September 25th, 2025
69,137 people evacuated from danger to date
47 people evacuated from danger this week
24 trips into deoccupied and frontline territories this week
The complexity, risk, and tension for our Urkainian teams working near the front lines keeps rising, ever so slowly but steadily. The volunteers are somehow able to keep up with the evolution of these challenges, though it seems that their efforts come at ever greater personal cost. The situation is likely to get still more difficult later in the fall, as the trees shed their leaves and make it even more difficult for the teams to hide from drones. But as the conditions change, more people find themselves in need of assistance and our Ukrainian volunteers continue their daily work, despite the challenges.
Stories
Our Evacuation Team Loses Another Car
Last week, one of our evacuation volunteers barely survived a drone attack while attempting an evacuation from an extremely dangerous area. The volunteer is Simion - the youngest member of Dobra sprava team. Being under the age of 25, Simion has more freedom of movement than older men, because he is too young for the draft. The young volunteer had to flee his own town, escaping the Russian occupation and knows firsthand the difficulties of Ukrainians living under Russian rule and the struggles of internally dispaced people.
Simion received a call from a desperately frightened woman in the village of Novovodyane, requesting evacuation. Suspecting that his team leaders might not approve this mission, Simion decided to take an unplanned detour on the way to another relatively safer evacuation. Despite the warninbreadgs from military personnel at the checkpoint, Simion pushed forward. But, as he approached a railroad crossing he heard the dreaded buzz of a quickly approaching FPV drone.
Simion’s reflexes saved him. He swerved left and the drone hit the right backside of the vehicle. The explosion took out the windows and bent the vehicle side. Shrapnel pieces hit the engine. Simion managed to escape before the Russians followed up with more drones to finish off the vehicle. He walked away with a concussion and is currently being treated in a Dnipro hospital.
Kitchen Serves Meals Despite Bomb Threat
“This week, an unusual incident occurred,” write the volunteers from Sandra Spars' kitchen in Odesa. The kitchen operates out of Odesa's Main Railway Station. But, "on one of our working days, there was a credible bomb threat at the station and no one was allowed into the area." Everyone had to wait around. In addition to the volunteers, hungry, tired people gathered nearby and stood in the heat, hoping for a meal. The kitchen crew was once again struck by the real impact of their work – despite the anxiety, the heatwave and the threat of bombs, many locals and displaced people have come to rely on the kitchen for their nourishment. Fortunately, the sappers arrived quickly and resolved the situation. As soon as it was safe, the volunteers began serving the meal.
Delivering Generator Fuel to Villages Near Beryslav
Volunteer work in Ukraine continues to grow more perilous, with each operational improvement met by an even sharper rise in risk and complexity. This harsh reality became evident again last week, as we witnessed the challenges faced by our Odesa volunteers, who attempted to deliver generator fuel to villages near Beryslav.
While the areas near Beryslav have endured relentless Russian attacks throughout the conflict, the recent surge in drone warfare has made the situation nearly impassible. Large vehicles — minivans and trucks that once carried supplies — can no longer approach these settlements. The risk has become prohibitive, as any conspicuous vehicle immediately draws enemy drones.
Yet people remain in these villages. Without electricity, they depend entirely on generators to charge their devices and meet basic survival needs. A dedicated group of local volunteers has stepped forward to undertake the perilous mission of servicing these generators, driving unmarked private cars through the night to deliver fuel door to door. These operations are too dangerous for official government sanction and exist solely through volunteer initiative.
The process is painstakingly slow. It takes weeks to reach key locations where residents charge phones and access electricity. Last week, as another fuel delivery was set to begin, drones struck an unrelated vehicle along the planned road, killing the driver. The delivery had to be postponed. Finally, after three weeks of careful maneuvering and coordination, the mission has been completed.
Help in Occupied Territories
86 people were helped in the occupied territories.
Team Summaries
Alina’s Team – Dobra sprava (Good Deeds)
11 trips, evacuating 44 people, primarily from Druzhkivka, Sviatohirsk, Mykolaiv, and Lyman areas.
Inna’s Team – Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope)
20.7 tons of aid delivered for 7,950 people.
6,600 people received bread.
33 locations served, 9 of them in high-risk frontline zones.
Delivered aid to 12 families in Kherson red zones.
Desinfected 4 homes.
16 targeted humanitarian missions completed in Kherson.
Distributed free clothes in Marhanets’.
Angelia Charitable Fund
Volunteers Volodymyr T. and Vadym went to Berlin, bringing back aid for a school in Pereshchepyne, Dnipropetrovsk Region. The aid, including 31 computers, 45 monitors, 30 boxes of sports equipment, 50 boxes of children's games and accessories, 2 bicycles, 1 bike seat, 3 printers, and 10 children's toys, has already been sent to the school in packages through the mail.
Unfortunately, the team’s third driver is currently undergoing treatment for serious health problems. We hope that he recovers quickly.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Oleksandr S (Boyarka): report for 2 weeks. In Sumy Region: delivered 250 kg of clothing and baby food to Romny, 300 kg to Terny and 300 kg to another Sumy location. Also delivered an additional 100 kg of baby food to the Sumy Region. Provided 12 disabled people with mobility walkers in Okhtyrka. Provided diapers for the family of a soldier who died. Kyiv Region: received 300 kg of groceries and 2 generators that need repair at the team’s Boyarka warehouse for further distribution. Delivered household appliances to a family where a single mother is raising 2 children. Conducted a social service program and handed out treats at the Boyarka city hospital. Distributed 1 pallet of baby food to vulnerable families at the team’s distribution point in Boyarka. Organized a social recreational event for internally displaced (IDP) families with children in the Kyiv Region.
Sandra S. (Odesa): the kitchen handed out more than 500 portions of food, as well as providing people with water and cool drinks. In addition to their usual work, the team had to navigate an incident in which the train station was mined (see story, above)
Andryi P. (Mykolaiv): brought a Chevrolet jeep and a Ford from Germany. The Chevrolet was temporarily handed over for the use of Oleksandr D’s team in Lutsk. The Ford was sent to Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia Region. Both cars were loaded with a total of 700 kg of humanitarian aid, including: 26 boxes of dry mixes/soups, 18 packages of mayonnaise, 12 boxes of medical supplies, 10 boxes of hygiene products, 2 sets of tires with disk wheels, 10 bags of clothes, and 12 packages of medical gowns. The aid is being distributed. Andryi has already departed on his next trip to Germany.
Vitaliy Z. (Kharkiv): delivered a total of 3 tons (350 humanitarian kits, clothes, medicine, “Victory” bread, and animal feed) to the Zelenyi Hai neighborhood of Lyman. Brought almost 500 loaves of “Victory” bread to the village of Vesele, Izium District. Evacuated 2 people from the Lyman District – 1 from Yarova and 1 from Novoselivka. Novoselivka looks like a scorched earth region now. The evacuated man was almost the only resident left in this village. Also evacuated 1 person from Osykove, Kramatorsk District.
Oleksandr Z. (Lutsk): provided therapeutic interventions and aid to IDP children and families, children with disabilities, children from military families and large families, orphans, military veterans and service members, and amputees in Lutsk, Ostrozhets’, Uizdtsi, and Horodnytsya (all in the Rivne Region). 763 children and adults received help, including art therapy classes, help with bread and other food, a visit to the theater, a development camp, a public art cafe, glasses, medical and preventive procedures – including a “medical mobile trailer,” which traveled to remote villages in the Rivne Region to conduct physiotherapeutic procedures for IDPs – and help with the manufacture of prostheses and rehabilitation.
Karina’s Team – My ryatuyemo Ukrayinu (We Save Ukraine)
100 people in the shelter.
Tetiana’s Team – Dopomoha poruch (Help Is Near)
Distributed 140 aid packages in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Region.
Natasha’s Team – Volontersʹkyy tsentr Vyshnya (Cherry Volunteer Center)
Tetiana delivered 223 packages delivered to Lyubymivka, Kherson region.
Timur’s Team – Komanda Teymura Alyeva (Timur Alyev’s Team)
Distributed aid packages to 314 families, including 67 families of recent refugees from areas near the front.
Special deliveries to 17 disabled elderly and 15 families with infants.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams – Dotyk sertsya (Touch of Heart) & Svitanok mriy (Dawn of Dreams)
Continued to deliver aid to Mykolaiv and Kherson area villages.
240 packages delivered to Dobrokam’yanka, Tavriiske and Novohryhorivka.
Held 2 events for children out of the Mykolaiv center.
Pomahaem Foundation (We Help Foundation)
206 packages delivered to Tomakivka near Nikopol’ in 3 separate trips.
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 423 packages of aid in Kremenchuk, Poltava, Kanev, Krasnokutsk, and Dnipro.
Served 1,360 meals in the soup kitchen in Kharkiv.
Delivered 550 packages of aid in the Kharkiv area.
Bohdan’s Team — Vse robymo sami (We Do Everything Ourselves)
42 families in Zhytomyr received food and hygiene kits.
At the club for children with disabilities, children attended theater classes and culinary classes where they made pizza.
Alena’s Team – Diva (Virgo)
Provided aid to 107 families who were recently displaced by the intensified fighting in the Dobropillya area and relocated to Odesa. Each family received a package of food aid, a package of household and hygiene products, shoes, and treats and toys for the children.
647 families in Odesa received donated baked good.
How to Help
Donate — The money goes directly to teams providing aid on the ground, who respond dynamically to the most urgent needs.
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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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