March 16, 2023
49,172 people evacuated from danger to date
245 people evacuated from danger this week
35 trips into the deoccupied and frontline territories
It has been one year since UTC began in the first days of the Russian invasion as a form of support and resistance. Please join our US team for a donor Zoom call on March 23, 2023, from 7-8pm CST. We will discuss some of our major projects including community-rebuilding, new teams and long-time teams that have grown and their initiatives, and ways that we continue to support Ukraine volunteers in this coming year. We will connect as a community and also answer questions about Ukraine Trustchain as well as share plans for its sustainability. Please RSVP here.
Even with ongoing heavy bombardments across all of Ukraine last week and intensifying battles in the East, Ukrainians want to return to their land and to invest in and revive their communities. One way that we will continue to support these efforts, helping to foster self-sufficiency, agency, and healing, is through a new large-scale initiative. We will be working with multiple teams to supply seeds to areas of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Nikopol, Kryvyi Rih, and smaller villages in the East and South – some of the most important agricultural regions. Already 10,000 families are receiving seeds in the Kharkiv, Donbas and Kherson regions in preparation for the planting season. The seeds our team provides will consist of potatoes, radishes, carrots, and other crops that will last families through next winter. Despite war and direct danger of mines left by Russians, these brave residents received planting seeds for crops. This work will not only help provide food security in the future, but it also gives people work to pour their souls into, while much of the local economy has been destroyed by this war.
Ukraine Team Milestones
Ihor — Dobra Sprava
In the last few weeks we were able to establish closer contact with the teams currently handling the increase in evacuations. One of the most experienced teams we are proud to support is Dobra Sprava, who continue to evacuate people from the hottest zones of the fighting in Donbas. We have partially supported their operations in the past through Karina, and one of the vans we purchased for Karina last May is regularly used by Dobra Sprava in evacuation missions. Seeing their amazing work, we established a direct connection with them. UTC has agreed to help Dobra Sprava with fuel and vehicle repairs - an expense that is difficult to fund via conventional channels.
Last week this team took 16 trips into frontline zones and successfully evacuated 208 people.
Kseniia’s Team - NGO Livyj Bereh
Unfortunately, not all trips our teams take go well. Last week, Kseniia and Andriy went prospecting in the Kherson region. Ukrainian cities came under a massive missile attack. During air raids GPS services are jammed, and despite their best efforts Kseniia’s crew found themselves stranded in a minefield. It took them all day to make it out of the mine fields alive arriving in Kherson past the curfew. They got nearly pushed off the road by the speeding military trucks that smashed their side view mirror. The next day somebody put a brick through their side window, not clear whether it was a deliberate pro-Russian gesture or a random act of vandalism. Yet they had to speed home as only a day later a new truck of protein bars arrived at their warehouse, delivered thanks to the incredible support of World of Connections with delivery funded by Ukraine TrustChain.
Meanwhile four houses in Slatyne village were repaired by the Livyj Bereh team this week. One of the homes damaged by shelling belongs to Serhij, a local volunteer and leader, who kept order in the village throughout the hostilities in this territory. Serhij devotes most of his time to helping people in the village since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. He also has been helping Livyj bereh with repairs.
Kherson team made to trips to the village of Inhulivka and Stanislav distributing about 300 packages (we are confirming the exact count).
Dasha attempted get close to the frontline in Kharkiv region, but also ended up escaping as Russian tanks opened fire on the village from the nearby forest.
Inna’s Team - Krok z Nadiyeyu
18,400 people received regular help from Inna’s team. 11,000 received bread from the two bakeries with which Inna’s team works. Overall 24 tons of aid were distributed. Four of the destination points last week were in the bombarded frontline zones and the deoccupied territories. In the Donetsk region, volunteers visited Druzhkovka, Pokrovsk, Dobropillya and Myrnograd; they also provided help in the Kherson region and Nikopol.
Her team also set up 6 generators at 5 distribution centers in Dnipro region.
In addition to the massive regular distribution of aid, we are proud to report that the projects we outlined over the past two weeks related to the rejuvenation of rural communities are already starting to take shape. Inna’s team identified more than 9,000 families that needed help with the planting season. Inna’s team has already purchased seeds and begun distributing them to families.
Alena’s Team — Virgo Volunteer Center
This week Alena traveled with a team of volunteers to the town of Kiselivka. Somehow, the destruction still managed to make an impression on Alena, perhaps because she was accompanied by new volunteers. One of them, Irina, a clothing designer from Odesa; said the experience divided her life into before and after. The town is destroyed entirely, the residents are dirty, poor, and have downcast eyes. One of the farmers, who used to be wealthy before the war, lost everything and hadn’t wanted to go on living if it weren’t for the birth of his grandson. The town still has no electricity or water. Alena brought three generators, which will run a water pump. She brought powerbanks and handed out 130 packages of food, leaving the rest with the town alderman to deliver to those who were unable to come to the meeting point.
As we were writing this newsletter, Alena got news from another town she recently helped, Lyubomirovka. A woman and a child were injured by landmines in their yards this week. The child has many internal injuries and requires a liver transplant. The wounds of the occupation are deep and will continue to harm and scar Ukrainians for years to come.
Natasha’s Team - Vysnia Volunteer Center
We would like to congratulate Natalia, who over the weekend, received another award from the ministry of defense. The award was a cherry on top of a very busy week.
Earlier last week another 40 pallets of food arrived at Natasha’s headquarters, yet distributing these massive amounts of aid where it’s needed most is not an issue. A van of supplies was sent to Kharkiv; another van Natalia took to Kryvyi Rih to the satellite team run by Tetiana and Andriy Pasenko.
Together Natalia and Pasenkos brought aid to the village of Osokorivka in the Kherson region. In addition to aid packages for 300 families, Natalia’s team brought in potatoes, and seeds to help local people plant their gardens in the spring. This delivery is part of a larger planting season support initiative of Ukraine TrustChain.
In the meantime, after Daniil’s visit to Ukraine, we reconnected to another team from the Kyiv area. Oleh Ivanenko - is a celebrity paralympian who swam across La Manche in his prewar life. Last summer UTC provided assistance to refugees based in Brovary through Oleh’s center. After the latest visit Oleh helped find 5 great destinations to install generators we sourced earlier in the year. The generators made it to a rehabilitation center for children with disabilities, a kindergarten, a kitchen and ambulatory services in the center of Rudnia, and a public gym in the village of Gogoliv.
Pavel’s Team — Touch of Heart and Dawn of Hope
Pavel’s evacuations continued last week with 28 people evacuated from Zaporizhzhya and Voznesensk. 22 of the 28 were children as Pavel was able to help two large families with many adopted kids evacuate to the Polish border and find volunteers who agreed to support these families on their journeys in Poland as well.
5,312 people received help in Mykolayiv and the villages of Zasyllia, Partyzanske and Novomykolaivka. Pavel’s team keeps finding new ways to support the villages around Mykolayiv that are trying to rebuild their lives. 2 weeks ago we participated in the delivery of building materials and potbelly stoves to the villages; this week, the team brought 336 metric cubes of firewood to these villages along with 70 mattresses. Mattresses, buckets, shovels and other tools are in high demand in the areas where the armies rolled through, as the troops usually take these items upon arrival.
Dina’s Team - Vilni Liudy – Vilna Krayina
This week the team distributed 830 packages of food and is preparing to mail more from Dnipro in the coming week.
Marina’s Team — Good Give Ukraine
Marina's team distributed another 150 food kits to displaced people and families with many children this week. For the elderly, people with disabilities, and those who could not come to the distribution center, food kits were delivered to their homes.
Marina's team also had a clothing drive in their Zhovti Vody center, alongside a toy drive for kids who have suffered from war.
Oleksandr’s Volunteer Network
There were the usual deliveries to Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, with food distributed through the wailing of sirens and the sounds of explosions. Despite the dangers, the people here always look forward to the team’s arrival and are no longer visibly scared of the sounds of artillery.
Pavlo V’s volunteers from Dnipro assisted in several locations in the Dnipropetrovsk Region. They delivered groceries to the still functioning shelter in Obukhivka. 640 kg of aid and wheelchairs went to the House of Mercy at Goryanivske. The road there is unpaved so the last stretch of the delivery had to be made with the help of the locals in horse-drawn carts.
Oleksandr S’ team in Boyarka made two deliveries to Studenok. This village in Sumy region is located right on the border and is a regular target of Russia’s terrorist bombings of civilian areas. The team also delivered a generator to the State Emergency Service of the Kyiv Region and two generators to an educational institution in Chernihiv which houses IDPs and school children.
Sandra S’ kitchen in Odesa fed over 1,000 people including bedridden patients. Starting next month, the kitchen will serve meals twice a week instead of every day.
Vladyslav K’s team in Mykolaiv brought 30 tons of water to the city. In addition, the volunteers distributed 19.5 tons of food to Snihurivka and five other villages in the Mykolaiv Region. While delivering aid, the team also helped repair a filter for a well.
Andriy P from Chernivtsi has finally returned to Ukraine from Germany, bringing vehicles for the armed forces and the Mykolaiv Hospital. Mykhailo, one of Andriy’s volunteers, delivered a truck of humanitarian aid from Samaritan's Purse to villages in the Mykolaiv Region including deoccupied Snihurivka.
Oksana K in Lutsk brought humanitarian aid from Warsaw back to Lutsk. They are distributing this aid to Zaporizhzhya, border regions on the Belarus border, as well as Lutsk hospitals and schools.
Lutsk’s NGO "Star of Hope" under the leadership of Oleksandr Z continued its clay art therapy classes with 62 children.
Viktor V’s team, also in Lutsk, distributed aid at the Lutsk Humanitarian Aid Center. Help was received by pensioners from Sloviansk, Kherson, Druzhivka and Makiivka, and a mother with many children and a child with disabilities from Lutsk.
Our anonymous volunteers in the unidentified occupied territory took advantage of the falling ruble and a favorable exchange rate with the hryvnia to stock up on extra food for the local residents. The team distributed 330 food kits to adults and children. As always, the volunteers receive many sincere thanks from the local residents for the aid, sponsorship and support.
Tetiana’s Team - Dopomoha Poruch
This week Tetiana’s team distributed aid in Ternivs’kiy district near Smila to 175 families. They also visited summer camp in Smila housing refugees and brought food, a microwave oven and chainsaw there so that people living in the camp can procure firewood.
Finally, Tetiana helped a large newly evacuated family who recently fled the fighting leaving most of their possessions behind. The family lives in a local church for now, but soon will move into a long-abandoned house in Ternivka and needs basic household items, seeds, and gardening tools so that they can plant their own food.
Karina’s Team - We Save Dnipro
The shelter housed 91 new people, most of them only staying one or two days. There are 89 people living in the shelter on a more permanent basis. Some of the evacuated children traveled onwards to Western Ukraine with psychologists and social workers for rehabilitation.
Karina also took children from the shelter to an indoor playground with a foam pit and a zip line swing, trying to return some joy and normalcy to their lives.
Another group that Karina supports brought two large generators, as well as cables, fuel, and oil, sponsored by Ukraine TrustChain to Kherson.
Angelia - Mobile Clinic
This week the mobile clinic spent three days in Poltava where 169 patients received 592 services, including ENT, family medicine, ECG, and blood, urine, and sugar analysis. Poltava was a major connection point in evacuations from the east at the start of the war, so many of the patients were internally displaced people (IDPs) who shared their infinitely varied stories of tragedy and hardship.
Andriy’s Team - BF Pomahaem
Jan, a cofounder on Andriy’s team, traveled twice to Kramatorsk to evacuate 9 people. Unfortunately, we are seeing rapid increases in evacuations as the frontline continues to push westward threatening cities west of Bakhmut, including Kramatorsk.
Since our last report, Andriy’s team made a push accelerating aid distributions to refugees at its Dnipro warehouse, reaching 3,200 families or 5,279 people, 3,444 of whom are children. This emptied the warehouse almost completely and Andriy is working with multiple organizations to receive additional aid to support these families.
Andriy’s team is about to launch a small baking facility; they hope to partner with a local restaurant to start feeding elderly and people with disabilities across the Dnipro region.
91 people were living in Andriy’s shelter based in the renovated school in the village of Voloske.
Timur’s Team – Timur and Team
Kharkiv has been the target of daily strikes, and power was out for most of the week. The team relied heavily on one of the generators at their warehouse that was delivered last month by Inna Kampen’s team.
Timur and Team delivered 150 packages with food and hygiene products. They also made home deliveries to 40 individuals with disabilities who cannot go out to receive aid.
Further, they distributed hundreds of flashlights which continue to be a high demand item with regular blackouts.
Stories and US Update
We noticed in the early months of doing this work that Ukrainians have a hard time pronouncing Ukraine TrustChain, and we have heard many variations of our name, the most common of which is Trust Change. However, the internally displaced people in Krasnokutsk have really mastered it and last week on March 8th (International Women’s Day) one of them even wrote a gratitude poem that incorporated in rhyme Lyuba, Vilni Liudy - Vilna Krayina, and Ukraine TrustChain. When we asked Lyuba how it is that the people she serves know our name, she laughed and sent a selfie with the answer circled in red and the caption “because of this.”
We want to thank DOG-EARED with Lisa Davis for the chance to speak about how Ukraine TrustChain supports animals during war. Listen to the podcast here.
How to Help
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