February 9, 2023
48688 people evacuated from danger to date
49 people evacuated from danger this week
18 trips into the deoccupied and frontline territories
8 warming centers established
Over the past week, thanks to your donations and the partnership of several organizations, Ukraine TrustChain has been able to bring in two semi-trucks of durable goods in the form of protein shakes and nutrition bars from America and 100 generators from Western Europe. These generators will support large families with children, hospitals, and the establishment of additional invincibility points in more regions. The value of the aid that UTC provides is amplified as we are able to support a wide area or large group of people due to our teams’ strategic planning and depth of local knowledge.
We would like to thank our partners without whom these deliveries would not be possible. Time and again we see how every piece of aid delivered to an area of need is a result of careful coordination of multiple parties working towards the same goal.
We thank World of Connection for their continued support and expertise in maritime shipping and humanitarian aid container sourcing (see Natalia and Kseniia sections).
We thank Be an Angel for becoming a major source of reasonably priced generators (see Andriy’s section).
We thank UNWLA for the funding they provided in December that helped us set up multiple invincibility points in Kherson region (see Alena’s section) and Donbas (see Inna Kampen’s section.
Ukraine Team Milestones
Inna Kampen’s Team - Krok z Nadiyeyu
Inna’s organization has been the most scalable of our teams. Since we started working with Inna, the organization grew from about 60 to 200 volunteers who are involved weekly, and many daily in the noble labor of supporting others.
This altruism was highlighted in their response to the bombing of Dnipro that destroyed a large residential highrise. Inna’s team finally sent us the details they didn’t have a chance to report in previous weeks. The volunteers set up tents with 24 hour volunteer coverage for 10 days. They fed 2,500 people, covered windows with plastic for 50 apartments, and provided food and necessities to 160 homes.Their tents became a refuge for kids, whose parents couldn’t take care of them waiting for news of their loved ones from the rescue efforts. And this was only one location, while active work continued in 30 more locations.
Her team delivered 110 wood and gas stoves to “red zones” - areas miles away from the zones of active fighting in Donbas along with 270 aid packages. 6 warming centers were established in the Kherson and Donbas regions completing a multiweek project sponsored by UTC. We thank UNWLA for their patient support of UTC efforts in establishing warming centers in the deoccupied territories of Ukraine.
Additionally Inna’s team took 5 trips to deoccupied and frontline zones: 2 to Kherson region (Berislav, Davydov Brod), 1 to the ravaged Nikopol, 1 to Druzhkovka right next to Donbas battles, 1 to the deoccupied Balakleia. They provided help at 18 more cities. All in all 13,600 people received help: 26 tons of humanitarian aid plus 5,000 loaves of bread distributed.
Kseniia’s Team - NGO Livyj Bereh
Earlier this week Kseniia accepted delivery of 30 tons of protein bars and soup mixes that UTC delivered to Kyiv in collaboration with World of Connections. She and Natalia Mitsuta were both caught in the whirlwind of fielding dozens of requests for this source of quick nutritious meals.
Kseniia's team continued to build a modular house for a large family in the Sloboda Kucharska village, Kyiv region. Two more roofs were repaired in the Kharkiv region. They also handed over 65 heating sets + 55 gas sensors to people in Slatyne near Kharkiv where they restored roofs.
Kseniia continued to support Darya, a radical volunteer activist that brought aid to three villages in the Kharkiv region, Dvorichna, Grianivka and Synkivka. These missions are becoming increasingly dangerous as Russia continues to make small gains Westward. Darya unsuccessfully tried to convince some people to evacuate after she had to flee from a Russian drone that spotted and hovered next to their car.
Natasha’s Team - Vysnia Volunteer Center
Kryvyi Rih based Tetiana and Andriy Pasenko returned to the Kherson region (for their previous trip see Jan 12 newsletter). They traveled to the deoccupied Osokorivka on the bank of the giant Kahovka reservoir. During the occupation, the residents of this village experienced horrid conditions. Not a single building is undamaged, not a single tree not burned. But as their team drove through the village and talked to residents, the residents were working hard to return home and start rebuilding. Although the infrastructure was mostly destroyed during the occupation, water and electricity are now restored for part of the village. Residents reported that they initially “cooked using fire,” then switched to the old large gas cans and connected them to the stove. “We unite and help each other.”
Such trips distributing 300-400 packages usually cost $6,000-8,000 to put together, and can sustain a family for about two weeks.
Meanwhile, thanks to the UTC partnership with World of Connections, close to 30 tons of protein bars, shake mixes and other durable food – essential for frontline survival, arrived at Natalia’s warehouse in Kyiv. All week long Natalia was busy filling orders from and distributing foods to people and organizations that need it the most.
Alena’s Team - Virgo Volunteer Center
This week Alena set up three more warming stations in the Kherson region. This time, the trip was easier on her car because the cold temperatures had frozen the muddy roads. Alena is working closely with local aldermen to figure out the best use for the generators. In one of the villages, the generator will allow a water pump to work, drastically improving water supply. In addition to the generators, Alena brought 200 packages of food and hygienic supplies.
From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to thank the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA) who provide a generous grant sponsoring much-needed warming centers and Project Kesher for their support of humanitarian aid deliveries for women and children in the liberated areas around Kherson.
Dina's Team - Vilni Liudy – Vilna Krayina
This week your donations sponsored help to 672 families. 150 packages, which included hygiene products, diapers, baby food, and non-perishable food items, were shipped to the people in need in de-occupied territories. The rest were handed out directly to displaced families in Kanev, Kremenchuk, Poltava, and Krasnokutsk.
The contents of each package vary. The volunteers in each town have the best understanding of local needs and try to provide not only the basic necessities, but some treats as well. We have come to understand that this help is not only important for physical sustenance, but also provides emotional support and helps the people displaced by war feel like they are cared about and not forgotten.
Warm blankets for the people trapped with no heat or electricity near the fighting are currently still waiting at the team storage in Kharkiv as the situation in those areas is dire, and the military did not allow the volunteers to go there this week.
Pavel’s Team - Touch of Heart and Dawn of Hope
Pavel’s Mykolayiv based team fed 5,124 people in Mykolayiv and the surrounding suburbs. As part of these deliveries, the team brought drinking water, water filters and 12 wood stoves for the village of Myrne.
Meanwhile Pavel’s fleet of cars which in 2022 evacuated more than 30,000 people continues to drive around the clock currently delivering aid to Kharkiv, bomb shelters in Zaporizhhya, Odesa, Kherson, Sumy. Currently the team is also actively transporting medicine to the hospital treating Ukraine’s wounded.
Angelia - Mobile Clinic
With the funds provided by UTC, the team running “Angelia" clinic we’ve supported for months has converted a large tractor-trailer into a mobile medical clinic, which includes a lab, cardiogram, family doctor and ultrasound equipment. The new vehicle has already traveled to Pereyaslav, Bobrovytsia and Mykolaiv, serving a total of 502 people. Angelia also delivered humanitarian aid to Kherson, Mykolaiv and Ochakiv.
Oleksandr D’s Network of Teams
Pavlo V’s volunteers delivered aid to Sivers’k, Konstantinovka, Kramatorsk and Slovyansk and evacuated a pregnant woman from Kramatorsk. These cities are close to the fighting. They experience interruptions of electricity, water and gas; and daily shelling of residential areas.
In all, Pavlo’s team delivered 3.25 tons of food, 10 potbelly stoves, 60 blankets, hygiene kits and pads and diapers for bed bound patients to the Donetsk cities, as well as 500 loaves of bread to displaced and homeless people in the Dnipropetrovsk Region.
Yuri S from Kyiv also delivered about two tons of food kits, medicines and warm clothes to Sivers’k. Since Soledar has been captured, getting to Sivers’k has become much more dangerous and difficult and must be done over rough dirt backroads. The residents are very grateful to receive the aid.
Oleksandr S’ team from Boyarka delivered generators to families with children suffering from war. The team is also discussing equipment delivery to hospitals in the Chernihiv Region, which have been badly damaged by shelling.
Sandra S’ kitchen in Odesa fed more than 1,600 people this week, sometimes struggling to keep up with the influx of refugees from Mykolaiv and Kherson. Some refugees come at night when no food is served. Sandra hopes to receive a large donation of flour for making pastries to feed the nighttime arrivals.
Oleksandr Z’s NGO "Star of Hope" in Lutsk offered "sculpting with clay" art therapy sessions. A master potter led a class for children with autism and children who are deaf. A second sculpting class was held for six large families and six children with disabilities.
Andriy P’s volunteers in Kherson received two truckloads with 40 tons of aid from Irshava and Lutsk (the Lutsk truck was delivered by Victor V). The delivery included such high value items like hospital beds, as well as hygienic products and soap, blankets and toys.
Oksana K’s team in Lutsk brought back 1.1 tons of humanitarian aid from Szczecin, including food, mosquito nets, bed linens and electrical components for substations. Kateryna F arranged and Viktor V delivered one ton of humanitarian aid from donations in the Slovakian city of Poprad to Il'nytsya, including winter clothes, food, hygiene products and books. Vladyslav K delivered 18 tons of water and six tons of food to Mykolaiv.
Andriy - BF Pomahaem
Earlier this week, 100 generators made to Lviv thanks to our partnership with Kesher and Be an Angel foundations. Andriy’s team quickly and seamlessly organized the logistics from Lviv to Andriy’s Dnipro warehouse, from which they will be distributed to high-need areas and passed to other Ukraine TrustChain teams for projects we will be reporting on in the coming weeks.
At the beginning of the week, Andriy’s team traveled to Nikopol, Komar, Zhovti Vody, and the Pavlograd area delivering very large aid packages to 1,450 families. 85 people continue to live in Pomahaem’s shelters. 1,700 refugee families in Dnipro continue to receive help that his team is able to procure and transport thanks to your generous funding.
Marina’s Team - Give Good Ukraine
Marina's team continued social work with people affected by war. At one of the distribution centers in Zhovti Vody, the group organized First Aid training conducted by a senior nurse of primary health care center, Svitlana. It was held for residents of two buildings with compact living conditions (these include internally displaced people who live in places such as schools, kindergartens, hostels, and children's camps).
In Piatykhatky, to brighten kids' mood, Marina's team invited a volunteer clown to join during an aid distribution. As it turned out, adults enjoyed it just as much as the children. During the distribution in the Vesela Ivanivka area, Marina's team were greeted as honored guests by a chorus from the local community center. Women in bright traditional Ukrainian clothes were waiting for them and accompanied the delivery of food aid with melodious singing.
Marina shared:
The Ukrainian song is the bottomless soul of the Ukrainian people - this is its glory. Ukrainians do not philosophize when writing songs; songs just grow like flowers in green fields. In them, the soul confesses.
Karina’s Team — We Save Dnipro
97 people continue to live in Karina’s shelter. Last week, Karina supported the evacuation of 28 people from Kherson region and 11 from the Donetsk region (Druzhkivka, Konstantynivka).
Timur’s Team – Timur and Team
Several missiles hit Kharkiv last week. One of Timur’s team members still cannot go home as all the windows were blown out during one of the strikes, and he has a 3 year old child. This is the second building that this family lived in that was hit since the beginning of the war, and now they might have to move again.
The team delivered 170 packages around Kharkiv, including 20 larger deliveries to the homes of elderly with disabilities. T team was busy purchasing blankets, flashlights and hygiene supplies in preparation for major deliveries in the upcoming weeks to areas where these items are most needed.
Tetiana’s Team - Dopomoha Poruch
This week Tetiana distributed 36 aid packages through Smila’s social services department to help elderly and people with disabilities. The team also distributed 61 aid packages to internal refugees living in Smila. According to Tetiana, the only aid for refugees available in Smila these days is through her organization and local authorities, which is a marked reduction compared to several months ago. More refugees need help than she has resources to provide.
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