October 10th, 2024
65,020 people evacuated from danger to date
143 people evacuated from danger this week
47 trips into deoccupied and frontline territories this week
After the tumultuous events we reported last week, this week might seem almost ordinary, but the situation has not improved and continues to steadily deteriorate. The growing risks were reported by our volunteer Alena who traveled to the Kherson Region and saw new burnt-out vehicles along the road.
Russians have also popularized a new terror tactic, dropping “nail ribbons” from drones on frontline roads. Vehicles that drive over them puncture their tires and slow down making them easy targets for Russian FPV drones. Volunteers report growing risks in other areas, as well, but despite this all our teams are trying to deliver as much cargo as they can while the roads are dry.
Stories
Survival Amid the Battle for Donbas
In the Donbas, Russians continue to advance West, destroying villages and cities in their path. Vicious shellings occur daily, and the stream of refugees from Kostyantynivka is growing. A curfew is now in place for most of the day there, lifted only from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, leaving very little time for people to find food, receive their pension, and complete the other vital activities of daily living. Despite this difficult situation, several of our teams are travelling into the region weekly, using their strong connections with local communities and military administration to deliver aid.
For example, Anastasia’s team traveled to a village near Pokrovsk, currently sheltering 500 families. Many of the residents recently escaped from other towns that have been taken by Russia. Although the volunteers brought 341 packages of aid — as much as their vans could carry — it was not enough for everyone and 142 families were left to wait for the team’s next visit. Everyone is hoping the front line will stabilize and the invasion will stall, but things don’t look promising.
Partnership with WeCare Centers
Ukraine TrustChain has started providing logistics and transportation cost support for humanitarian cargo delivered by WeCare Centers inside Ukraine. This aid is being channeled through the team of our long-time trusted partner Oleksandr Davydiuk and will allow for the monthly delivery of an additional 90 tons of aid throughout Ukraine, more than half of it going to centers located close to the eastern front line. The partnership with WeCare will also provide additional flexibility for our other volunteer teams, potentially helping with their storage and transportation needs in the future.
Operations in Occupied Territories
140 aid packages were delivered to Ukrainians living under occupation and two people were evacuated from the Russian-occupied left bank.
Grandmother and granddaughter reunited
Team Summaries
Alina’s Team – Dobra sprava (Good Deeds)
16 trips and 126 people evacuated from the Donetsk Region.
Inna’s Team – Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope)
25.6 tons of aid distributed.
6,700 people received bread.
Aid delivered to 35 towns including Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Druzhkivka, Kostyantynivka, Tolstoy, Kherson, Izyum, and Nikopol — all dangerous frontline territories.
Performed disinfections and exterminations in 17 buildings in Kherson.
3 people evacuated from Kostyantynivka.
Distributed aid at a homeless shelter in Kryvyi Rih, meeting several people who have become homeless only recently.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): delivered 35 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv and 14 tons to Kherson.
Sandra S (Odesa): kitchen fed more than 1,500 people.
Yuri S (Vinnytsia): brought detergent, paper and a painting to a children's boarding school in Vinnytsia, 150 kg of clothes to the “Harmony” society of disabled people, and 100 kg of clothes for the poor in the village of Stanislavchyk (Vinnytsia Region). Delivered cereals, fruit and a wheelchair for senior citizens and disabled people to a boarding school in Plyskiv (also Vinnytsia Region).
Vitaliy Z (Kharkiv): delivered 4 tons of humanitarian kits, medicines, clothes and animal feed to Kostyantynivka, (Donetsk Region), which is now a little over a mile from the front lines. Evacuation was suggested. Delivered 2.5 tons of aid near Lyman, which is in smoke from forest fires caused by Russian bombing. Brought 4 tons of walkers, wheelchairs, crutches and other medical and rehabilitation equipment to the ROSCHA sanatorium in Pisochyn, near Kharkiv.
Serhiy A (Kharkiv): distributed food kits to the blind and visually impaired. Distribution for the month of September was 50 in Kharkiv, 50 in Kramatorsk, 50 in Uman, 50 in Bar, 45 in Kamianske, and 50 in Lutsk.
WeCare Centers (Lviv): delivered 5 tons of mattresses to Kharkiv, Druzhkivka, Kherson, and 7 other cities. Some of the mattresses were delivered to a children’s clinic, which had shut down due to lack of beds and is now able to open its doors again.
Natalia B (Kherson): during the month of September, distributed 40 portions of dairy products to 9 seniors and families with disabled family members.
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): provided therapeutic interventions and aid for internally displaced (IDP) children and adults, children with disabilities, and children from military families and from large families.
Held 3 art therapy sessions, working with a total of 85 children.
Visited a museum with 56 IDPs.
Helped 240 IDPs and 60 children and young adult students with bread and other food.
Provided 69 physical therapy and wellness sessions for IDPs from Pokrovsk and Toretsk.
Spent time with children of military personnel on Defender's Day and provided them with assistance.
Kseniia’s Team – Livyy bereh (Left Bank)
1 roof completed in Kharkiv Region.
9 people evacuated from the northeast Kharkiv Region, from the villages Rohozyanka, Ridkodub, and Putnykove.
Karina’s Team – My ryatuyemo Ukrayinu (We Save Ukraine)
156 people in the shelter.
Together with the Dobra sprava team delivered 100 packages to Pokrovsk.
Tetiana’s Team — Dopomoha poruch (Help Is Near)
Delivered 150 aid packages to the village of Krutoyarivka on the border of Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions.
Timur’s Team — Komanda Teymura Alyeva (Timur Alyev’s Team)
Evacuated 13 people in 5 separate trips.
Distributed 374 aid packages in Saltivka, Kharkiv.
Delivered diapers to 17 families with infants and 17 elderly with disabilities.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams — Dotyk sertsya (Touch of Heart) & Svitanok mriy (Dawn of Dreams)
140 aid packages delivered to Myrne and Shevchenkove.
1.5 tons of water delivered to Novohryhorivka.
Preparing for large-scale vegetable distributions at the end of the month.
Resumed art classes and psychological support for children in Mykolaiv office.
Pomahaem Foundation (We Help Foundation)
232 family packages delivered to Novotavryches’ke and Novoivanivka in Zaporizhzhia Region.
24.5 tons of water delivered to Nikopol.
3 trips vetting cash aid recipients, one of them to Hryshyne, near Pokrovsk.
Marina’s Team — Daruy dobro Ukrayina (Give Good Ukraine)
150 food and hygiene packages were given to internally displaced families in Zhovti Vody.
246 food and hygiene packages were given to internally displaced families in Piatyhatky.
Dina’s Team — Vilʹni lyudy, vilʹna krayina (Free People, Free Country)
Distributed 365 packages in Kremenchuk, Kanev, and Poltava.
Distributed 46 packages to newly arrived internal refugees in Dnipro.
The distribution center in Kremenchuk was able to receive and distribute 3 tons of donated clothing and household goods from a partner organization in Kyiv.
Bohdan’s Team — Vse robymo sami (We Do Everything Ourselves)
43 families received food and hygiene kits in Zhytomyr.
150 children visited the Zhytomyr Academic Music and Drama Theater to see the play "Mowgli.”
During weekly psychological relief games, kids learned to recognize and talk about happiness.
Handed over medicine to the Zhytomyr regional clinical hospital and to the city hospital.
Alena’s Team — Diva (Virgo)
Delivered 52 packages of aid to Sofiivka.
Delivered 249 packages of aid to Oleksandrivka.
Delivered 10 large plastic water storage tanks to service 1,963 people in the towns of Shiroka Balka, Stanyslav, and Oleksandrivka.
Anastasia’s Team – LoveUA
Traveled to Hryshyne, delivering 341 packages of aid.
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