December 14, 2023
57,988 people evacuated from danger to date
171 people evacuated from danger this week
44 trips into the deoccupied and frontline territories
As Ukrainian volunteers continue to support the people living in the most dangerous parts of Ukraine, they report back with stories and pictures documenting the destruction unleashed on Ukraine by Russia’s tyranny. It is easy to get confused in the noisy media environment when the narratives are manipulated for political purposes, and are presented in various ideological contexts. But for those who read this newsletter, we hope the situation is clear. The approaching Russian army brings death and destruction all along the frontline. If Russia manages to occupy more Ukrainian land - more cities will burn and more people will die until the whole of Eastern Europe and the West are engulfed in the flames of war.
Today, Ukraine needs US support more than ever, and for the first time since the full scale invasion, Congress failed to help Ukraine. As a member of the American Coalition for Ukraine, led by Razom, Ukraine TrustChain volunteers are asking everyone to call their elected representatives and urge them to pass supplemental aid to Ukraine. For more information please visit the Razom Action Center.
Stories
Trips to High-risk Areas
We’ve covered hundreds of trips to deliver aid in these newsletters. On each trip volunteers overcome new challenges, involving shelling, landmines, and difficult terrain and weather. Last week, Ukraine was hit by heavy rains. Pavel’s volunteers were distributing vegetables in the Kherson region, and few team members got sick from the dampness and cold; they are now recovering in Mykolaiv. Meanwhile, Alena, our volunteer leader from Odesa drove to Kherson city. The drive through the rain over the muddy roads took hours more than usual. But the people patiently waited for her. Everyone was soaked.
The following day the temperatures dropped below zero. That morning Anastasia was making her way to Donbas from Dnipro. It took the team an extra three hours to slowly navigate over icy roads, and several times they narrowly avoided accidents. At the same time, a hundred miles to the north, Natalia was making her way to Lyman also struggling along icy roads. Despite these hardships, all these team leaders are already planning their next trips, trying to get an extra trip in this month before the New Year holidays, so that everyone gets help in time to celebrate.
Trips to High-risk Areas
We’ve covered hundreds of trips to deliver aid in these newsletters. On each trip volunteers overcome new challenges, involving shelling, landmines, and difficult terrain and weather. Last week, Ukraine was hit by heavy rains. Pavel’s volunteers were distributing vegetables in the Kherson region, and few team members got sick from the dampness and cold; they are now recovering in Mykolaiv. Meanwhile, Alena, our volunteer leader from Odesa drove to Kherson city. The drive through the rain over the muddy roads took hours more than usual. But the people patiently waited for her. Everyone was soaked.
The following day the temperatures dropped below zero. That morning Anastasia was making her way to Donbas from Dnipro. It took the team an extra three hours to slowly navigate over icy roads, and several times they narrowly avoided accidents. At the same time, a hundred miles to the north, Natalia was making her way to Lyman also struggling along icy roads. Despite these hardships, all these team leaders are already planning their next trips, trying to get an extra trip in this month before the New Year holidays, so that everyone gets help in time to celebrate.
Below, we mention more trips and distributions in the high risk areas, highlighting the unique adaptability of the Ukrainian volunteer networks consistently delivering aid to the areas with the greatest humanitarian need.
“Good Deed” Partnership with “We Save Ukraine”
Thanks to your generous support, “We Save Ukraine” procured and packaged much needed aid that “Good Deed” (“Dobra Sprava”) delivered to small towns near Kurakhivka located 7km from the line of fighting, in the gray zone. Here is what Ihor tells us about the trip.
What we saw and felt at the landing distance of a 120-caliber mortar mine is very difficult to convey in words. Everything is frozen. A kind of icy hell with the stench of burning from burned out and destroyed homes. People who for various reasons could not evacuate live under constant shelling. Most of their time they spend in basements where they have set up mini bomb-shelters with a few necessities and some food.”
The teams delivered aid in the form of food, hygiene products, candles, matches, gas stoves, and thermal underwear for kids.
Sasha, one of the volunteers, noticed two boys about 13-14 years old pulling a sled with a pile of something he didn’t immediately recognize. When he asked the boys about it, they told him they had collected cardboard casings from fired artillery shells to burn for heat in their homes. “They don’t provide much heat, but they do burn. It’s better than nothing,” the boys said.
This week, 10 people were evacuated from the Russian-occupied left bank. As in previous weeks, the evacuees are virtually all patients with serious disabilities or diseases, unable to walk. Four difficult evacuations also took place from Ukrainian-held territory to Germany and Denmark. One case involved a man from Izium who had spent time lying alone and injured (using pain killers) after a shell hit his apartment. He was taken to Copenhagen.
320 packages were delivered to 4 towns in the occupied regions.
Team Summaries
Ihor’s Team – Dobra Sprava (“Good Cause”)
15 trips; 157 people evacuated.
Delivered 50 packages of food, 60 packages of hygiene products, and 60 sets of gas stoves with gas and matches, as well as candles and thermal underwear for children to Gostre, Kurakhivka, Oleksandropil’ - towns 7km from the frontline in the grey-zone.
Inna’s Team – Krok z Nadiyeyu (“Step with Hope”)
23.6 tons distributed to 8,050 people.
Bread was distributed to 9,500 people.
Flood relief in Kherson:
Exterminated rats in 15 buildings;
Performed 11 maintenance tasks;
Repaired boiler pump.
Firewood was delivered to 150 more household in Khotimlya.
Continued trips to high risk areas: 7 cities in Donetsk region.
80 packages delivered to the frontline village Novoocheruvate.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Pavlo V (Dnipro): delivered 1 ton of food kits to the area around Kryvyi Rih. Distributed 600 loaves of bread to home for people with disabilities and shelter for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Kryvyi Rih and Dnipro Districts of the Dnipropetrovsk Region. Pavlo and his family are leaving Ukraine to live abroad, so this is likely his last report.
Oleksandr S (Boyarka): delivered 4 tons of food and household chemicals to Posad-Pokrovske (Kherson Region) and surrounding villages.
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): transported 35 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv and 7 tons of water to Kherson.
Sandra S (Odesa): kitchen fed more than 2,000 people.
Andriy P (Chernivtsi): Delivered components for 25 beds to a rehabilitation center in Kremenets (Ternopil Region) and components for 30 beds and 22 wheels to Mykolaiv. Total weight delivered to both cities was 1,800 kg. Also delivered 25 tons of potatoes, cabbage, apples, pears, canned goods, hygiene products, antiseptics, books, clothes and mattresses to Mykolaiv.
Oksana K (Lutsk): brought 1,100 kg of humanitarian aid from France, including valuable medicines for the hospital.
Oleksandr D (Lutsk): Delivered 118 tons of fuel briquettes to the villages of Blahovishchenske and Komyshany (both in Kherson Region). Brought 450 kg of apples, pears and nuts from Chernivtsi to Zaporizhzhia.
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): held 3 art therapy sessions for 46 children with disabilities, IDP children, and children from military families. Helped 178 children with food, groceries and dishware and took them to MacDonald's.
NGO Angelia
11/25-3/12/23: brought 930 kg of medical equipment, clothes and household appliances from Berlin and Mökern (Germany) to Kyiv and Chernivtsi.
Kseniia’s Team - NGO Livyj Bereh (“Left Bank”)
4 more roofs completed in Slatyne.
Kseniia has been on site in villages around Kharkiv receiving a new large delivery of roof metal for December reconstruction.
Kherson volunteers' week was cut short by a family emergency. 270 packages for children were distributed last week.
Karina’s Team - We Save Dnipro
67 people in the shelter, 19 of them are children.
12 families received humanitarian aid packages in Krivyi Rih.
Tetiana’s Team - Dopomoha Poruch
230 aid packages distributed to internally displaced people in Smila.
90 packages with sweets distributed in orphanage in Mykhailivka, Cherkasy region.
Timur’s Team – Timur and Team
Distributed 300 packages in Saltivka, Kharkiv.
Brought aid and hygiene products to 30 bed-bound elderly and diapers for 30 families with children.
The team is planning something special for the holidays to brighten the lives of children who have had such a difficult two years.
Pavel and Olena’s Team - Touch of Heart and Dawn of Hope
Vegetable project continues. 1,124 families in 9 villages received 27.6 tons, which is a 2 months’ supply of vegetables.
2.5 tons of potatoes delivered to Myrne.
1,856 people received help from the Mykolaiv office.
Earlier this year we helped provide heating equipment for a hospital school at the pediatric oncological hospital, which officially opened last week.
Organized a trip to a theater performance for 50 refugee children living near Mykolaiv.
Andriy’s Team – BF Pomahaem
534 large packages distributed on two trips in the Dnipro region.
“Pomahaem” was selected as a partner organization to collaborate with the German Federal Foreign Office, distributing financial aid to IDPs in Ukraine. The team made 4 trips last week to the Izium and Dnipro regions.
Natalia - Vyshnia Volunteer Center
Nataliya traveled to Lyman – a very dangerous area – delivering 200 aid packages and 85 packages for children. Distributions took place in Lyman, Ozerne and Kryvi Luky.
Tetiana with the Kryvyi Rih branch of her team traveled to the Kherson region delivering 188 family packages and 53 packages for children.
Marina’s Team – Good Give Ukraine
150 aid packages were distributed to people displaced by war in Zhovti Vody.
Marina's team prepared more than 300 gift sets for children affected by war in Piatykhatky and Zhovti Vody.
Dina’s Team -- Vilni Liudy – Vilna Krayina (“Free People - Free Country”)
540 packages distributed at regular centers,
100 packages mailed from Dnipro to small towns.
71 families in Kremenchuk received candles.
Bogdan’s Team - Vse robymo sami
42 families received food and hygiene packages in Zhytomyr.
Children in club for children with disabilities held holiday celebration and received gifts.
Flooring was completed in a new Inclusive Children's Center "House of Joy."
Anastasia’s Team - LoveUA
Delivered 300 packages of aid and 130 gifts for children to a town of Vasylivka near Kramatorsk.
Alena’s Team – Virgo
Traveled to 3 neighborhoods in Kherson, delivering 200 packages and 600 children’s gifts.
How to Help
Donate - The money goes directly to teams providing aid on the ground, who respond dynamically to the most urgent needs.
Fundraise - Organize fundraisers at your school, work, place of worship, with friends and family, etc.
Spread the word - Share our website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn with your friends, family, and colleagues.
Fill out this form if you’re interested in volunteering with us, and we’ll let you know when opportunities come up.
Download and print our flyer. Ask your local coffee shop if you can add it to the bulletin, or use it as part of your fundraiser.