July 25th, 2024
63,267 people evacuated from danger to date
188 people evacuated from danger this week
43 trips into deoccupied and frontline territories this week
As we listen to dozens of accounts from volunteer teams, we see related trends. On one hand, there is a steadily increasing level of risk to our volunteers, who are coming closer and closer to bombardment sites and seeing more and more destruction. On the other hand, there is a growing desperation in the crowds of people who come to receive help in 110°F heat gripping all of Ukraine.
Alena’s distribution, for example, did not go as planned. She was delivering aid to the town of Stanislav on the bank of the Dnipro estuary, a frequent target for Russian drones. Despite clear instructions to avoid visible gatherings, nervous villagers formed a crowd before the volunteers arrived, potentially marking a target for the enemy.
As volunteers rushed to distribute aid as quickly as possible, the residents became nervous that they would not get their package and pressed into the vehicles parked inside a scorching hot metal hangar. Fights broke out. Volunteers used all of their experience to control the crowd and get out as quickly as possible. Nerve-wracking as such scenes are, however, they do seem to show that our volunteers are selecting distribution sites where people truly need help.
Stories
Our Youngest Supporters
We continue to be amazed by the generosity of our supporters across the world. This week we wanted to personally thank two of our donors. Will P, age 5, from Pittsburgh, PA, is donating part of his allowance to UTC. He included this note: “I hope Ukrainians are winning battles.” (We do too, Will!) Idan M, age 13, from Evanston, IL, has donated part of his Bar Mitzvah money to support our Ukrainian volunteers. Thanks, Will and Idan!!
This girl received an aid package purchased with UTC-donated funds by Bogdan’s team, Vse robymo sami (We Do Everything Ourselves).
Agricultural Project Update
Although our part of the agricultural project ended a while ago, grateful Ukrainians who received seeds and seedlings from us continue to share pictures of their harvest and send many thanks to all of you who made this sustenance possible.
“Step with Hope” – First Responders in Kherson
Here is a story from our Kherson volunteers, part of the Krok z Nadiyeyu (Step with Hope) team, who accidentally became first responders after a bombardment:
Lunch was interrupted by a powerful explosion a block away. To the shelter!!! Another explosion. Pause… a third hit. All three landed somewhere very close. Silence… We leave the shelter. To the right of the house, we see a fire in the distance. The street is mangled, wires are cut. Direct hits on a private house, an apartment building, and a car.
The State Emergency Service arrives and starts extinguishing [the flames]. [They are interrupted by] a drone, [and] another shelling. Three rescue workers were injured. People drag them into a shelter.
[More ] drones… We wait for silence again. Medics arrive. The injured are taken away. The fire continues. We extinguish it with our own efforts. Drones [again] – back to the shelter. We wait and then continue extinguishing and helping the residents of our city.
For those who were left without electricity, we set up generators, so that people [might] have light until the repairs are done. The "Step with Hope" team is always where we are needed. Sometimes it is so unexpected, but that is the essence. You have to be ready to be next to those in need of help at any moment.
Visiting with Donbass Elderly
One of the volunteers on Inna’s team visits the elderly in the semi-destroyed towns of the Donbass. Here is an excerpt from our conversation with him:
We continue to visit women who are over 60. This week, we visited a woman who is 83 years old. She couldn't clean her room, so we helped her, [and] supported her in any way we could. [We also] listened to her, because people like her need someone to listen and show them that they are not alone.
[It turns out that this woman] has two sons – twins. One is in Kyiv and the other in Moscow. She hadn't communicated with her son in Moscow for two years because she was told that it was dangerous for both her and her son [to make contact]. Her son had called, but the woman had rejected his calls.
[We felt that] while Russia [was busy] oppressing its own citizens, it was unrealistic to fear that a mere phone conversation via messenger could be tracked and lead to legal problems, [so we encouraged the woman to call her son.] She did call him [while we were there] and was very pleased and happy that they had reconnected.
Treacherous Passage to Ocheretyne
Unfortunately, the Russian offensive near Ocheretyne is gaining ground. Russia’s goal here is to cut the road that connects Dnipro and Sloviansk — the road that our volunteers have taken hundreds of times to deliver aid to frontline towns. Russian forces now stand only four miles away from the road, making it almost unusable for the military and service vehicles.
On their recent trip, Anastasia’s team encountered soldiers at a checkpoint, who tried to talk them out of going, as 40-50 guided aerial bombs had landed nearby that very morning. Two days prior, several people had died. A man told Anastasia that as they were digging the graves in the cemetery to bury the dead, more bombs began falling, damaging 75 graves.
Still Anastasia’s volunteers continue to deliver aid every other week to this embattled region. Last week they delivered 350 packages of food and 350 packages of hygienic products to some of the residents in the town, planning to return with more for the remaining people.
Help in the Occupied Territories
215 people were helped in 4 occupied towns. 4 people were also evacuated this week from the Russian-occupied left bank, all from highly dangerous locations where shelling and injuries are common. In addition to dealing with the difficult task of arranging for drivers from such places, the volunteers sometimes have to face residents who are reluctant to leave their homes even under such dire conditions.
This week brings the story of Ruslana (not her real name), an 87-year-old woman living on the edge of her abandoned village, where she remains the only resident. Last year her husband was killed in their front yard when he stepped on an unexploded shell, leaving Ruslana alone with her animals – 30 turkey chicks, 20 adult turkeys, dogs and cats. Ruslana's relatives had finally talked her into leaving. The driver made his way to her along difficult roads, requiring a great deal of planning and a lot of risk. But at the last moment Ruslana refused to go, saying that she couldn't leave her animals. The volunteers were forced to depart, leaving Ruslana behind.
Ruslana refused to leave her 50 turkeys.
Team Summaries
Alina’s Team – Dobra sprava (Good Deeds)
19 trips and 184 people evacuated from Toretsk, Kostyantynivka, Lyman, Novohrodivka, Kurakhovo, Myrnohrad, and Pokrovsk areas.
Inna’s Team – Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope)
7,950 people received help.
Transported 20.5 tons of aid.
9,500 people received bread.
Kherson Operations:
Insect and rodent extermination in 12 spaces (including 8 large basements).
Disinfected 3 spaces.
Held an activity day for children living in Kherson.
Help delivered to Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, and Nikopol.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Oleksandr S (Boyarka): Oleksandr’s team, together with Andriy V’s team, delivered 2,300 kg of food kits, milk and clothing to 300 residents of Mezenivka, Sumy Region, within 3 miles of the Russian border. Distributed 1,800 kg of food aid to the disabled, elderly and other especially vulnerable populations in the Ternopil Region – Chortkiv, Lanivtsi, Kremenets, Husyatyn – Ivano Frankivsk Region – Velyka Kam'yanka, Kolomyia, Horodenka – and Chernivtsi Region – Kel’mentsi, Selyatyn, Banyliv, Strilets'kyi Kut, Mamaivtsi, and Chunkiv.
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): delivered 35 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv and 14 tons of water to Kherson.
Sandra S (Odesa): kitchen fed more than 800 people.
Yuri S (Vinnytsia): delivered 200 kg of clothing to the "Harmony" association for the disabled and a children’s bed to 1 family. Took 2 disabled people to rehabilitation. Served meals to 15 low-income people.
Vitaliy Z (Kharkiv): delivered 2 tons of clothes, medicine, aid packages and animal feed to Chasiv Yar and 2 tons of aid to nearby Novodmytrivka. The situation in Chasiv Yar is so dangerous that the team didn’t have a chance to stop for possible evacuations. Finished drilling a well in the village of Berestok. The pump is installed and the water is flowing.
Oksana K (Lutsk): Oksana and Valeriy went to Germany, on behalf of Oleksandr D’s team, bringing back 800 kg of energy bars, muesli, cornflakes and other quickly preparable foods, as well as two batteries and a charger to help with the frequent power outages in Lutsk. Oksana also distributed adult diapers to bedridden residents in the village of Ulyanyky, near Lutsk.
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): provided therapeutic interventions for internally displaced (IDP) children, children with disabilities, children from large families and from military families.:
Offered art therapy to 62 children (total of 2 art therapy sessions held).
Organized a rest camp for 42 children.
Took 34 IDP children to the zoo.
Distributed bread and other groceries, clothing and shoes to 314 children at an IDP camp.
Kseniia’s Team – Livyj bereh (Left Bank)
Darya, based in Kharkiv delivered 66 packages to Kutkivka and Monachynivka — two frontline villages.
Continued to assist 8 patients in Odesa hospitals with basic medicine not provided by the government.
Karina’s Team – My ryatuyemo Ukrayinu (We Save Ukraine)
101 people in the shelter.
Tetiana’s Team – Dopomoha poruch (Help Is Near)
Distributed 150 aid packages and other supplies in the village of Odnorobivka, Kharkiv Region.
Timur’s Team – Komanda Teymura Alyeva (Timur Alyev’s Team)
Distributed aid packages to 457 people in Saltivka, Kharkiv Region.
Helped the elderly, including delivering a walker to a grandmother who couldn't get around without assistance.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams – Dotyk sertsya, Svitanok nadiyi (Touch of Heart, Dawn of Hope)
1489 people received help through Mykolaiv office.
250 packages delivered to Prybuzke.
Delivered 3 tons of water to Novohryhorivka.
Pomahaem Foundation (We Help Foundation)
2 trips to Myrnohrad in Donbas, delivering 451 packages.
10.5 tons of water delivered to Nikopol.
3 trips to Petro-Myhailivka, vetting people for cash aid from Mercy Corps.
Marina’s Team – Daruy dobro Ukrayina (Give Good Ukraine)
150 packages were distributed in Piatyhatky.
Another round of psychological relief games was held for internally displaced people.
Dina’s Team – Vilʹni lyudy, vilʹna krayina (Free People, Free Country)
Distributed 360 packages of food and hygienic product aid in Poltava, Kremenchuk, and Kanev.
Bogdan’s Team – Vse robymo sami (We Do Everything Ourselves)
43 families received food and hygiene kits in Zhytomyr.
The club for children with disabilities (partially funded by UTC) hosted an event focused on acquiring practical skills such as food preparation. Kids learned to cook salmon rolls, and also attended a discussion and presentation about gender, sex, gender-based violence and stereotypes.
Alena’s Team – Diva (Virgo)
200 packages of food, 200 packages of hygiene products, 101 packages of sweets for children, and adult diapers delivered to Stanislav.
Anastasia’s Team – LoveUA
Delivered 350 food packages and 350 hygienic product packages to Novoekonomichne.
How to Help
Donate — The money goes directly to teams providing aid on the ground, who respond dynamically to the most urgent needs.
Fundraise — Organize fundraisers at your school, work, place of worship, with friends and family, etc.
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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.
Download and print our flyer. Ask your local coffee shop if you can add it to the bulletin, or use it as part of your fundraiser.