'What is in those bags... is hope': N.B. business continues delivering supplies to Ukraine

A tactical military gear store in Oromocto, N.B., and its sister store in Edmonton, Alta., just made their sixth delivery to Ukraine.

"Originally when it started, it was a lot of warm gear because the conflict started in the winter time,” said Richard Wagner, the owner of Battle Rattle Tactical Supplies.

“Then, it shifted to body armour, stuff like this, to keep everyone comfortable and protected, and then unfortunately now it's starting to be a lot more like tourniquets, medical supplies, first-aid kits,” Wagner said.

The first delivery to Ukraine by the Battle Rattle Tactical Supplies store was on March 2.

Since then, David Bryenton with the western branch has been travelling on the store's behalf to make deliveries about every two weeks.

"When we depart from here, we land in Krakow and in four hours, we're inside Ukraine,” Bryenton said.

“And within another eight hours, the stuff is on its way to the front. Within a day, the items that we bring are directly on the front lines,” he said.

Aiding the Ukrainian crisis is something close to Wagner's heart.

"I'm in the Canadian military and I run the store. I deployed in Ukraine in 2017, so I've met a lot of people and made a lot of friends there,” Wagner said.

Wagner is active in the military at Oromocto’s Base Gagetown.

For Bryenton, who just got back from Ukraine on Friday, it's been a surreal experience.

"What is in those bags more than anything is hope,” Bryenton said.

“Hope that the world is standing behind Ukraine and we are all against the Russian occupation and the unjust war that is happening in Ukraine."

Between the store and donations, they've donated over $600,000 worth of gear to the war effort in Ukraine so far.

"I wanted to do something to give back to those people and this was the best way we could do that, and anything we could to support the guys and girls over there,” said Wagner.