September 14, 2023
55,843 people evacuated from danger to date
176 people evacuated from danger this week
48 trips into the deoccupied and frontline territories
One year anniversary of the liberation of Slatyne
On September 12, 2022 Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated the village of Slatyne. It sits only 10 miles away from Kharkiv and 7 miles away from the Russian border. This is as far as Putin got in his bloody drive to take Kharkiv. Although his army shattered everything in sight, Kharkiv did not yield, and after six long months, Ukrainian troops liberated the village.Since then, we partnered with Livyj Bereh to rebuild roofs there.
Slatyne used to be but a random dot on the map for us, but now it is a special place full of heroes and friends. There are roof workers who once stole a tank from the Russians. There is Masha, a 10-year-old who feeds abandoned animals. There is a medic who stayed with her patients during the occupation in a roofless hospital.
The sustained effort to rebuild the villages is bearing fruit. Since the occupation, the village has grown back from 300 people to more than 2,400 residents. All of them are capable, talented people who work hard to rebuild their community.
Ukraine TrustChain has been proud to support Slatyne and other liberated communities in Ukraine. Though much has been destroyed, the spirit of the Ukrainian people shines brighter than ever. And we hope that we will support more towns in the future once they are liberated.
For now, we wish the people of Slatyne a happy anniversary!
Stories
Natasha travels to Siversk
Natasha is used to traveling to tough places, but on her last trip to Siversk she seems to have taken on more risk than she had expected. Our teams traveled to Siversk in the past. But now this ghost town sits between two major battles at Bakhmut and Kreminna. No place is safe there. Rocket and artillery attacks happen without warning. Yet, 10% of Siversk pre-war population remains in the city. People are trapped by that peculiar phenomenon we observe all along the frontline. After surviving months of bombardment, people choose the certainty of their bombarded homes over the uncertainty of being a refugee elsewhere. They are alive and they need help, which forces our volunteers to take risks to support them.
People can only enter the city with the military. This proved to be useful as Natalia’s truck broke down on the road, and the packages had to be loaded onto military vehicles. Distributions happened quickly, avoiding gatherings of any kind. Natalia brought 397 packages, but was only able to distribute 100 packages directly. Residents of Siversk shelter in basements during the day and come out only at specific times of the day. Natasha left the rest of the packages at the local invincibility point, where a baptist church operates a kitchen. Local volunteers are tracking and will report on the distribution. Other than these dry facts, Natasha shared how difficult it was to see people almost devoid of emotions, moving slowly, “like zombies,” but occasionally getting into fights over a piece of clothing. This dehumanization of innocent civilians perpetrated by Russia can be neither forgotten nor forgiven.
Operations in the Occupied Territories
Evacuations from Russian-occupied territories are mostly finished. For the past two weeks volunteers are completing evacuations of people with limited mobility. This week, 15 more people were evacuated. Teams we support continue to facilitate help for those surviving under the occupation, helping 335 Ukrainian families in 7 occupied towns.
Team summaries
Ihor Dobra Sprava (“Good Cause”)
14 trips and 154 people evacuated to safety from Svyatogirsk, Lyman, Kramatorsk, Kostyantynivka, and Chasiv Yar regions, as well as Kherson.
Anastasia - NGO LoveUA
Anastasia and her team traveled to three small towns, 10 km from the frontline. They were escorted by the military, as the area is highly dangerous and we cannot name the towns.
Distributed 263 packages of food and hygiene products and bags of pet food
Inna’s Team
24.8 tons of aid was delivered to 8,350 people in 41 cities.
Flood Relief Efforts:
8 buildings disinfected, including 3 large highrise basements
Installed 6 dehumidifiers
Continued to refuel 18 generators and performed two oil changes
Expanding to a new neighborhood close to the water
Purchased building materials for a highrise in Kherson
200 packages delivered to Berislav again over two trips.
100 people received aid in Kramatorsk.
2 people, a mother and an 8-year-old, evacuated from Kramatorsk.
Provided generators to Virnopillia near Izyum.
Distributed bread and other essential aid to the people with disabilities and low-income families in Kivsharivka and Kupyansk. These are the most dangerous towns in Ukraine right now as Russians are trying to take back Kupyansk.
245 people received help in 4 towns in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Distributed 120 aid packages in bombarded Nikopol.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Oleksandr S (Boyarka): delivered 2 tons of agricultural products to the Sumy and Kyiv regions.
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): transported 35 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv and 7 tons of water from Mykolaiv to Kherson.
Sandra S (Odesa): kitchen fed more than 2,200 people.
Yuri S (Vinnytsia): prepared and delivered 50 loaves of bread and 13 pastries to disabled internally displaced people (IDPs).
Oksana K (Lutsk): brought 460 kg of food, clothes, medical and hygiene products from Poland.
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): held 3 art therapy sessions for 70 IDPs from Kherson, Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia, 14 children with disabilities and 9 children from military families. Helped 112 children with groceries, provided teenage girls with new clothes for school, organized an outing to the Lutsk drama theater.
NGO Angelia
On 9/7 Angelia’s mobile clinic traveled to Bucha in the Kyiv Region. Services included family doctors, ECG, ENT, and labs for blood, urine, sugar and TSH 1.
79 people received 234 medical services.
Kseniia’s Team - NGO Livyj Bereh
5 more roofs completed in Slatyne.
The Kherson team we support through Kseniia helped 194 people in Kherson, 160 of them were children.
New shipment of sheet metal arrived in Slatyne to support roof repairs in September
Delivered diapers to a hospice in Kharkiv which Kseniia has been helping for many months.
Natasha - Vysnia Volunteer Center
Natalia traveled to Siversk in one of the most difficult parts of Ukraine’s East. 350 packages were delivered to a bomb shelter there.
Tetiana traveled to Nova Osokorivka in the Kherson region, delivering approximately 100 packages and glass jars for the UTC Agrarian project.
Karina - We Save Dnipro
90 people in the shelter.
Alena’s Team
Delivered aid to Kherson:
25 homes in Pryozerne and 40 homes in Kherson received household sets including buckets, cleaning supplies, tools, a rake, a broom, and an ax to help them clean after the flooding.
200 people received clothing donated by a Ukrainian brand in Odesa.
3,500 packages of yogurt and chocolate bars distributed to the children in Kamyshan, Pryozerne, and Kherson.
500 people received paper towels.
Tetiana’s Team - Dopomoha Poruch
Distributed 180 aid packages to internally displaced refugees in Smila.
Sponsored a fair in Smila.
Timur’s Team-Timur and Team
Provided 300 aid packages to needy families in Saltivka.
Delivered 200 packages to Slavyansk and 100 to Kamyanka.
Helped a family with 7 kids with clothes and supplies for school.
Pavel and Olena - Touch of Heart and Dawn of Hope
1,956 people received aid packages last week.
Team traveled to 8 villages in Nikolaev-Kherson regions including Ofanasyivka, Novopavlivka, Luch, Novohryhorivka, Posad-Pokrovske, Shevchenkove, Zasillia.
Team delivered aid to foster homes and large families in Kharkiv.
Provided aid to a fire department in the village of Zasillia as well as a water barrel.
Andriy - BF Pomahaem
2,421 refugees, including 1,121 children, received help through Dnipro warehouse.
230 packages of hygienic products were brought to Fedorivka in Kherson region.
The team continued to deliver drinking water to Marhanets, a city that suffers from water shortage since the destruction of Kahovka dam.
Marina – Good Give Ukraine
150 families received food and hygiene items in Piatykhatky.
Ongoing support for children affected by war continues: this week children had free English and art classes as well as participated in sports activities at Marina's center.
Dina - Vilni Liudy – Vilna Krayina
Distributed 480 packages at the regular distribution centers.
Sergey T traveled to 10 de-occupied towns near Izyum and delivered 280 packages of aid for families, 240 packages of sweet treats to children starting the new school year, and 40 packages of school supplies to incoming first-graders.
Bogdan - Vse robymo sami
44 families in Zhytomyr received aid this week.
Children under the care of Bogdan’s organization continue to have art and psychology classes.
US Team
Another successful project with UTC partners:
UTC partnered with the Latvian organization Tabitas Sirds, which has recently been recognized by the Ukrainian ambassador for its contribution to Ukraine. Together, they delivered 10 tons of medical equipment to Vinnytsia. This generous donation came from the French association AIMA Ukraine, which collects equipment, medical furniture, and supplies to donate to Ukraine. Tabitas Sirds and UTC collaborated with their trusted logistics partner, World Of Connections, to transport this much-needed and long-awaited cargo to Vinnytsia. The distribution will be handled by the verified organization Podilska Hromada.
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