November 28th, 2024
65,932 people evacuated from danger to date
125 people evacuated from danger this week
51 trips into deoccupied and frontline territories this week
This week our UTC community suffered a terrible loss. During firewood distributions near Ochakiv, an FPV drone wounded two volunteers: Vladyslav and Artur Kucheriavenko, father and son. Artur, only 30 years old, did not survive and died in Ochakiv ICU hours later. Four other civilians, who were receiving firewood, were injured as well.
While our Ukrainian friends are so used to Russia’s senseless brutality that they are no longer surprised by it, we, living in the West, feel the outrage. What kind of people drop bombs on old people trying to get some firewood to survive the winter? What kind of society cheers and justifies such crimes? How can we negotiate and share civilization with it without reckoning and justice?
Stories
Tribute to Artur Kucheriavenko
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, our Ukrainian teams have repeatedly put themselves in harm's way in their mission to help innocent civilians survive Russia’s aggression. We encourage volunteers to put their own safety first, and hope that they return from each mission alive and whole. This week, sadly, that hope was not enough: one of our volunteers was killed in the line of duty.
Vladyslav Kucheriavenko is a pastor who heads a group of volunteers in Oleksandr Davydiuk's network of teams. Working out of Mykolaiv, the team delivers drinking water to Mykolaiv and Kherson and has also been involved in the distribution of fuel briquettes to the Mykolaiv and Kherson Regions. From the start, Vladyslav's oldest son Artur has worked alongside his father. Oleksandr writes:
At about 11:00 am on November 25, Russian troops launched an attack with FPV drones on a gathering of people who were receiving our humanitarian aid [in the village of Solonchaky]...Six people were injured, including Vladyslav Kucheriavenko, and his son Artur...Unfortunately, Artur's injuries turned out to be incompatible with life, and on the evening of November 25, despite the desperate efforts of doctors to save him, he passed away.
Vladyslav was also injured. Doctors fought for his life, first in the Ochakiv hospital, then in the Mykolaiv hospital. Fortunately, these attempts were successful. Vladyslav survived a difficult night...In the morning he came out of anesthesia and immediately asked about his son's condition, but was forced to hear the news of his death...
Artur Kucheriavenko was 30 years old. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he had actively participated in providing assistance to internally displaced people, evacuating them from the front line, and providing humanitarian aid. We will always remember Artur as he was in life: open, sincere, friendly, and generous with help to anyone who needed it. He was inspired by the model of Jesus and tried to live a life of self-sacrifice for others. His motto was visible to anyone who visited his Telegram account: “I just wanna give you all the shoulders when you cry.” [BTS]
Artur, we will remember you forever. We will remember, miss and love you.
Our deepest condolences to the entire volunteer community.
Artur Kucheriavenko
Helping Antonivka from Kherson
On Sunday, Alena and her team traveled to Kherson, bringing help to current and former Antonivka residents. Antonivka used to be a Kherson suburb, located on the right bank of the Dnipro River. Now, the river is all that separates it from the Russian soldiers. The proliferation of drones and relentless onslaught of the Russian army, have made Antonivka nearly uninhabitable.
Antonivka residents are divided into two groups: some have fled to Kherson, and resettled there, while others have remained, walking the six kilometers along the “road of death” to the city with carts to receive humanitarian aid. For those who still cling to life in their battered settlement, the constant shelling, drones, fires, and absence of electricity, water, gas, or heat feel a lot like hell, according to one former resident. The ambulances can’t reach Antonivka at all anymore, and there’s no signal for communication, yet some residents still choose to live in the basements of their homes.
The volunteers worked tirelessly to prepare for this trip, carefully selecting the warmest clothing and shoes from their warehouse. They traveled in three vans, bringing two tons of aid, and distributing it from a courtyard in Kherson in the neighborhood where many Antonivka refugees have settled.
Alena’s team has been supporting current and former residents of Antonivka for some time, but seeing them this time was especially heartbreaking. Their clothing was clearly inadequate. Some stood in the biting cold wind, hiding their hands in flimsy jackets that offered no warmth. One woman fought back tears, while sharing that her home was destroyed by 20 explosives dropped one after another by Russian drones. “It’s a terrifying kind of fire,” she said, “even the toilets melted.”
In total, 150 families received food, cleaning supplies, hygiene products, clothing, and shoes, along with 300 loaves of bread and rolls.
Persuading Loved Ones to Evacuate
As risks rise and the situation in frontline regions becomes more desperate, our teams specializing in evacuations are becoming more creative and deliberate in their efforts to convince people to leave. The cruel truth about evacuations is that locals who’ve managed to stay put for years under shelling, often reach the decision to leave when it’s already too late. When they finally make the call, the situation is truly life-threatening, endangering the lives of the volunteers coming to the rescue.
Responding to this state of affairs, our biggest evacuation team, Dobra sprava, has pioneered a new technique — asking relatives and friends to record videos for the people they are trying to evacuate, which the volunteers play for the potential evacuees. This technique seems to have yielded positive results, convincing a few people to leave before the roads become impassable.
Help in Occupied Territories
Our distributions in occupied territories have resumed, providing 170 packages to local residents.
Team Summaries
Alina’s Team – Dobra sprava (Good Deeds)
16 trips, evacuating 112 people.
Inna’s Team – Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope)
Distributed 22.3 tons of aid.
8,350 people received aid, 6,600 more received bread.
Aid delivered to 38 locations, including 12 high-risk areas in frontline towns — Kostyantynivka, Druzhkivka, Balakliya, Oskil, Kherson, Nikopol, Marhanets’, and others.
Kherson operations:
Exterminations in 23 spaces.
18 generator maintenance tasks.
211 tons of firewood delivered to 132 families in Borova and Oskil, Kharkiv Region.
Angelia Charitable Fund
Delivered 2 tons of sugar, pasta, vitamins, flour, and oil, donated by German partners, to Bila Tserkva, Kaniv and Ukrainka (all in Kyiv Region).
Distributed 60 boxes (600 kg) of used clothing in Kaniv.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Oleksandr S (Boyarka): Report for 2 weeks. Received 20 tons of cargo for further distribution. Also received a shipment of children’s toys sent to Ukrainka from the Road to Life charity. Distributed 150 hygiene kits in Terny (Sumy Region). Distributed 400 kg of food and clothing to internally displaced people (IDPs) and low-income people in Yahotyn (Kyiv Region). Assembled vegetable kits for distribution to low-income families and IDPs in the Chernihiv and Kyiv Regions. Helped 100 families in Krasnopillya and Velyka Pysarivka with food. Delivered 8 sets of reusable diapers for people with disabilities to the NGO Fimiam and 5 sets to Sumy.
Yuri S (Vinnytsia): brought 100 kg of apples and cabbage for IDPs from the village of Bruslyniv to Vinnytsia, and 150 kg of clothing for the rehabilitation center. Payed off utility service bills for disabled people. Took 1 disabled person to rehabilitation.
WeCare Centers (Lviv): starting from Boryslav, delivered 11 pallets (1,100 kg) of toys to Rivne, Ostroh, Pereyaslav, Obukhiv, and Odesa.
Vitaliy Z (Kharkiv): delivered 3.5 tons of humanitarian kits, clothes, medicine, and animal feed to Shabel’kivka in the Kramatorsk District (Donetsk Region). Proposed evacuation. Delivered 225 tons of fuel briquettes to 750 households in Kramatorsk and Balakliia. Delivered 2 tons of aid to Chasiv Yar.
Oleksandr D (Lutsk): delivered 157.5 tons of fuel briquettes to 394 households in the the Muzykivsʹka Rural Community (Kherson Region) and the village of Solonchaky near Ochakiv. Tragically, one of the volunteers was killed after this delivery (see tribute above).
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): provided therapeutic interventions and aid to internally displaced (IDP) children and adults, children with disabilities, and children from large families.
Held 2 art therapy sessions, for a total of 56 children and adults.
Visited the theater with 69 children and military personnel and a museum with 56 IDPs.
Helped 240 IDPs and 60 children and young adult students with bread and other food.
Provided 67 physical therapy and wellness sessions for IDPs and others suffering from the stress of war. Also conducted 10 preventative children’s health procedures.
Darya — Supported through Livyy bereh (Left Bank)
Made 5 trips, evacuating 13 people: Kindrashivka - 2 people; Monachynivka - 1 person; Kut’kivka - 6 people; Kasianivka - 3 people; Zapadne - 1 person.
Karina’s Team – My ryatuyemo Ukrayinu (We Save Ukraine)
159 people in the shelter.
Tetiana’s Team — Dopomoha poruch (Help Is Near)
Distributed 200 aid packages in Zaporizhzhia.
Distributed 100 aid packages in Smila.
Natasha’s Team – Volontersʹkyy tsentr Vyshnya (Cherry Volunteer Center)
Delivered 250 packages to Yampil’ township, which includes 5 frontline villages that come under daily shelling: Zakitne, Ozerne, Kryva Luka, Kalenyky, and Dibrova.
Keeping up feverish pace, as Natasha heads back to Donbas with another 210 packages.
Timur’s Team — Komanda Teymura Alyeva (Timur Alyev’s Team)
Delivered 377 aid packages to North Saltivka, which is being hit daily by Russian bombs and artillery.
Special deliveries to 17 families with infants and 10 disabled elderly.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams — Dotyk sertsya (Touch of Heart) & Svitanok mriy (Dawn of Dreams)
901 people received vegetable packages in Luch, Novohryhorivka, Kvitneve, Kyslivka, Partyzans’ke, Kobzartsi, Shevchenkove.
239 families received fuel briquettes in Afanasiivka, Novohryhorivka, and Partyzanske.
Continue to organize children programs in Mykolaiv.
Pomahaem Foundation (We Help Foundation)
24 tons delivered to Nikopol.
9 trips total to frontline regions: 4 to Nikopol, 3 to Porkovsk, 2 to Mykolaivka, near Kramatorsk.
Marina’s Team — Daruy dobro Ukrayina (Give Good Ukraine)
150 food and hygiene packages were distributed to internally displaced individuals in Piatyhatky.
Soccer balls, uniforms, and basketballs were given to Piatyhatky school teams.
Dina’s Team — Vilʹni lyudy, vilʹna krayina (Free People, Free Country)
Distributed 450 packages of aid to internally displaced families in need in Kremenchuk, Poltava, Kanev, Dnipro, and Kharkiv.
Bohdan’s Team — Vse robymo sami (We Do Everything Ourselves)
43 families in Zhytomyr received food and hygiene kits.
320 families received food kits.
At the Children's Club for Children with Disabilities, kids learned how to cook baked apples, visited a play and took part in psychology relief games.
Alena’s Team – Diva (Virgo)
Delivered 2 tons of aid in Kherson to residents and former residents of Antonivka.
In total, 150 families received food, cleaning supplies, hygiene products, clothing, and shoes, along with 300 loaves of bread and rolls.
Liza and Katya helped 6 new wounded, and continued to help 19 other wounded in hospital wards. They also provided additional anti-contusion medicine.
Anna’s Team – Nezalezhna natsiya (Independent Nation)
Continued to run water delivery services near the village of Pravdyne, Kherson/Mykolaiv Regions. Since the last report (on October 8) 455 tons of water have been delivered.
How to Help
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