December 12th, 2024
66,152 people evacuated from danger to date
110 people evacuated from danger this week
44 trips into deoccupied and frontline territories this week
While the situation across Ukraine continues to be tense, we have exciting news to share with our community. Starting today, Ukraine TrustChain is launching a match drive with $65,000 in sponsorships from generous supporters. Every donation from prior donors will be matched 100%, and every donation from new donors will be matched 200% until we reach $65,000! Your contributions will directly support critical evacuations and humanitarian aid in Ukraine. Please share this match drive with your network to help us reach new donors and maximize the impact of this incredible opportunity!
Stories
Alena Supports Areas Where Ambulances Cannot Go
Last week, Alena’s team traveled to Oleksandrivka and Stanislav in the Kherson Region. Oleksandrivka is a ruined village located along a highly dangerous road, which is visible and makes an easy shooting target for the Russian troops occupying Kinburn Spit. On their way, the volunteers noted that the number of destroyed cars on the sides of the road — victims of drone attacks — had increased compared to their previous trips. Any civilian vehicle is in danger. Even ambulances and other first responders don’t brave this road and can no longer help the local residents.
Alena’s team delivered 20 generators and 1.5 tons of other aid to Oleksandrivka, including 300 loaves of bread, sweet rolls, toilet paper, clothing, and footwear to the two villages. Because it was a foggy day, the drones were less active than usual. 10 residents of Stanislav risked their lives, taking detours to Oleksandrivka on mopeds and bicycles to receive the much needed aid. Some villagers were still chased by drones, but their desire to obtain some access to electricity was greater than their fear of dying in a drone attack. It is some small comfort that by pooling their resources, about 80 families will now be able to charge their phones and flashlights, and have some light in their homes.
Mobilization Affects Male Volunteers within Ukraine
In the last few weeks we’ve felt increasing pressure from the mobilization efforts within Ukraine. Multiple independent incidents are suggesting an alarmingly aggressive approach on the part of the draft police, who stop men on the street and conscript them almost immediately.
One of the drivers of our Dnipro partner Pomahaem Foundation was stopped at a checkpoint while delivering aid to Kharkiv. While he was detained, his phone battery ran down and he became unreachable. His team and the owner of the vehicle he had been driving searched frantically for the missing driver and car. The vehicle and cargo were eventually found and delivered to their destination, but the driver was conscripted on the spot and was in boot camp the next morning.
Another volunteer who helps our Love UA team in Dnipro, was also picked up on the street by the draft police, causing the team to go into risk management mode. It is nearly impossible to get a person out of the army, but the volunteers have tried to make sure that their team member ends up assigned to a decent military unit, with which the volunteers have a preexisting relationship. The alternative might result in a very fast deployment to the most brutal segments of the frontline, which, for new recruits especially often results in death or a crippling wound within weeks of mobilization. The aggressive approach of the draft police explains why men who are waiting their turn to enter military service with a unit of their choosing still prefer to avoid encounters with the draft police on the streets.
These new pressures on male volunteers have already affected our operations and delayed two frontline trips. It is a tough dilemma. Ukrainian volunteers understand the terrible choices the Ukrainian people face and do not want to shift responsibility to others fighting in this war. But the chaos of the war and extreme danger in some combat zones make it necessary for potential recruits to maneuver, so that they enter military service on the most favorable terms. This is not always possible, as Ukrainian soldiers heroically fight against the brutal enemy who has no regard for human suffering.
Our team leaders also worry about the strain on vital volunteer services that will be created if all men of draftable age are conscripted. One of them wrote to us: “If everyone goes to the front, who will help us load and unload the trucks, and who will do all the work in the rear that we perform for the army?”
Help in Occupied Territories
170 people received aid in the occupied territories.
Team Summaries
Alina’s Team – Dobra sprava (Good Deeds)
16 trips; 109 people evacuated.
Inna’s Team – Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope)
20.1 tons of aid delivered to 7,950 people in 37 cities.
6,600 people received bread.
12 trips to high-risk areas in Kherson, Kharkiv and Dnipro regions (Marhanets’, Nikopol).
Delivered 126 tons (180 “cubes”) of firewood:
Helped 69 vetted households in frontline Donetsk and Kharkiv region zones.
Provided 42 cubic meters of firewood to a large shelter near Kharkiv.
Kherson Operations:
Exterminations and disinfection in 15 spaces, including 6 large basements.
16 equipment maintenance tasks, as the generators the team provides are a key source of power for many Kherson residents.
Angelia Charitable Fund
Delivered 17 boxes of medical scrubs to the Kharkiv Blood Service Center.
Delivered 1,102 kg of clothes, shoes, sweets, medicines, medical equipment, and diapers to 150 people in Kramatorsk.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Oleksandr S (Boyarka): provided 10 kg of aid packages to 90 internally displaced (IDP) families in the cities of Kozelets and Oster, and also food kits for elderly, low income, single people, all in Chernihiv Region. Delivered toys and groceries to a large family in Boyarka. Provided targeted assistance with diapers and hygiene products to families with young children, living in, or evacuated from the frontline zone in Sumy Region.
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): delivered 35 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv.
Sandra S (Odesa): kitchen fed more than 700 people. The volunteers have purchased flashlights in order to work during power outages, but there is no good substitute for the electrical stoves used to cook the meals.
Serhiy A (Kharkiv): distributed 709 food packages to blind people – many of them IDPs – in Sheptivka (Khmelnytskyi Region), Bar (Vinnytsia Region), Sumy, Chernivtsi, Vinnytsia, Kramatorsk, Kamianske (Dnipropetrovsk Region), Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.
Vitaliy Z (Kharkiv): delivered 3 tons of humanitarian kits, clothes, medicine, and animal feed to the village of Chervone in the Kostyantynivka urban community (Kramatorsk District of the Donetsk Region). Evacuation was proposed and agreed on for next week. Delivered 202.5 tons of fuel briquettes to 675 households in Kramatorsk and Balakliia. Visited animals evacuated from front line areas to Kharkiv and brought 2 tons of feed for horses and dogs undergoing rehabilitation. Finished drilling a well in the Illinivka Rural Community (Donetsk Region).
Oksana K (Lutsk): gave a mattress to a family with a disabled son. Helped a family with a disabled mother and provided diapers to a bedridden, seriously ill person.
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): provided therapeutic interventions and aid to IDP children and adults, children with disabilities and military personnel. Held 4 art therapy sessions, for a total of 113 children and military personnel. Visited Adrenaline City in Lutsk with 45 IDP children and took 56 IDPs and their families to a children’s theater performance. Helped 240 IDPs and 60 children and young adult students with bread and other food. Most of the young people have been left without parents, or their parents are in occupied territories. Provided 68 physical therapy and wellness sessions for IDPs and others suffering from the stress of war. Also conducted 12 preventative children’s health procedures. Met with Polish representatives of the company Zeus, which manufactures components for hand prostheses. Planning to start manufacturing these products locally, with the help of foreign specialists.
Karina’s Team – My ryatuyemo Ukrayinu (We Save Ukraine)
155 people in the shelter.
Tetiana’s Team – Dopomoha poruch (Help Is Near)
Distributed 250 aid packages, hygiene products, and candy for kids in Odnorobivka, Kharkiv Region.
Distributed 200 aid packages, hygiene products, toys, and candy for kids in Sadove, Kherson Region.
Natasha’s Team – Volontersʹkyy tsentr Vyshnya (Cherry Volunteer Center)
Trip postponed due to car repairs this week.
Timur’s Team — Komanda Teymura Alyeva (Timur Alyev’s Team)
Distributed aid to 384 families in Saltivka, Kharkiv.
Timur has come down with likely pneumonia and is recovering at the hospital.
The rest of the team helped evacuate an elderly person from a village in the Kharkiv Region.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams — Dotyk sertsya (Touch of Heart) & Svitanok mriy (Dawn of Dreams)
Continued large scale vegetable distributions in Kherson/Mykolaiv regions to 375 households: Novohryhorivka (75 families), Prybuz’ke (130 families), Myrne (70 families), Lyubomyrivka (100 families).
Additional aid packages to 75 IDP families in Novohryhorivka.
Organized holiday for children in Mykolaiv on December 6.
Pomahaem Foundation (We Help Foundation)
2 trips to Kharkiv and 1 to Kherson, delivering aid to 638 families.
24.5 tons of water delivered to Nikopol.
Vetted 386 people for cash aid sponsored by larger organizations (GFFO, DANIDA).
Marina’s Team — Daruy dobro Ukrayina (Give Good Ukraine)
150 food and hygiene packages were distributed to internally displaced individuals in Zhovti Vody.
Dina’s Team — Vilʹni lyudy, vilʹna krayina (Free People, Free Country)
365 packages distributed in Kanev, Kremenchuk, and Poltava.
100 packages mailed from Dnipro.
Supplied fruit and snacks to an orphanage with 20 children in Kharkiv.
Bohdan’s Team — Vse robymo sami (We Do Everything Ourselves)
43 families in Zhytomyr received food and hygiene kits.
This week's club for children with disabilities was held by candlelight due to a power outage. The kids learned how to marinate chicken and then baked it at home.
The children were also visited by St. Nicholas as part of Christmas celebrations.
Alena’s Team – Diva (Virgo)
Delivered 20 generators and 1.5 tons of aid, including 300 loaves of bread, sweet rolls, toilet paper, clothing, and footwear to two villages — Oleksandrivka and Stanislav.
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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