Volunteers and staff packed a container full of medical supplies destined for Ukraine in Tigard Friday morning.

Medical Teams donated just over $900,000 worth of crutches, gauze, diapers, towels, diabetic needles, syringes, wheelchairs and more that will go to hospitals and clinics across Ukraine. The organization got the supplies from manufacturers, hospitals and individual donors.

Troutdale-based Ukrainian immigrant Valery Shkurinsky has for the third year organized the delivery in a partnership between Emmanuel Mercy Mission and Medical Teams International.

Ukraine is nearly the the fourth year of an armed conflict with separatists in Eastern Ukraine who've proclaimed independent republics. That conflict has drained the country's resources, Shkurinsky said, and already-impoverished areas are in serious need of basic medical supplies. That's what prompted him, as president of Emmanuel Mercy Mission, to organize the first shipment three years ago.

The container's next stop is Seattle's port. From there it will head by sea to Shanghai, where it will switch ships and continue to Ukraine's port city in the Black Sea, Odessa. It's expected to arrive April 11. From there, Shkurinsky's local contact will take over distributing supplies to Ukrainian hospitals.

-- Fedor Zarkhin

503-294-7674; @fedorzarkhin