September 24th, 2026
72,423 people evacuated from danger to date
138 people evacuated from danger this week
35 trips into deoccupied and frontline territories this week
Evacuations Are Exercises in Survival
Evacuations from Kramatorsk have become an exercise in pure survival, as Ihor from our Dobra sprava team noted this week, while loading two families and their belongings onto the evacuation bus. Mid-loading, an unnatural, steady hum filled the air, as a fiber-optic-guided FPV drone cruised barely eight feet above the street, deliberately hunting for a target. Ihor quickly ushered the families into a courtyard, watching in helpless disbelief from the gate as the drone drifted just twenty feet to the side of the bus.
When the drone veered toward a parked mobile fire group vehicle down the road, Ihor waved frantically to alert the soldiers. They reacted instantly, rushing out and opening fire to detonate the drone in mid-air just yards away. When the smoke cleared, the soldiers stood stunned with their rifles still raised, leaving everyone shaken, disoriented, and keenly aware of how close they had all come to catastrophe.
A similar story was reported by Alina S., who was also evacuating residents from Kramatorsk. The enemy drones came close to the evacuation vehicles and members of the Ukrainian military had to shoot down the approaching drone.
Pomahaem Maneuvers to Save Packages for Aid Distribution
We never get tired of marvelling at the prudence and careful risk management practiced by our Ukrainian teams in extremely difficult conditions. Over the last three months, Pomahaem Foundation has been preparing packages for humanitarian aid distribution. This was a painstaking process, with complications at each step. In the end the goods needed to form the packages arrived at Pomahaem’s warehouse. However, the warehouse is located in the industrial zone of Dnipro, alongside other warehouse buildings. With the intensifying airstrikes on civilian infrastructure, the team was advised that the area where Pomahaem stored the aid might become the target of the next attack. In response, over the last three weeks, the team searched and found a backup facility, then worked around the clock to move the humanitarian aid packages to the new location. These efforts paid off. True to the forecast, the old warehouse was hit by Russian rockets.
A Kindergarten Still Works in Kherson
For the Kherson-based branch of Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope) it came as a real revelation when Ms. Nataliia reached out, asking for help with pest control at a working kindergarten in the city. A working kindergarten? The team has been helping local residents since the first days of the full-scale invasion, but had no idea that there were still operating preschools and kindergartens in Kherson. It turned out that two of the families the volunteers had earlier evacuated — one from the Ostriv neighborhood, and the other from the village of Komyshany — even took their children there. This kindergarten is a symbol of hope, reminding both locals and volunteers that, no matter what happens, Kherson will be reborn with a new generation. The team treated the bomb shelter for fleas and insects, so that the children can stay in the shelter during air raid alerts without discomfort.
Team Summaries
Alina H.’s Team – Dobra sprava (Good Deeds)
9 trips, evacuating 47 people.
Inna’s Team – Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope)
16.2 tons of aid transported.
7,050 people helped; 4,200 additional people received bread.
Kherson team: pest control in 5 large basements, refueled 7 generators in Kherson red zones.
Conducted a baking class for children in Kharkiv.
Aid reached 40 locations, 7 of them in high-risk zones.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Vladyslav K. (Mykolaiv): delivered 33 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv.
Vitaliy Z. (Kharkiv): delivered 4 tons of humanitarian kits, clothes, medicine, and animal feed to Kramatorsk. Distributed almost 500 loaves of “Victory” bread in Volokhiv Yar, Izium District. Brought 600 kg of pet food to Sloviansk for homeless dogs. The food was placed in locations where dogs gather and also distributed to local people who feed the animals. Over 4 trips, evacuated 1 disabled elderly man from Stepne, Kramatorsk District, and 7 people, plus belongings and pets, from Kramatorsk.
Sandra S. (Odesa): running the kitchen has been difficult, due to shellings and shortages in Odesa. Despite this, the team prepared and served 3,000 portions of food over the past 3 weeks.
Artem S. (Hostomel’): transported the belongings of a 66 year-old woman, who is evacuating from Kramatorsk. The woman’s oldest son and husband were killed and she was attending the son’s funeral before evacuating. (Her other son is serving in the armed forces in Izium.)
Hryhoriy M. (Tal’ne): held an event for 80 children and their parents in Ta’lne, 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. Held a meeting for 35 children in Kalynopil.
Oksana K. (Lutsk): distributed 125 kg of adult diapers and urological pads to 25 families. Provided a baby box to a family, which is expecting a baby.
Oleksandr Z. (Lutsk): provided therapeutic interventions and aid to internally displaced people (IDPs), children and adults with disabilities, military service members, orphans, elderly people, and amputees in Lutsk and the surrounding villages. 1,319 children and adults received help, including art therapy and music therapy, a visit to the museum, 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.
Karina’s Team – My ryatuyemo Ukrayinu (We Save Ukraine)
87 people in the shelter.
Tetiana’s Team – Dopomoha poruch (Help Is Near)
Delivered aid to orphanages in Mykhailivka, Cherkasy Region, including a boiler, construction supplies, sweets for the children, school supplies, medicine, and bedsheets.
Natasha’s Team – Volontersʹkyy tsentr Vyshnya (Cherry Volunteer Center)
Natasha delivered 248 packages to Kramatorsk, for people fleeing Lyman and other villages recently liberated by Ukraine. (It’s telling that the very dangerous Kramatorsk is considered a relatively safe spot compared to the frontline villages from which Natasha’s aid recipients are escaping.)
Timur’s Team – Komanda Teymura Alyeva (Timur Alyev’s Team)
Distributed 268 aid packages to seniors in Saltivka, Kharkiv.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams – Dotyk sertsya (Touch of Heart) & Svitanok mriy (Dawn of Dreams)
134 IDP families from Kherson received aid in Mykolaiv.
300 families in the village of Kobzartsi received fall clothing.
The team is dealing with temporary shortages of goods for wholesale purchases due to Russia’s systematic attacks on Ukrainian warehouses.
Pomahaem Foundation (We Help Foundation)
178 people arrived at the Volos’ke transit shelter.
226 packages distributed in September. The reporting for the last 3 weeks has just come in for this project.
Alina S.’s Team – Dity novoho pokolinnya (Children of the New Generation)
Completed 6 trips, evacuating 30 people from the Dnipropetrovsk Region (Ukrainka, Mykolaivka, Petropavlivka, Vasylkivka) and 14 from the Donetsk Region (Kramatorsk).
Marina’s Team – Daruy dobrо 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 434 packages of aid in Kaniv, Kremenchuk, Poltava, and Dnipro.
Served 1,780 meals in the Kharkiv soup kitchen.
Delivered 300 packages of aid to Nova Vodolaha.
Alena’s Team – Diva (Virgo)
Distributed bread to 356 families in Odesa this week and 251 last week.
How to Help
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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.
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