August 17, 2023
54,872 people evacuated from danger to date
337 people evacuated from danger this week
28 trips into the deoccupied and frontline territories
As our volunteers keep up the incredible pace of their humanitarian work, we can’t help but notice a gloomy shift over the last few weeks. Several of our volunteers shared that they lost friends serving in the armed forces of Ukraine. Although the frontline moves slowly, the battles have turned more deadly. As Russia’s murderous armies are pushing towards Kupyansk in the Northeast, they are destroying the towns which our Kharkiv volunteers, Darya, Timur, Serhiy, supported since they were deoccupied in the fall of 2022. Meanwhile, bombardments of civilian areas are becoming more frequent and indiscriminate. Our volunteers in the south, in Kherson and Odesa are chronically sleep-deprived now due to nightly shelling. Yet these acts of mass terrorism do not and cannot break the spirit of Ukrainian volunteers.
Our Ukraine TrustChain team is planning to visit with the teams once again next week, to support them in person, share our gratitude for their selfless efforts and plan out the next steps.
Stories
Evacuations from Occupied Territories
Our volunteers in the Russian-occupied territories on the left bank of Dnipro are trying to wrap up their evacuation efforts. These evacuations have become too dangerous, with intensified shelling and rising risk of secret police crackdown, but demand for evacuations remains high. This week more than 180 people were evacuated from occupied areas, including more than 10 with reduced mobility, fractures, dementia and stroke-related disabilities. As always many evacuees were accompanied by their pets. Even though registration for evacuation is now closed, over 130 people have already signed up for next week’s evacuation.
Watermelons from Kherson
For months now, Natasha’s team facilitated the demining of civilian areas in Kherson region. To thank Natalia and Ukraine TrustChain for the support, one of the villages sent an envoy to Наталия with a trunk full of watermelons harvested from the recently demined fields. Kherson watermelons are famous all over Ukraine; it is almost a brand and for many a symbol of the lush abundance of Ukrainian nature and the fertility of its battered soil.
Meanwhile, Tetiana, who heads the Kryvyi Rih branch of the team, traveled to the village of Tverdomedove. This spring, the village had only 50 families remaining and we helped them to plant their fields, providing tools, seeds and seedlings. When Tetiana came there last week, the harvest season was in full swing. Tetiana shared with us that she rarely felt so uplifted by people’s gratitude and newfound optimism. The village is rebuilding and now has 87 households. Many have returned to the village over the summer. In addition to the usual cargo, such as hygienic products and household chemicals, Tetiana brought 2,500 glass canning jars that the villagers needed to preserve the peppers and tomatoes they harvested for the winter.
Continued Flood Relief Operations in Kherson
In the last two weeks the city of Kherson has been shelled daily. One of the shells hit right outside of the apartment of our volunteer, who oversees flood relief operations for Inna’s team. When we asked whether we can help out of our team support funds, the volunteer declined as the risk of repeat attack was too great. This attack severely injured three elderly women who were sitting on the bench conversing; they lost their legs in the attack.
The disinfecting is exacerbated by almost 100 degree heat that makes it harder to spend hours in smelly basements in hazmat suits spraying powerful disinfectant on mold-covered walls. We should remember that UTC donations secured the equipment and the field for these operations, while the volunteers continue to work full time without getting paid for this, week after week.
Local residents create improvised tents to protect volunteers’ generators from direct sunlight heat.
Odesa Shelling
Week after week, Sandra S’s kitchen in Odesa quietly and efficiently goes about the business of feeding hot meals to 1,000-2,000 refugees and residents without power. The kitchen operates under the basement of a church, but the security provided by a basement can be illusory. Recently, kitchen staff found out that the floors in their basement are made of wood and will collapse in case of a direct hit.
This is concerning given that Odesa has been in the crosshairs of Russian missiles trying to destroy Ukraine’s grain export infrastructure. Last week, burning debris of downed missiles and drones fell from the sky at night. They hit the center of the city, only a block from the kitchen. A hypermarket burned down, and many homes were damaged. Ironically as we were typing up this paragraph another missile alert was declared for the Odesa region.
Delivering help to a hospice in Kharkiv
Ksenia was once again in Kharkiv last week, overseeing roof repairs and visiting with Darya in Kharkiv. Together they delivered aid to a hospice for cancer patients on the outskirts of Kharkiv. The hospice houses 30 people, mostly the elderly from the deoccupied territories, whose children are currently fighting in Ukraine’s Armed Forces. The management of the hospital is incredibly conscientious. They are former members of the military and take their mission very seriously. The settings in the hospices itself were not photographable.
Team summaries
Ihor Dobra Sprava (“Good Cause”)
14 trips to frontline zones
157 people evacuated from Lyman, Chasiv Yar, Kostyantynivka, Slovyansk, Kramatorsk and Kherson
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): transported 28 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv and the Mykolaiv Region and 7 tons of water from Mykolaiv to Kherson; delivered 6 tons of humanitarian aid from Odesa to Kherson.
Sandra S (Odesa): kitchen fed more than 2,200 people. Many continue to be refugees from Kherson.
Yuri S (Vinnytsia): delivered 400 kg of cereals and 400 kg of clothes to a rehabilitation center in Vinnytsia.
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): held several art therapy sessions for 37 children with disabilities, children of internally displaced people (IDPs), children from large families and children from military families. Helped 11 IDPs with glasses. Taught classical massage techniques and provided dental treatment to young people. Met with amputees who needed limb prostheses.
Valery L (Rivne): delivered 1,100 kg of grocery sets, clothes, shoes and hygiene items to Mykolaivka (frontline area in Bakhmut District, Donetsk Region).
NGO “We Are Home” (Hostomel): delivered 3 boxes of medicines, 5 water filtration systems, and 100 bottles of water to the villages of Tiahynka and Vysoke (Kherson Region).
NGO Angelia
Between 8/2 and 8/10/23, the clinic traveled to the Kyiv region locations of Tetiiv, Kozyntsi and Dibrova. Services included family doctors, psychologists, ENT, ECG and labs for blood, urine, sugar, TSH and lipid testing. In total 201 people received 774 services.
Kseniia’s Team - NGO Livyj Bereh
Built roofs for 7 homes in Slatyne, near Kharkiv
Delivered aid to a hospice helping 30 patients in Kharkiv
Olha and Svitlana delivered help to 142 families in Pryozerne and Eastern Kherson. The shelling of Kherson is intensifying especially in the riverbank villages where our volunteers work.
Daria working in Kharkiv went to the most difficult part of the frontline around Kupyansk. Made two trips to Kutkivka, Zapadne, Kucherivka and Podoly, delivering 300 packages.
Natasha - Vysnia Volunteer Center
Delivered aid for 87 families in Tverdomedove. Delivered 2,500 glass canning jars needed to store vegetables for the winter
Karina - We Save Dnipro
74 people in the shelter
The team traveled to Krivy Rih delivering 40 packages of aid and medicine and distributed 80 packages of aid in Dnipro and Zaporyzhzhia.
Timur - Timur and Team
Timur’s team started with deliveries to the elderly in the Saltivka region of Kharkiv. Some residents feel completely broken, and for them this aid is a lifeline and a reminder that someone cares. One delivery that stood out was to an elderly woman who is 97 and has now survived two major wars in her hometown.
Delivered 300 food packages
Delivered 150 hygiene packages
Inna’s Team
26 tons of aid delivered to 8,750 in 38 towns across 5 frontline regions of Ukraine
9,500 people received bread
Flood relief operations:
Performed 64 refuelings and 7 oil changes. As a reminder our volunteers supervise multiple worksites run by building residents working on their building.
Dehumidified 3 buildings
Desinfected 7 buildings
2 more trips delivering 230 packages to Davydiv Brid and Berislav - the most shelled parts of Kherson region
30 hygienic packages provided in Kostyantynivka, Druzhkivka and Mykolaivka in Donetsk region (frontline zones).
Inna’s team conducts daily classes and play sessions for children from refugee families in Dnipro.
Tetiana’s Team - Dopomoha Poruch
Distributed 240 aid packages to internally displaced refugees in Rotmistrivka, Cherkasy region
Pavel and Olena - Touch of Heart and Dawn of Hope
Provided packages to 1,420 people
Organized a trip for children from the village of Balovne
Delivered 3 tons of water to Kobzartsi
Andriy - BF Pomahaem
We are starting on rebuilding in Snihurivka, Kherson region.
10 tons of water delivered to Marhanets
34 people staying in Andriy’s shelter in Voloske
Delivered 175 packages to Afanasiivka, Kherson region
Marina – Good Give Ukraine
150 food and hygiene packages distributed in Zhovti Vody
Dina - Vilni Liudy – Vilna Krayina
281 packages of aid distributed in Kanev and Poltava
Mailed 5 packages to Kherson
Sergey T traveled to 9 small towns in the Kharkiv region delivering 1,000 packages of aid
Bogdan - Vse robymo sami
42 aid packages were given to displaced families in Zhytomir
US Team
A longtime donor wrote to us: “We do see your important work from afar, and we hope for an end to this madness. “
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