January 29th, 2026
69,964 people evacuated from danger to date
34 people evacuated from danger this week
34 trips into deoccupied and frontline territories this week
As snow and cold temperatures set in in many parts of the US, our thoughts keep turning to our friends in Ukraine, who have to endure similar weather, but often without electricity, heat, or running water. Imagine living through a freezing snowstorm, while Russia’s bloodthirsty army is bombing your power stations and hitting residential highrises with the sole purpose of crushing your spirit. Given this situation on the ground, it’s pointless to ask whether the Russian government “wants peace.” As our hearts ache for our friends, we continue to admire their resilience and to celebrate the incredible work they do every week, despite the weather and the enemy airstrikes.
Stories
A Personal Account from a Shelter Warmed by Our Firewood
Last week, Inna’s team delivered firewood to the Motivation to Live shelter near Dnipro, which houses 90 people. This personal account from Ihor, a shelter resident, reminds us of the daily horrors the Russians have unleashed on the innocent civilians of Eastern Ukraine.
My mother and I remained in Kostyantynivka until the last. We couldn't bring ourselves to leave — it seemed like things would quiet down any moment. They didn't.
We were hit in an airstrike. Mom was killed instantly. I didn't even have time to understand what was happening. One moment she was beside me, and the next she was gone. My leg was broken; my entire right side was all cut up by shrapnel. The only thing that saved me was that the bomb landed in a flower bed. If it had landed on asphalt, I most likely wouldn't be here.
A local medic lived nearby. He ran over almost immediately and began providing first aid. Evacuation was impossible — the shelling hadn’t stopped. They dragged me into a building entrance, and I lived there for two days, just waiting for the slightest chance to get out. The medic would come, bandage my wounds, treat the shrapnel injuries, and bring medicine. Fortunately, no infection set in.
After two days, they were finally able to evacuate me and get me to a hospital. But they couldn't save Mom. My brother remained in Kostyantynivka. I still have no contact with him. I don't know if he's alive or not. I have no information. I have no other relatives left. I'm alone, with a broken leg, severe injuries, pain, and the need for longterm treatment and rehabilitation. So, I'm here now. And I desperately need help just to get back on my feet and continue living.
Lifelong Neighbors Stay Together
A heart-warming evacuation story comes from Sloviansk this week, where five elderly neighbors - Andriy, Nataliia, Liudmyla, Liubov, and Leonid had spent a lifetime on the same block, and refused to let the war tear them apart. When the cold became unbearable, Andriy shared a solution: his sister owned a vacant house in Dubno, in the Rivne Region. Andriy invited his neighbors to evacuate with him and settle in his sister’s house together, so they could look after one another and share the costs of living.
The group organized their relocation with the precision of a family move, sending their essential belongings ahead by mail. The Dobra sprava team then transported the five friends to Lozova and saw them onto their train toward Lviv.
Timur and His Family Are Safe
Last week we reported that a shell had hit the buiding where Timur’s family lives. Due to a formatting error we inadvertantly left you with a cliffhanger. We are happy to report that Timur’s family is safe.
The story didn’t end so well for everybody. A Russian rocket hit the apartment building in Saltivka, Kharkiv, causing significant damage and several casualties. Three floors of the building were destroyed and two people lost their lives, while others were wounded. Timur’s parents were home. All the windows in their apartment blew out, but, by a stroke of sheer luck they were left unharmed because they were behind solid walls.
Unfortunately, this is a part of daily life in Ukraine. While Timur’s parents are staying elsewhere, a number of their neighbors have already moved back into parts of the damaged building. Timur and the team continue their work, including delivering aid packages to those affected by this missile strike.
The Gift of Apples
After distributing apples to residents of Zaporizhzhia, Pavlo B. expressed gratitude to volunteer Andriy P. who brought the apples, and to the whole chain of volunteers and donors making these deliveries possible.
Thank you for your support of our community in the city of Zaporizhzhia, during such hard times, when we are suffering from enemy shelling day and night. Thank you for being with us and not abandoning us in our time of trouble. We have people here who've had to relocate several times in the space of half a year. They were so grateful it was hard to hear. They say they haven't tasted such delicious apples in a long time, because they had no time for it. Your gift is better than any words, because it warms our hearts and lets us know that we haven't been left alone.
Among the people who received apples was a family with five children, and another one with four. Also there were old people and bedridden sick people whom we visited at home. There were also internal refugees with families of up to 20 people. All in all we tended to 75 people, all of whom needed special care. Because it's hard to imagine how these things can turn. A person lives a regular life, works, and suddenly loses everything because of the intense shelling of civilian sectors.
Team Summaries
Alina’s Team – Dobra sprava (Good Deeds)
8 trips, evacuating 34 people from Sloviansk, Mykolaivka, Kramatorsk, and Druzhkivka areas.
Inna’s Team – Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope)
21.2 tons of aid delivered to 8,150 people.
6,600 people received bread.
72 tons of firewood delivered to 2 shelters.
The team reached 36 locations, 12 of them in high-risk areas.
Disinfected and cleaned 3 spaces in Kherson.
Completed 15 huminatiran missions in Kherson.
Distributed glasses in Druzhkivka.
After a highrise was attacked by a Russian drone, Inna’s team once again set up a mobile aid site next to the damaged building, distributing clothing and warm food.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Oleksandr S. (Boyarka): report for 2 weeks. Sumy Region: distributed 2 tons of food kits to 160 families in Konotop; brought hygiene products to a medical center in Krolevets’; delivered a high chair to the younger sister of a fallen soldier in Sumy; distributed food and baby food elsewhere in the region. Vinnytsia Region: delivered 150 kg of hygiene products to NGO Goodpoint in Illintsi. Chernihiv Region: provided walkers to people with disabilities; held a social event for children on the eve of the holidays. Kyiv Region: held social and spiritual support events for children and adults in Boyarka.
Sandra S. (Odesa): despite the continuing cold snap, the kitchen has finally gotten back into a more regular regime with stable electricity. More than 600 meals were served. The volunteers are also distributing socks and gloves to help the hardest hit residents of the city stay warm.
Vladyslav K. (Mykolaiv): the cold weather has increased the need for water deliveries, as many of the distribution points in the city have frozen. The team has also had to warm up barrels and hoses in order to supply people with water. This time, the volunteers delivered 49 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv.
Pavlo B. (Zaporzhzhia): distributed apples, received from Andriy P. earlier, to 75 people in Zaporizhia
Vitaliy Z. (Kharkiv): delivered 3.5 tons of humanitarian kits, clothes, medicine, and animal feed to the small pre-frontline village of Stepne, in the Kramatorsk District, which receives almost no humanitarian aid. Distributed 500 loaves of “Victory” bread in Kramatorsk. Delivered 90 tons of fuel briquettes to 300 households in Kramatorsk and Balakliya. Brought 2 tons of equipment and medicine to the L.T. Malaya Therapy National Institute in Kharkiv.
WeCare Center (Lviv): delivered aid to Khmelnytskyi, Uman, Obukhiv, and Pereyaslav.
Oksana K. (Lutsk): supplied adult diapers and urological pads to 72 people.
Oleksandr Z. (Lutsk): provided therapeutic interventions and aid to IDP children and families, children and adults with disabilities, orphans, elderly people, military service members and children from military families, and amputees in Lutsk, Ostrozhets', Novosilka, and other parts of the Rivne and Volyn regions. 967 children and adults received help, including art therapy, theater therapy, music therapy, a visit to the theater, sports activities, help with bread and other food, help with glasses, dental, medical, and preventive procedures, and help with the manufacture of prostheses and rehabilitation.
Karina’s Team – My ryatuyemo Ukrayinu (We Save Ukraine)
104 people in the shelter.
Tetiana’s Team – Dopomoha poruch (Help Is Near)
Delivered 100 aid packages to Kramatorsk, Donetsk Region.
Distributed 160 aid packages in Smila, Cherkasy Region.
Delivered 100 aid packages and hygiene products to Shevchenkove, near Kup’yans’k, Kharkiv Region.
Natasha’s Team – Volontersʹkyy tsentr Vyshnya (Cherry Volunteer Center)
Tetiana, based in Kryvyi Rih, traveled to Liubymivka, Kherson Region, delivering 220 packages to families and 58 packages to children.
Timur’s Team – Komanda Teymura Alyeva (Timur Alyev’s Team)
Distributed 212 aid packages to families in Kharkiv.
Special deliveries to 15 disabled elderly and 10 families with infants.
An elderly person whom the team had been assisting was recently killed in an explosion from a Russian attack.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams – Dotyk sertsya (Touch of Heart) & Svitanok mriy (Dawn of Dreams)
69 tons of firewood delivered to the villages Kvitneve, Afanasiivka and Kyselivka, Kherson Region.
78 families received 1.2 tons of vegetables in Novohryhorivka.
Pomahaem Foundation (We Help Foundation)
644 people arrived at the Volos’ke transit center.
Helped 221 families over the course 7 trips to Zaporizhzhia and 1 trip to the area around Nikopol’.
Marina’s Team – Daruy dobro Ukrayina (Give Good Ukraine)
150 food and hygiene packages were distributed to internally displaced people in Piatykhatky.
Dina’s Team – Vilʹni lyudy, vilʹna krayina (Free People, Free Country)
Distributed 268 packages in Kanev, Kremenchuk, and Poltava.
Served 1,150 meals in the Kharkiv soup kitchen.
Distributed 250 aid packages to recent evacuees from Kup’yans’k and Vovchans’k in Kharkiv.
Bohdan’s Team — Vse robymo sami (We Do Everything Ourselves)
42 families in Zhytomyr received food and hygiene kits.
This week at the Club for Children with Disabilities children attended their usual culinary classes.
Alena’s Team – Diva (Virgo)
196 people received bread.
29 wounded received medical aid.
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, LinkedIn, or Bluesky Social 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.
