August 31, 2023
55,471 people evacuated from danger to date
287 people evacuated from danger this week
31 trips into the deoccupied and frontline territories
Last week I, Daniil, founder of Ukraine TrustChain, arrived in Ukraine. This is the 3rd trip that I have taken to Ukraine since the start of the war. We want to reconnect with UTC volunteers in person as well as to show our solidarity and support, but also to experience first-hand the needs of Ukraine with which we are able to help thanks to your continued donations. Below, I describe a few episodes of the trip with more to follow next week.
As we were putting the notes together for this newsletter, Kyiv came under another massive rocket attack; this is important for understanding Ukrainians’ day-to-day routine. The sounds of outgoing air defense shells wake the entire city, and every person then decides whether to go back to sleep, go to a bomb shelter, or hide in the bathroom behind another wall. Phones go off as people check in on one another usually with a somber joke and loving mentions of Russia and its peculiar methods of liberating Ukrainians through murder. In these moments, Ukrainians feel a special gratitude and bond with their military. This time air defense forces managed to shoot down 43 out of 44 rockets. The 44th killed two people and injured three.
Stories
More than 105 people (10 of them with low mobility) along with their pets were evacuated from the Russian-occupied left bank this week. 320 people received aid packages in the occupied cities of Ukraine.
Visiting Ukraine: Kherson Theater Volunteers Perform in Odesa
After landing in Cisinau, I headed straight to Odesa. The performance was starting at 6, and I barely made it on time. I did not get a chance to stop by my hotel to change and my sweat-drenched t-shirt was in sharp contrast with the luxurious outfits Odesa residents donned for this special occasion.
The performance we were about to see held special significance for many members of the audience. It was put together by Kherson Kulish Theater, headed by a distinguished Kherson-based actor and director Vadym Knyha. From the very first days of the war, both under the boot of Russian occupation and after Kherson liberation, theater staff turned into a volunteer team, helping Kherson residents, while continuing to put up small shows in the theater bomb shelter. The performance told a story of a refugee woman from Donbas, and it was put together by artists who experienced the hardships of occupation and displacement themselves.
Our Odesa-based team became friends with the theater while hiding from shelling on their first trip to Kherson following the Kakhovka Dam destruction. Now, the Odesa team and 500 people in the audience welcomed Khersonians on the spectacular main stage of Odesa’s Ukrainian Theater. Head of Kherson city council, well-known Odesa artists and officials showed up as well. But for us, the most important people in the audience were UTC volunteer leaders who came from Kyiv, Dnipro, Smila, and Kryvyi Rih to celebrate the volunteer movement and exchange thoughts on our next steps.
Although we rarely support cultural events, focusing on urgent aid and evacuations, in this case we felt that limited support was justified, as events like this one help inspire the volunteers and promote their tireless labor. It also provides a rare chance to look back and see the connection between the daily hard work of volunteers and the universal humanist values, a connection so easy to see from a distance, but so hard to feel at times when operating inside a warzone.
Ukraine TrustChain Volunteer Summit
Most of the teams that were able to make it to Odesa were the ones working in the south who were instrumental in channeling aid to the Kherson region after the Kakhovka dam destruction. One of the teams we support through Karina, visits Odesa often but it was the first time they had seen the Black Sea in several months as they’re usually so focused on aid that they only visit the warehouse and drive back out.
Humanitarian Aid around Kupyansk
Perhaps the toughest segment of the front at the moment is around Kupyansk, where the enemy was able to capture charred remains of several villages after bloody battles. Darya, a volunteer from Kharkiv has visited these villages twice a week for many months and continues to deliver packages all the way to the frontline. Kseniia, who just visited Darya in Kharkiv, has tried to dissuade Darya from taking on too much risk, but didn’t feel these conversations had any effect other than encouraging Darya to downplay the risks she is taking. So instead we opted for providing sincere emotional and financial support to Darya in her heroic work.
Usually, she brings 200 packages on her trips. The aid packages she delivers are invaluable as the closest working store is 10+ miles away. She brings food, hygienic products to the young women remaining there, and medicine for people with diabetes and heart problems. She knows most of the people by name, and many times has tried unsuccessfully to convince them to evacuate. Unfortunately, villages, who haven’t evacuated yet, are unlikely to do so even in the face of approaching artillery fire. Some of the villages are known to have been infiltrated by pro-Russia sympathizers that can call in a strike to hit volunteer vehicles. Darya’s routes take that into account.
We continue to admire Darya’s dedication to the people she serves, her ability to connect with them despite clear although superficial differences in personal background.
Team summaries
Ihor Dobra Sprava (“Good Cause”)
14 trips, 162 people evacuated from Lyman, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, Kostiantynivka regions and Kherson.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Oleksandr S (Boyarka): delivered 2 tons of grocery kits, bread and household chemicals to Bilopillia (Sumy Region), 1.5 tons of grocery kits to villages in the Mykolaiv Region and 2 tons of grocery sets to the village of Pavlivka (Kherson Region).
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): transported 28 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv and 7 tons of water from Mykolaiv to Kherson.
Andriy P (Mykolaiv): brought 1,620 kg of humanitarian aid from Aachen (Germany).
Sandra S (Odesa): kitchen fed more than 1,800 people.
Yuri S (Vinnytsia): distributed 81 grocery kits to people with disabilities and internally displaced people (IDPs).
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): held 2 art therapy sessions for 42 children with disabilities, children from large families and IDP children and 1 art therapy session for 9 adults. Visited a museum with 33 disabled and IDP children. Distributed groceries, glasses and clothes to 112 people.
NGO Angelia
Mobile Clinic: on 8/23 and 8/24/23, the clinic traveled to the Mykolaiv Region villages of Partyzanske and Shyroke. Services included family doctors, ENT, endocrinologists, psychologists and labs for blood, urine, sugar, TSH 2 and HbA1c. In total 133 people received 494 services.
NGO Angelia: delivered 4,500 kg of oat milk, grocery kits, diapers, medicine, water filters, clothes, bed linen, wheelchairs and toiletries for bedridden patients from Kyiv to Kherson.
Kseniia’s Team - NGO Livyj Bereh
3 roofs restored in Slatyne near Kharkiv.
Large push by Olha in Kherson delivering 472 packages to Kherson, Pryozerne, Oleksandrivka and Posad-Pokrovsk.
Darya delivered 200 packages to villages around Kupyansk (see story above).
Natasha - Vysnia Volunteer Center
Over the previous weekend the Kryvyi Rih team traveled to Knyazivka in the Kherson region delivering aid for 84 families.
Delivery included 2,500 glass jars that are much-needed to preserve fruits and vegetables for the winter.
Karina - We Save Dnipro
81 people in the shelter.
Sent 80 humanitarian aid packages with Dobra Sprava to the towns of Druzhkivka, Kostiantynivka, Kramatorsk, and Kurakhove.
Sent medicine to a hospital in Kryvyi Rih.
Inna’s Team
22.4 tons of aid distributed to 8,050 people.
9,500 people received bread.
Kherson flood relief operations:
44 refuelings 4 oil changes performed
Pumped water out of 1 building
Disinfected 7 buildings
Team is finalizing dehumidifying a bomb shelter. Although the work is still in progress the shelter has become usable again which is important due to daily shelling
Two trips to Berislav, delivering 200 packages, one trip to Kostyantynivka.
Tetiana’s Team - Dopomoha Poruch
Distributed 185 aid packages around Baburka, Zaporizhzhia region.
Timur’s Team-Timur and Team
Distributed 350 packages in Saltivka, Kharkiv.
Currently looking for a vehicle to replace the one lost in the crash earlier this summer.
Pavel and Olena - Touch of Heart and Dawn of Hope
1,483 people received packages at the Mykolaiv office.
Delivered water to four villages in Kherson region, 1 ton each.
150 packages delivered to Kharkiv.
150 packages delivered to Odesa.
Andriy - BF Pomahaem
Andriy’s warehouse continued aid distribution in Dnipro providing 536 family packages to 1,725 people, including 808 children.
270 packages of hygienic products delivered to Pavlohrad.
Marina – Good Give Ukraine
150 food and hygiene packages were distributed in Zhovti Vody.
Children in camp continue their classes; they learned about other countries and had a celebration for the Independence Day of Ukraine.
Dina - Vilni Liudy – Vilna Krayina
Distributed 280 packages this week.
Helped art therapy club for children in Kremenchuk with snacks and art supplies.
Distributed 33 sets of adult diapers and medicine in Kremenchuk.
Sergey T traveled to Izyum and delivered 270 packages of food as well as various medical supplies to a hospital there.
Bogdan - Vse robymo sami
Provided 44 families with food packages this week.
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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