May 1st, 2025
67,761 people evacuated from danger to date
66 people evacuated from danger this week
44 trips into deoccupied and frontline territories this week
Last week, attacks on Ukrainian cities continued alongside relentless combat on the contact line. More Russian drones are reaching cities as intercept rates decline. Our volunteers joke about sleep deprivation while taking nighttime shelter. With this backdrop of violence, peace seems unrealistic. Russia's recent proposal for a three-day ceasefire around May 9th is disingenuous—coinciding with their military parades that promote false historical narratives and fuel recruitment. We hope Ukraine disregards this gesture and disrupts these obscene cosplay celebrations. Putin’s historical narratives cannot be allowed to prevail.
Stories
A Day in the Life of Sloviansk
The Dobra sprava team tells this story:
Volodymyr stood in the smoke, squinting through the haze at the ruins of his family home. Moments earlier, a missile had hit his mother’s neighborhood near the Sloviansk railway. He had raced through traffic, ignoring every rule, not knowing whether or not his mother was still alive.
When Volodymyr reached his house, the roof was burning, the windows gone, the fence collapsed. He found his mother on the floor, gasping for air. He managed to pull her out of the house just as the firefighters arrived. She survived, but the house was lost.
Nearby, an elderly couple, Sergei and Natalia, were too shaken to leave their basement, even after rescuers found them and begged them to come out for medical treatment. Across the street, Volodymyr spotted a neighbor, Grandpa Valera, shoeless, but with blue hospital shoe covers clinging to his socks. He’d been knocked down by the blast and taken to a hospital, but fled when no one could tell him where his wife was.
Determined, he made it home alone on foot, to search for her. When they reunited, his wife, Nadia quietly slipped off her own slippers and handed them to Valera. He sat beside her at last, both of them staring at the smoke curling up from what used to be their street.
Agricultural Project Update
Our teams are already in the final stage of implementing the first part of this year’s seed delivery. Most of the seeds have already been distributed across the various regions. Over the past week, teams were able to cover several locations, including Kryvyi Rih, Synel’nykove, Sloviansk, Zmiiv, Merefa, Kharkiv, Nova Vodolaha, Valky, Znamenka, Pechenihy, and Kobylyaky. The distribution is happening at just the right time, when people should be actively planting their gardens.
The Kharkiv Region experienced another wave of cold weather last week, which unfortunately had consequences for farmers. In some districts plantings that had already been sown by local residents were killed off by the sudden frost. As a result, there has been an increase in calls from the administration of the affected cities, requesting assistance with seedlings. Our volunteers are looking for opportunities to support people whose seedlings were wiped out, particularly in the areas from the Shevchenkivs’kyi District to the Kupiansk District, and in Chuhuiv.
2090 families received seeds last week. The second stage of the project is about to begin when our teams will begin distributing seedlings.
Help in Occupied Territories
85 packages were distributed to families in four occupied towns.
Team Summaries
Alina’s Team – Dobra sprava (Good Deeds)
12 trips, evacuating 55 people from Kostyantynivka, Lyman, Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, and Shahevo areas.
Inna’s Team – Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope)
21 tons of aid distributed to 8,200 people.
6,600 people received bread.
8 high-risk area visited.
Kherson help:
Conducted an event for children.
Dehumidified 2 apartments.
Evacuated 1 person after their car was hit by a Russian FPV drone.
Exterminations conducted in 6 spaces.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): delivered 35 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv and 7 tons to Kherson.
Sandra S (Odesa): the kitchen fed more than 700 people.
WeCare Centers (Lviv): delivered a total of 9-10 tons of clothing, shoes, grains, and potatoes to volunteer centers in Khmelnytskyi (twice), Uman, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Odesa. This aid will be distributed to internally displaced persons (IDPs), large families, the elderly, people with disabilities, and residents of frontline areas.
Vitaliy Z (Kharkiv): distributed 500 loaves of “Victory” bread to the Stare Misto neighborhood in Kramatorsk. Particular attention was paid to low-income families, families with disabled people, and pensioners. Provided special clothing to more than 20 emergency workers in the village of Yasnohirka, in the Kramatorsk community. Delivered 350 humanitarian kits, medicines, warm clothes, “Victory” bread, and pet food to the village of Yarova in the Lyman community.
Artiom S (Hostomel’): from May 2024 to March, 2025, delivered a total of 22.5 tons of food aid in 11 trips to Vovchans’k, Kharkiv, Chuhuiv, Izyum, Sloviansk, Lyman, Druzhkivka, Pokrovsk, and Zaporizhia. During this period also made monthly shipments to 11-13 partner organizations, which then distributed the food in eastern Ukraine and in Kherson. Over 2,000 people received assistance in this way. March 3 to March 8, 2025, delivered aid to Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka.
Alla A (Kremenets’): passed out financial aid certificates with a total worth of 500,000 ₴ (approximately $12,000) to 930 people in unprotected categories, especially people with disabilities. Visited shut ins at home and provided group psychological services.
Oksana K (Lutsk): distributed food to IDP families. Handed out a total of 110 kg of clothes, shoes, blankets, bedspreads, toys, hygiene products, and adult diapers to 16 visitors at the distribution point in Lutsk. Provided hygiene products to a family with a sick grandmother.
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): provided therapeutic interventions and aid to IDP children and adults, children and adults with disabilities, military veterans, and orphans – held an art therapy session for 39 children and people with disabilities. Took 48 IDPs, veterans and students to a museum. Visited the theater with 122 children with disabilities, their caregivers, IDP families, and students. Distributed bread and other food to 380 people living in IDP assistance centers, with special attention paid to 70 orphaned students from the Sumy and Kherson regions. Provided glasses for 44 adults and children. Conducted 106 medical procedures to improve the health of IDP children with disabilities from the Kherson Region. Helped 20 children with prophylactic health procedures, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, and gym classes. Through partners, assisted in the manufacture of prostheses and rehabilitation for 4 people.
Kseniia’s Team – Livyy bereh (Left Bank)
11 people evacuated from Kut’kivka, Vasylivka, and Stets’kivka.
90 packages distributed in Kut’kivka, Husynka, Mykolaivka, Monachynivka, and Kasyanivka.
Karina’s Team – My ryatuyemo Ukrayinu (We Save Ukraine)
100 people in the shelter.
Tetiana’s Team – Dopomoha poruch (Help Is Near)
Distributed 170 aid packages to recent internally displaced refugees in Smila.
Natasha’s Team – Volontersʹkyy tsentr Vyshnya (Cherry Volunteer Center)
Tetiana traveled from Kryvyi Rih to Lubymivka, delivering 220 family packages and 64 packages to children.
Timur’s Team – Komanda Teymura Alyeva (Timur Alyev’s Team)
The team is working on some car repairs, which has delayed their report this week. We will hear more from them next week.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams – Dotyk sertsya (Touch of Heart) & Svitanok mriy (Dawn of Dreams)
140 families received packages in Zasillya and Novopavlivka.
Conducted psychological support meeting in Mykolaiv for spouses of soldiers who’ve died or are missing in action.
Continued to run children’s programs.
Pomahaem Foundation (We Help Foundation)
Boarded up windows blown out by Russian attacks.
24 tons of water delivered to Nikopol.
48 windows boarded up during one week’s work.
Marina’s Team – Daruy dobrо Ukrayina (Give Good Ukraine)
150 food and hygiene packages were distributed to internally displaced people in Pyatikhatki.
Dina’s Team — Vilʹni lyudy, vilʹna krayina (Free People, Free Country)
Distributed 355 packages in Kremenchuk, Poltava, and Kanev. Mailed 100 more from Dnipro to small towns.
1,470 meals served in the soup kitchen in Kharkiv.
200 packages of aid distributed to displaced people from Kup’yans’k who are currently living 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, kids had culinary and art classes.
Delivered 8 boxes of antibiotics to 2 local hospitals.
Alena’s Team – Diva (Virgo)
Liza and Katia continued to help 19 wounded in Odesa hospitals.
Distributed 670 loaves of bread, as well as yogurt, baby food, and bread to 312 displaced families in Odesa.
Anastasia’s Team – LoveUA
Delivered 250 packages of food and 250 hygiene products to Oleksijevo-Druzhkivka.
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.
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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.