That's the mantra of a group of **Ukrainian** postal workers who deliver letters, parcels and other basic necessities to people living in frontline communities. "People do this because many of them are devoted to their profession," says Maksym Sutkovyi, a regional chief for Ukrposhta, Ukraine's national postal service. Dating back to Soviet times, Ukrposhta is owned by the Ukrainian state, and has traditional post offices across the country.
It also operates mobile services from small vehicles that carry everything they need to function as a post office. As the war has dragged on, workers have found themselves crucial carriers of everything from letters to pension payments. **Ukraine war latest: UK needs to unite Kyiv and Washington, says Streeting** In safe areas of the country, there are standard procedures for how they operate - in regions close to the fighting they sometimes have to get creative. "Nobody teaches you how to operate in frontline areas," Maksym tells Sky News.
"Sometimes you rely on intuition, sometimes on experience." In Kramatorsk, a pillar of Ukraine's "fortress belt", Ukrposhta operates mobile branches that are constantly under threat from drones, he says. In some settlements, the only way cash can reach people is via the postal service, Maksym says. Not one to tell his employees to do something he wouldn't do himself, Maksym regularly takes a vehicle out to deliver vital supplies to people in frontline towns.
"There have been situations when they said 'we're not going'. "We would sit down, and I would say that I would go, and they would reply, 'then we'll go too'." In August this year, a sorting depot and a base for Ukrposhta were destroyed in a Russian attack in Pavlohrad. Two employees were killed.
Image:The attack on Pavlohrad killed two Ukrposhta workers. Pic: Igor Smelyansky Ukrposhta director-general Igor Smelyansky thanked rescue crews, and promised to compensate customers for everything that was destroyed. He added: "The most painful part is that this attack claimed the lives of two employees: Olya and Olya.
"We express our condolences to their families, friends, and the entire Ukrposhta team, who are grieving this loss." Maksym recalled when seven vehicles were lost in four days in the city of Nikopol. Fortunately, no workers were injured. "Two weeks ago, in Kramatorsk, we lost a large delivery vehicle.
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