July 10th, 2025
68,390 people evacuated from danger to date
63 people evacuated from danger this week
33 trips into deoccupied and frontline territories this week
Two things seem to remain constant in this period — the uncertainty of American support for Ukraine and the brutal, increasingly massive attacks on Ukrainian cities. On Thursday we spent the night in contact with our Kyiv volunteers who, though used to many horrors, were struggling to stay calm as 550 drones hit Kyiv. The next morning, Kyiv was covered in smoke, as if from wildfires.
Against this background, the news about the US decision to discontinue shipments of air defense ammunition to Ukraine was especially painful. We hope that this decision will be partially reversed after some of this week’s public statements by US officials, but we do not understand why American support for Ukraine has to waver so much.
Stories
Podcast Feature: Ryan's Harrowing Ukraine Experience
Regular newsletter readers will remember Ryan Van Ert, the American documentary filmmaker who has made four trips to Ukraine over the past year to document the ongoing war. Working alongside teams supported by Ukraine TrustChain, Ryan has captured powerful stories from the frontlines.
During one particularly dangerous mission — an evacuation operation with our partner organization Dobra sprava — Ryan narrowly escaped death. This gripping experience has now been featured as a podcast episode on The Otherworld, where Ryan shares his firsthand account of the harrowing events. You can hear Ryan’s extraordinary account here: Episode 128: Patience. For those interested in our original coverage of this story, you can find it in our October 3rd, 2024.
“Trips to Ostrov Are Like Playing Roulette”
The situation in Kherson is unique due to its proximity to the Russian army, which continues to terrorize the civilian population of the city with its increasingly frequent FPV drone attacks. Some of the most daring missions undertaken by our Ukrainian teams take place inside the city, where a trip to some neighborhoods is more dangerous than trips into frontline regions in the East. Our volunteer Oleksandr U, shared the following story about traveling to the Ostrov District — a neighborhood in Kherson — to complete maintenance tasks:
Trips to the Ostrov District right now are like playing roulette. You might make it back in one piece, you might make it into the next world. What's happening there is similar to the previous situation in the Skhidne District [another Kherson neighborhood destroyed by Russian forces]. Just like in the Skhidne District before, many people continue to live here. To our surprise, we even saw a minibus, which we couldn't help being amazed by. When we were leaving, an enemy drone hit something in the neighboring block. Leaving from this area is also quite an extreme experience. Thank God everything is fine with us: the cables for restoring electricity in one of the buildings have been delivered, and the chemical treatment of bomb shelters has been completed, so that people can have light and stay in the shelters without discomfort.
Inna’s Teams Help Children Trapped in Donbas
Some of Inna’s volunteers live in Donbas on a permanent basis to support the local population and help children there. Recently, the volunteers created a holiday camp for those children whose parents refuse to evacuate them to the relative safety of Ukrainian cities farther West:
At the moment we are working with children at a holiday school and camp. We also bring children from Druzhkivka and Kramatorsk [if they want to attend the camp]. Here we have a bomb shelter, a good one, strong and high. When the siren sounds, we go down there with the children. Apart from us, children here don’t go to school or kindergarten. Thanks to this camp they have at least some educational contact. But the main thing is the emotions they receive. Here we also have a swimming pool, and we have a trampoline, so the children are engaged. They find it interesting, and we also find it interesting to be with the children and give them positive support.
Gardening Tools for Pravdyne Villagers
Pavel and Olena have just finished supplying the villagers of Pravdyne, in the Kherson Region, with gardening tools. Ukraine TrustChain has supported this village since its liberation in 2022.
The people are extremely grateful! We distributed supplies directly to courtyards where several families live. They shared with one another: some took buckets, others took hoes, depending on their needs. Most importantly, everything was delivered as promised. This week we're also planning another hygiene supply distribution.
Unfortunately, the situation in Pravdyne has worsened. Yesterday there was a heavy strike right near our office, where we work with children. This happened in the morning — no one expected it. Natalia sent us photos of injured people... It's terrible. Near Natalia and her husband's house, where the factory is located, two weeks ago there were 18 strikes in one day! Natalia and her husband say: "We almost went gray [from the stress].…" But despite it all we keep working.
Olena and Pavel are also working with another organization, not supported directly by Ukraine TrustChain, to help 26 children find foster families. They will be hosting these families at the organization’s base in Western Ukraine through the summer.
Help in Occupied Territories
85 packages were delivered to three towns in the occupied zones.
Team Summaries
Alina’s Team – Dobra sprava (Good Deeds)
13 trips, evacuating 62 people, 17 of them children. Most evacuations took place from Rodyns’ke, Bilyts’ke, Mezhova, Kostyantynivka, Lyman, and Druzhkivka areas.
Inna’s Team – Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope)
20.5 tons of aid delivered to 7,800 people.
6,600 people received bread.
Aid reached 39 villages and towns, 10 of them high-risk areas in the Donbas, and the Kharkiv and Dnipropitrovsk regions.
Kherson team activities:
Exterminations in 7 large basement spaces.
Completed 7 smaller humanitarian missions, helping people with generators, medical equipment, etc.
Delivered gasoline to a dangerous neighborhood of Kherson, partially under control by Russian FPV drones. This fuel will power generators supporting elderly residents who refuse to leave their high-rise apartment buildings.
Delivered aid to a shelter for internally displaced people (IDPs) housing 80 people, in Pokotylove.
Brought glasses and a visit from an ophthalmologist to a Nikopol nursing home.
Delivered baby food and food aid for families with children to 100 households in Marhanets’.
Distributed 3 tons of water throughout Nikopol’ (delivered by Pomahaem Foundation).
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): delivered 35 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv and 7 to Kherson. One of the distribution sites was later hit by a Shahed drone, but water distribution there resumed the next day.
Andriy P (Mykolaiv): brought the following vehicles from Germany – Renault Midlum 2013 truck, trailer, Nissan X-Trail SUV, Nissan Pathfinder SUV, and Renault Kangoo van. These were loaded with 5 tons of humanitarian aid, including 50 tires, a washing machine, refrigerators, sleeping bags, clothes, 20 boxes of hygiene products, 40 boxes of medicines, 10 prostheses, 10 wheelchairs, power tools, and transmissions.
Yuri S (Vinnytsia): delivered food aid on 2 occasions to the Safe Space Vinnytsia night shelter for the homeless. 22 people total were staying at the shelter on the 2 nights combined. Brought 5 kg of cherries to 2 disabled people.
Alla A (Kremenets’): in June, provided psychological support to 480 children and adults.
Vitaliy Z (Kharkiv): delivered 4 tons of humanitarian kits (food, clothes, medicine, animal feed, and fresh "Victory" bread) and another 400+ loaves of “Victory” bread to Kramatorsk. Evacuated a woman, her cat, and belongings from Kostyantynivka to Poltava under very dangerous conditions and with the help of a military drone unit. Provided 50 housing department workers in Balakliya with work uniforms. Visited an orphanage in the Savyntsi territorial community (Kharkiv Region), housing children from deoccupied territories. Brought clothes, toys, treats, and food.
Oleksandr D (Lutsk): Vadym T brought 800 of aid from Düsseldorf and delivered it to Inna’s Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope) in Dnipro, intended for shelter residents and other internally displaced people (IDPs). The aid included clothes, shoes, an electric wheelchair, sewing machines, bicycles for children and adults, orthopedic beds, and furniture.
Oksana K (Lutsk): mailed a package of adult diapers to a seriously ill mother of a soldier in the Khmelnytskyi Region. At the distribution center in Lutsk, 43 visitors received 329 kg of clothing, shoes, toys, blankets, pillows, bedspreads, adult diapers, urinary pads, and other hygiene items. The aid was distributed to IDPs, large families, military families, and families with seriously ill people. Handed over various sweet treats to large IDP families.
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): provided therapeutic interventions and aid to IDP children and families, children with disabilities, children from military families, orphans, military members and veterans, and amputees – held 3 art therapy sessions for a total of 88 children and female military personnel. Visited a theater festival with the families of 60 IDPs and children of veterans and a museum exhibition with the families of 70 veterans. Distributed bread and other food to 70 orphaned students from the Sumy, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions and to 380 other people living in IDP assistance centers. Provided glasses for 22 adults and children. Conducted 76 medical and preventive procedures for the recovery of 22 IDP children with disabilities from the Kherson Region. Helped 38 children with prophylactic health procedures, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, and gym classes. Through partners, assisted in the manufacture of prostheses and rehabilitation for 8 people.
Karina’s Team – My ryatuyemo Ukrayinu (We Save Ukraine)
100 people in the shelter.
Tetiana’s Team – Dopomoha poruch (Help Is Near)
Helped restore houses and mitigate damage from drone and rocket attacks on Smila.
Natasha’s Team – Volontersʹkyy tsentr Vyshnya (Cherry Volunteer Center)
Natalya and Tetiana are preparing for a trip to the Donbas, and another one to the Kherson Region next week.
Timur’s Team – Komanda Teymura Alyeva (Timur Alyev’s Team)
Delivered aid packages to 433 seniors in hard-hit parts of Kharkiv.
Special home deliveries to 37 disabled elderly and 18 families with babies.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams – Dotyk sertsya (Touch of Heart) & Svitanok mriy (Dawn of Dreams)
Delivered food packages to 230 families in Luch and Shevchenkove villages.
150 families received garden tools in the village of Pravdyno.
Pomahaem Foundation (We Help Foundation)
5 trips to the vicinity of Synel’nykove (eastern Dnipropetrovsk Region) delivering 75 packages.
16 tons of water delivered to Nikopol’.
Marina’s Team – Daruy dobrо Ukrayina (Give Good Ukraine)
150 food and hygiene packages distributed to internally displaced people in Zhovty Vody.
22 packages sent to disabled people in different parts of Ukraine.
Dina’s Team — Vilʹni lyudy, vilʹna krayina (Free People, Free Country)
359 packages distributed in Kremenchuk, Poltava, Kanev, and to new arrivals in Dnipro.
100 packages mailed from Dnirpo to people in small towns.
The soup kitchen in Kharkiv served 1,440 meals.
Bohdan’s Team — Vse robymo sami (We Do Everything Ourselves)
42 families in Zhytomyr received food and hygiene kits.
Held art and culinary classes at the club for children with disabilities.
Alena’s Team – Diva (Virgo)
482 loaves of bread distributed in Odesa.
Helped 47 wounded in the Odesa hospital.
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.