July 23rd, 2026
71,491 people evacuated from danger to date
167 people evacuated from danger this week
37 trips into deoccupied and frontline territories this week
As we were sending out last week’s newsletter, Ukraine was entering a real stretch of turmoil. On July 15, President Zelensky dismissed his defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, as part of a broader cabinet reshuffle, driven largely by tension between Fedorov and other figures in the government. The move set off a wave of peaceful protests that spread beyond Kyiv into cities like Lviv, Odesa, and Dnipro, aimed at reversing the removal of a minister credited with strengthening Ukraine's drone warfare capability.
The war hasn’t paused for any of this — Russia has kept up its assault on civilians throughout Ukraine, including large-scale ballistic strikes on Kyiv. Yet Ukrainians were back in the streets, cardboard signs in hand, calling for accountability and reform. In under a week, the government responded: Zelensky fired the military commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, who had clashed with Fedorov, and appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi in his place.
Regardless of their choice of government, we are once again amazed by the effectiveness of Ukrainian civil society: by how it can express itself with such force and dignity, producing immediate, meaningful response from those in power.
Despite their heavy load, some of our Ukrainian volunteers found the time and energy to join the protests. This kind of commitment to civic duty, even amid all their other responsibilities and cares, gives us hope that Ukraine can prevail over an enemy that may be larger, but is also authoritarian, and therefore sclerotic.
Story
As you might remember from a previous newsletters, Inna Kampen's aid hub in Shevchenkove, located between Kharkiv and Kup’yans’k, was destroyed by a Russian attack. This excerpt from Inna's report provides a glimpse into the realities of this frontline town and the selfless volunteer work taking place there:
Shevchenkove, Kup’yans’k District
Things stayed busy in Shevchenkove again last week. We still don't have a physical location to meet with people, so everything runs via phone, and the volume is heavy — easily hundreds of calls a week. Most callers just want to know how to reach us. Our volunteers pick up, take down the needed informationm and arrange the specific help each family requires. That work depends on a small core group plus local activists in the villages themselves.
Locally, these activists are called kvartalni [block coordinators]. They're plugged into what's happening on the ground and handle the cases for families who've just arrived. Right now evacuation orders are in effect in Shevchenkove and across a lot of local villages, so the outflow of people has picked up again. It's hard to miss. We've watched cars leave the village, with all the household possessions stuffed into every nook and cranny of the vehicles.
The exodus is steady rather than sudden, driven by conditions that haven't let up: shelling, Shahed drones, and now guided bombs as well, which have made things noticeably worse lately. So people are trickling out toward safer ground in stages. At the same time, we keep running into newly displaced families showing up and asking for help, and we take them on too, doing whatever we’re able. Last week we reached more than 70 families.
Team Summaries
Alina H.’s Team – Dobra sprava (Good Deeds)
8 trips and 36 people evacuated, among them 3 with limited mobility.
Inna’s Team – Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope)
20.1 tons of aid delivered.
7,950 people received aid and 4,400 people receiving bread.
30 locations visited, 10 of them in high-risk zones.
Kherson team cleaned and disinfected 7 large bomb shelters and refueled 10 generators in Kherson red zones.
Evacuated 2 people from Kramatorsk.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Oleksandr S. (Ukrainka): report for 2 weeks. Kyiv region – held a summer camp for teenagers and distributed rice;.held 2 sessions of the weekend Restart club for the mental and physical restoration of 54 children in Boyarka. Chernihiv Region – held a program for the restoration of mental and physical health for children in Bakhmach and handed out 45 kg of gifts; distributed instant rice in various locations; sent packages to people with disabilities. Sumy Region – delivered 2 tons of food, clothing, and a generator to Seredyna-Buda and Hlukhiv. Delivery of aid from France – delivered 1.85 tons of medical supplies and equipment to a hospital in Chaika, Kyiv Region; delivered 4.5 tons of medical equipment, beds, surgical and orthopedic materials, carts, crutches, and ultrasound machines to the team’s warehouse in Ukrainka and 9.5 tons of similar equipment to hospitals in Zaporizhzhia.
Vladyslav K. (Mykolaiv): delivered 38 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv. Deliveries have been challenging due to intensive shelling of the city. However, people’s need for drinking water has remained high and is increasing because local residents are canning produce for the winter.
Sandra S. (Odesa): conditions for the team have again become more difficult with frequent, sometimes nonstop, air raid sirens and water and light outages. However, the kitchen has continued working as best as conditions allow. Meals have often been served in the train station bomb shelter.
Yuri P. (Boryslav): delivered a total of 5.5 tons of muesli, instant noodles, bread, hygiene products (toilet paper, liquid soap), and used clothing to Ternopil, Cherkasy and Pereiaslav.
Vitaliy Z. (Kharkiv): delivered 4 tons of humanitarian kits, clothes, medicine, and animal feed to Kramatorsk. Distributed 500 loaves of “Victory” bread in the village of Nova Gusarivka, Izium District. Evacuated 2 women (one disabled) from the village of Vesele, near Kramatorsk and, on another trip, a woman, her daughter, and their dog, cat and parrot from Kramatorsk. It’s now too dangerous to perform evacuations with only 1 van, so the team uses 2, even when evacuating only 2 people.
Alla A. (Kremenets’): provided psychological support and distributed clothes, shoes, and other necessities, to more than 50 families.
Hryhoriy M. (Tal’ne): held an event for 120 children and their parents, offering psychological support, classes, singing, games, and meals to children from large families, orphans, and children of fallen soldiers. Transportation was provided for children from the surrounding villages. 20 children attended a week-long UPGRADE CAMP in Zhytomyr for children whose parents gave their lives for Ukraine, orphans, children from large families, and families in difficult life circumstances.
Oleksandr Z. (Lutsk): provided therapeutic interventions and aid to internally displaced people, children and adults with disabilities, children from military families, veterans, military personnel, orphans, elderly people, and amputees in the Lutsk territorial community. 1,060 children and adults received help, including art therapy, music therapy, zootherapy, sports activities, help with bread and other food, help with glasses, dental, medical, and preventive procedures, psychological support, and help with the manufacture of wheelchairs for children and prostheses and rehabilitation for adults.
Darya’s Team
Evacuated 37 people, including 4 children.
Delivered 375 packages.
These evacuations and deliveries required 12 trips to the deadliest areas of the Kup’yans’k battle region.
Many of the people Darya was caring for in previous months died in June under Russian shells. We mourn their deaths together with the volunteers.
Karina’s Team – My ryatuyemo Ukrayinu (We Save Ukraine)
81 people in the shelter.
Tetiana’s Team – Dopomoha poruch (Help Is Near)
Distributed 150 aid packages, medicine, cleaning products, and bedsheets in the villages of Zoryans’ke and Verhnezoryans’ke, near Kup’yans’k.
Delivered 130 aid packages and medicine to internally displaced refugees from Pokrovsk, now living in Sinove, Volyn Region.
Distributed 150 aid packages and hygiene products in Smila.
Natasha’s Team – Volontersʹkyy tsentr Vyshnya (Cherry Volunteer Center)
230 packages delivered to Kramatorsk for internally displaced people from Lyman.
Timur’s Team – Komanda Teymura Alyeva (Timur Alyev’s Team)
Distributed 267 aid packages to seniors in Saltivka, Kharkiv.
Special deliveries to 33 families with infants and 18 disabled elderly.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams – Dotyk sertsya (Touch of Heart) & Svitanok mriy (Dawn of Dreams)
305 packages distributed in the Mykolaiv Region.
Aid delivered to Afanasivka, Novohryhorivka, and Partizanske.
Pomahaem Foundation (We Help Foundation)
476 people arrived at Volos’ke transit shelter — yet another increase from an all-time high record last week.
Alina S.’s Team – Dity novoho pokolinnya (Children of the New Generation)
14 trips completed, saving 107 people, mainly from Shakhtarsk, Dubovyky, Vasylkivka, Pokrovsk, and Mezhova.
Marina’s Team – Daruy dobro Ukrayina (Give Good Ukraine)
150 food and hygiene packages distributed to internally displaced people in Piatykhatky.
Dina’s Team – Vilʹni lyudy, vilʹna krayina (Free People, Free Country)
Distributed 252 packages in Kaniv, Kremenchuk, and Poltava.
Served 1,380 meals in the soup kitchen 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, the children attended an art class and a culinary class.
Alena’s Team – Diva (Virgo)
Distributed donated bread to 356 families in Odesa.
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.
