May 2, 2024
61,161 people evacuated from danger to date
157 people evacuated from danger this week
37 trips into the deoccupied and frontline territories this week
Although the US aid to Ukraine was recently approved, it will take some time for it to arrive and make an actual impact on the situation on the ground. In the meantime we are watching with alarm as the next group of Ukrainian villages is set aflame by Russian artillery. Some of these places we’ve supported in the past. Ukrainian volunteers once again have risen to the challenge and are going into the most dangerous parts of the country. Vitaliy went twice to Chasiv Yar last week; Darya evacuated 13 people out of the dying villages at the edge of Kharkiv Region; Dobra Sprava managed to evacuate people from Krasnohorivka, while part of the village was already controlled by Russian forces, while Alena traveled to Beryslav. We are highlighting these daring missions, all of them taking place in the last seven days, in the stories below, while remembering the hard work other volunteers continue to do day in, day out in other parts of the country.
Stories
Vitaly Goes to Chasiv Yar
Our volunteer Vitaly, based in Kharkiv, has been making consistently dangerous aid deliveries to some of the most deadly cities and villages near the front in Donetsk Region. Last week he went twice to Chasiv Yar - a key objective of Russia’s offensive push since the fall of Avdiivka. The local authorities refused to provide him an entry permit, but the military units he was in touch with, guided him to his destination anyway along very dangerous roads and military trenches.
As the team was distributing aid, they came under artillery fire -- thankfully no one was injured. In the sky "a very large number of drones" were "buzzing so that you felt as if you were in a beehive with bees." Vitaly's military escorts instructed him: "Don't be afraid of scouts, but be afraid and run away if you see a drone with ammunition."
Despite the situation in Chasiv Yar, which Vitaly calls hellish, the remaining residents seem resigned to the conditions. One man described sleeping through shellings even though his whole apartment shook. Others calmly sorted through the delivery of clothes as explosions were heard nearby.
During an interview with a resident, artillery shell flies overhead in Chasiv Yar
Drones over Beryslav
Our Odesa volunteers delivered power banks and gas stoves to the 750 residents remaining in Beryslav and surrounding villages. Every move in this region has to take the risk of drone strikes into consideration. It is because of drones that gas stoves are safer than wood stoves. Gas stoves don’t emit smoke and don’t reveal where people are hiding. Volunteers have to split up and unload aid in multiple locations to be sure that it’s distributed quickly.
Local people no longer display emotions but move like shadows, silent and fast. Packs of injured, homeless dogs run out to meet volunteers, which is why volunteers need to have some dog food with them to help distract the animals and streamline distributions. No buildings above ground are whole, but deep 20 feet craters from Russian glide bombs remind you that even underground you are not completely safe.
Before Alena provided Beryslav residents with power banks, the alderman had to collect people’s phones and drive 50 miles away to charge them. The charge lasted three days with careful use, after which the process needed to be repeated. Thanks to our help, local residents will be more comfortable in their shelters and better connected to the outside world.
“Thanks to Putin we now get humanitarian aid,” joked one of the residents grimly. But we want to thank all of our supporters instead for sponsoring such deeply meaningful missions that only independent Ukrainian volunteers can plan and execute in plain sight of the enemy.
Anastasiya Travels to Villages near Kostiantynivka
As Russian rockets hit Dnipro on Saturday morning, Anastasiya was on her way to Donbas. Her team brought aid to 297 families living in two villages near Kostiantynivka, a mere 20-25 miles away from the advancing enemy. On the way there, Anastasiya observed that she was no longer surprised by multiple smoke pillars rising on the horizon, marking sites of the morning’s artillery strikes. Despite occasional sounds of continued artillery duels, the distribution went quickly and smoothly. However, while handing out aid, Anastasiya turned around and saw children on their bikes chatting away near a small village memorial dedicated to the “children of the war.”
Agricultural Project Update
Last week, our agricultural project reached an important milestone. Inna’s team finished distributing seeds. The last delivery went to the villages in Beryslav that suffer daily attacks by Russian drones and artillery. Inna is on track to help over 10,000 families this year.
Svitlana Morhun, one of the aid recipients, sent us the following message: “At the beginning of the war I lost my job: nobody wants to hire people my age. My husband died, and my relatives live far away. When [the volunteers] started distributing seedlings I simply couldn’t believe it at first. Huge gratitude to those who gave us these plants, especially from me and my elderly neighbors. We only get our pension. At times after you buy medicine you hardly have anything left for food. Our vegetable gardens really help us survive. Thank you again!”
Help in Occupied Territories
3 people were evacuated from the Russian-occupied left bank. 240 packages were distributed in 3 occupied towns.
Team Summaries
Alina’s Team – Dobra Sprava (“Good Cause”)
14 trips with 141 people evacuated from Kurakhove, Selydove, Novohrodivka, Lyman, Mykolaiv, Sloviansk, Druzhkivka, Kostiantynivka, Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, and Kherson.
100 packages were delivered to Sviatohirsk.
50 packages were delivered to Sloviansk Psychiatric Hospital. The team is planning to provide further aid to this important institution in a frontline city.
Inna’s Team – Krok z Nadiyeyu (“Step with Hope”)
22.6 tons of aid provided to 9560 people.
9500 loaves of bread distributed.
Work in Kherson:
Exterminations in 21 buildings, including 5 large basements, 1 bomb shelter and 1 invincibility point.
Mold removal in 3 spaces.
Seedlings distributed to 900 people in Zaporizhzhia, Vilniansk, Ternovate and Novomykolaivka.
Delivered seeds to Beryslav region.
100 packages distributed in Horniak - a village that’s just a few miles away from a quickly moving frontline.
Aid delivered to 41 locations, including high-risk areas: Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, and Nikopol.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Oleksandr S (Boyarka): delivered baby food to 60 mothers and children temporarily staying at a center in Chernihiv. Brought 2.2 tons of groceries, clothes, medicine, blankets and sheets to the near-front settlements of Okhtyrka, Velyka Pysarivka, Krasnopillya, Mykhailivs'ke and Myropillya – all in the Sumy Region.
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): delivered 35 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv and 7 tons to Kherson.
Vitaliy Z (Kharkiv): brought 300 humanitarian kits, medicines, animal feed and 4.5 tons of clothes to Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka (Donetsk Region). The Chasiv Yar delivery was in extremely hazardous conditions under drone surveillance and artillery fire.
Kostyantyn B-H (Uman): delivered 2 tons of groceries, pet food and potatoes for planting to flood victims in Kherson Region villages of Zymivnyk and Pryozerne.
Artiom S (Hostomel): delivered 2.5 tons of food aid to Kharkiv and Druzhkivka (Donetsk Region). Packed up and evacuated a family of 2 from Sloviansk (also Donetsk Region). These people had been previously displaced from the area around Bakhmut.
Oksana K (Lutsk): delivered 20-30 kg of supplies to the women who assemble care packages to send to the east. Delivered 10-15 kg of aid to a large family where the woman’s husband and mother are both at war.
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): held 5 art therapy sessions for 84 internally displaced (IDP) children, children with disabilities and children from large families. An additional 233 IDP children received food, clothes, shoes and attended special events.
Kseniia’s Team - NGO Livyj Bereh (“Left Bank”)
Darya (Kharkiv) managed to evacuate 13 people from 3 villages near the Kharkiv frontline, in the midst of a deteriorating situation on the front.
2 roofs completed (351 to date).
Darya delivered aid to the frontline villages of Kutkivka (150 packages), Monachynivka (12 packages), and Kasyanivka (40 packages).
Svitlana distributed aid to 300 people in Kherson’s waterfront communities and 116 families at Posad-Pokrovsk.
Karina’s Team - We Save Dnipro
57 people in the shelter.
In cooperation with the Dobra Sprava team, delivered 100 packages of hygienic products and seeds for planting to the towns of Svyatohirs'k and Slovansk.
Tetiana’s Team - Dopomoha Poruch (“Help is Near”)
Distributed 275 aid packages in the village of Verkhn'ozoryans'ke near Kupiansk. Kharkiv region.
Provided aid to people in Smila whose houses were damaged by a recent rocket strike on the town.
Timur’s Team – Timur and Team
Delivered aid packages to 300 people in Shevchenkove, a small village near Kupiansk.
Distributed 170 packages around Saltivka, including 10 to disabled elderly and 10 to families with young children.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams - (“Touch of Heart” and “Dawn of Hope”)
1845 people helped through the Mykolaiv office.
Delivered 100 packages and 3 tons of water to Novohryhorivka.
Delivered 210 aid packages to Myrne and Luch.
Kirill, Marina, Andriy - Pomahaem Foundation (“We Help”)
Delivered 520 packages to Dnipro in 2 trips.
Delivered 20 packages to Shevchenkove near Kupiansk District of the Kharkiv Region.
1 trip to Kupiansk and 1 to the Kryvyi Rih vicinity, vetting recipients of German Federal Foreign Office aid.
Marina’s Team – Give Good Ukraine
500 pieces of makeup and cosmetic sets were distributed to women in the area of Piatykhatky and Zhovti Vody communities.
150 food packages distributed in Piatykhatky.
Dina’s Team - Vilni Liudy – Vilna Krayina (“Free People - Free Country”)
Distributed 870 aid packages in Dnipro, Kaniv, Kremenchuk, Krasnokutsk, and Poltava.
Mailed 100 packages to aid requesters in small towns.
Sergey T traveled to the towns of Brashkivka, Dovhen’ke, and Komyshuvakha to deliver aid.
Bogdan’s Team - Vse robymo sami (“We do everything ourselves”)
Bogdan’s Zhytomyr based children's public organization Vse robymo sami (“We Do Everything Ourselves”) won the Golden Flipchart competition in the Public Organization of the Year category.
In the club for children with disabilities children learned to create cakes with various sweet fillings.
During psychological games, the psychologist taught kids to speak in public without fear and to express their emotions.
42 families received food and hygiene aid.
Anastasia’s Team - LoveUA
Delivered 297 humanitarian aid packages of food and 297 of hygienic products to 2 towns near Kostiantynivka, which we cannot name for security reasons.
Alena’s Team - Virgo
Delivered 750 sets of backup power to about 1,500 people in the towns of Beryslav, Novoberyslav, Tomaryne, Zmiivka, Shlyakhove, and Urozhaine. Each set included a camping stove, 2 canisters of gas for the stove, 2 types of LED flashlights, a powerbank, and a pack of AA batteries.
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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