrposhta\u2019s territorial manager in Donetsk.<\/p>\n

Other settlements in the Donetsk region, like Siversk and Chasiv Yar, can also be unpredictable for Ukrposhta workers: a Russian rocket can strike here in a matter of seconds after being launched from the other side of the frontline.<\/p>\n

Krynykachanskyi told openDemocracy he \u201cwas scared only once\u201d in the three years he has worked as a driver. A month ago he experienced shelling in the village of Yampil during a particularly busy day where he was distributing payments of 6,000 hryvnias [around \u00a3\u200b\u200b133] from the UN.<\/p>\n

“I was very scared,” says Krynykachanskyi, who carries a pack of cigarettes in his bulletproof vest \u2013 a protection that has become as normal as his uniform.<\/p>\n

He remembers counting 23 explosions within half an hour, in a radius of a kilometre, very close to his postal van. Krynychanskyi says he and his two colleagues were forced to continue distributing payments and mail, hiding near a tree and a car during the shelling, because Yampil residents refused to disperse.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople did not want to leave \u2013 they were afraid that we would not come again, even though we told them that we would come on the next day,\u201d Krynykachanskyi recalls.<\/p>\n

The day, after finishing in Kryvya Luka, the mobile post office headed to the village of Zakotne, 10 kilometres to the east, from where isolated explosions could be heard.<\/p>\n

Back in the regional office in Slovyansk, Donetsk regional manager Zuevskyi received a message from Synelnikova in Lyman that she and her colleague had had to stop their work in Zakotne due to shelling. Simultaneously, Zuevskyi received a video from his workers in another mobile post office, serving Chas\u0456v Yar, filmed while taking cover from shelling falling nearby.<\/p>\n

\u2018No one else will go there\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

In some cases, Ukrposhta, as the appointed national operator, has even continued serving Ukrainian citizens remotely in territories occupied by Russia.<\/p>\n

Until\u00a0August last year,<\/a>\u00a0Ukrposhta was giving out hundreds of thousands of\u00a0pensions<\/a>\u00a0and taking utility bill payments to serve territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia that were not controlled by the Ukrainian state.<\/p>\n

It is also the only service that works in cities ravaged by active fighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere stationary post offices near the front line were destroyed, they were closed. Instead, our mobile offices were used to serve these territories,\u201d said Vadym Shestopalov, who headed the Donetsk regional office between February 2021 and July 2023 and is currently the operational director for the central region of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Ukrposhta van on its rounds – Kateryna Farbar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Ukrposhta van on its rounds – Kateryna Farbar<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the fighting was raging in the centre of the city of Severodonetsk, we were coming to the pensioners who at that time lived in a bomb shelter of the Azot plant to deliver their pensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Bakhmut, Ukrposhta\u2019s mobile post offices worked until December last year, when the hostilities intensified, so that several thousand people staying there could receive payments.<\/p>\n

Ukrposhta is a joint-stock company, entirely owned by Ukraine\u2019s Ministry of Infrastructure. Though it receives no public funding, it has a statutory responsibility to provide the services described in this article \u2013 including those that might be seen as loss-making or too dangerous by a future private owner.<\/p>\n

“We perform a social function,\u201d said Maksym Sutkovyi, the current head of Ukrposhta\u2019s Donetsk office. \u201cIn Chasiv Yar, where three pensioners live in one area, these are, of course, unprofitable deliveries.\u201d He pointed to the cost of fuel and repairs as well as high workers\u2019 wages.<\/p>\n

But he knows that the work is vital. \u201cNo one, except for us, will go there \u2013 neither banks, nor other postal logistics operators,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Thomas Barrett, a PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, echoed Sutkovyi\u2019s words. \u201cIn many villages,\u201d he said, \u201cUkrposhta might be the only point of access to the state and public services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Ukrposhta\u2019s competitor for parcel deliveries, the private company Nova Poshta, operates only in more peaceful parts of the frontline area.<\/p>\n

Partial privatisation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2019, Ukraine\u2019s Cabinet of Ministers was\u00a0considering<\/a>\u00a0the partial privatisation of Ukrposhta, with possible foreign investments between 20% and 30%. This, Ukrposhta\u00a0hoped<\/a>, would provide normal corporate management and additional funds for the development of the company, like renewal of the infrastructure, while\u00a0maintaining<\/a>\u00a0its social function.<\/p>\n

Though the plan was shelved, Zelenskyi\u2019s restarting of the privatisation drive could put it back on the table in future.<\/p>\n

Barrett believes that, if Ukrposhta is privatised, the provision of public or subsidised services through the postal system will be abandoned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will lead to the closure of post offices in many villages across the country and create a host of problems for the most vulnerable to access goods and services. Private providers will only fill the gap in profitable areas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

23.11.23<\/strong><\/p>\n

__________<\/p>\n

also see:<\/p>\n

Ukraine Solidarity Campaign Scotland) and solidarity with GMB workers at Beith \u2013 USC(S)<\/a><\/p>\n

Ukraine Rail Union (VPZU) backs ASLEF strike \u2013 Volodymyr Kozelskyi<\/a><\/p>\n

Ukrainian coal miners defy national protest ban to go on strike \u2013 Kateryna Semchuk & Thomas Rowley, openDemocracy<\/a><\/p>\n

We need peoples\u2019 solidarity with Ukraine against war, not the fake solidarity of governments \u2013 Denys Gorbach and Denis Pilash Commons (Ukraine)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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This article by Kataryna Farbar was first posted by openDemocracy. Kataryna argues that Ukraine’s mobile postal service braves shelling to deliver packages and pensions. But privatisation could be afoot. THIS VAN PROVIDES A LIFELINE SERVICE TO UKRAINIANS. COULD IT BE UNDER THREAT?   As soon as the Ukrposhta van stops in the centre of Kryva…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1855,1858,1861,1867,910,1868,1848,1860],"tags":[9249],"class_list":["post-28217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exploitation-and-emancipation","category-oppression-liberation","category-alienation-self-determination","category-emancipation-liberation-and-self-determination","category-trade-unionism","category-against-imperialism","category-ex-ussr","category-other-social-struggles","tag-author-katereya-farbar"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/mastodon.scot\/@rcfscotland\/111523573575149714","error":""},"views":2142,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28217"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28228,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28217\/revisions\/28228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}