October 5, 2022
45,487 people evacuated from danger to date
743 people evacuated this week
Our teams continue to concentrate their efforts on the newly liberated territories. We have waited for the happy news of liberation for many difficult months. Just like in April, when the Kyiv region was recaptured, it is incredibly moving to see the immense gratitude and joy as people in the liberated territories receive help from their fellow Ukrainians. However, this time providing aid is more difficult. While in April the resources were readily available to Bucha, Irpin’, and other Kyiv suburbs because they were so close to the capital, the territories being liberated now are further away from the supply routes. They border Kharkiv, Kramatorsk, and other areas that have been pounded by Ruscist forces for months and lost a large portion of their civilian infrastructure. Also these regions have been under the occupation longer than areas around Kyiv. The steady flow of news about the mass graves and torture chambers found in Izium only hint at the depth of suffering that Russia’s invasion inflicted on Ukraine.
As government resources concentrate on the military and essential infrastructure, the volunteer teams are as important as ever. They provide the essential delivery mechanism to the population near the advancing frontlines. Unfortunately, these efforts are becoming increasingly dangerous, as evidenced by two major terrorist attacks over the weekend specifically targeting evacuation convoys.
As we write this letter Dina is personally heading for Kharkiv and then into the liberated territories. We hope to write about this trip in detail in next week’s newsletter.
Ukraine Team Milestones
One of several notable expeditions last week was Andriy’s large-scale trip to Izium. Partnering with another organization, Andriy’s fund brought 4 tons of aid in five vans to distribute to roughly 300 families. One of Andriy’s team members said that he was surprised at the number of young children still present in those areas, despite impossible living conditions. The rural areas around Izium have had no electricity for several months, yet residents met the volunteers with smiles, hugs, and laughter.
Another group delivered help to 40 families in Lyubymivka, Dnipro region. 125 packages were delivered to families in need in the Cherkasy region. Andriy’s shelters still house 149 people, where his team provides comprehensive support, bringing in musicians and artists to entertain the kids and professionals to provide medical care and legal consultations.
We are adding the evacuation numbers from Karina since we did not have them when we wrote our previous newsletter. These past two weeks, Karina’s organization supported 205 evacuations. 139 of them were from Bahmut - the town that continues to repel daily attacks of elite Ruscist forces. 51 came from Kupiansk and Liman - the newly liberated areas where people now have a chance to travel to their relatives. 15 people came through the Zaporizhia route from Berdyansk and Energodar. People evacuating through Zaporizhia use the same route that suffered a horrendous strike on Saturday, killing dozens of people in a humanitarian convoy. Fortunately, the team Karina supports were not on the road that day.
Karina’s shelter continues to house 134 people, two cats, and a hamster. In addition to ongoing expenses, Karina works with other upstream NGOs and larger charitable foundations to procure aid and medicine, which her team distributes in the liberated territories.
Inna’s group went on their first trip into the liberated city of Kupiansk. They delivered 1.2 tons of aid, but took a slightly different approach concentrating on streets further away from the city center. It is difficult for the elderly people living in remote areas to make it to the official locations for aid distribution. The walk to those locations is still dangerous as Russians continue to shell the city taking revenge on innocent civilians for ceding Ukrainian territory back. Inna’s volunteers helped 200 families and individuals there.
On their way back, when it was already dark, Inna’s volunteers encountered a Red Cross evacuation convoy with significant wheel damage. Inna’s group had the parts and the tools ready and were able to help them get back on the road. Two days later another humanitarian convoy in Kupiansk was destroyed by Russian artillery killing 22 people.
Overall Inna’s team distributed 35,000 kg of aid to Kharkiv region, Nikopol and dozens other locations providing help to 11,900 families.
In addition to regular weekly funding earlier in September we were able to help Inna’s team to find affordable housing for 21 volunteers working full-time on her team. We felt this was not only the right thing to do, but an incredible opportunity to ensure Inna has a motivated team to help at least through the next 6 months.
Inna’s support group for evacuees.
It has been a very difficult week for Timur and the team. They have answered a call to go to liberated areas through mine-riddled roads to deliver 2,500 packages of aid and candles. From Balakleya to Lipetsk, the desperation of people who have been under occupation for 7 months impacted the team greatly. The need is clear and the despair is difficult to resolve, especially when much of the need comes from seniors and families with children. Five major deliveries, each hundreds of miles away, have depleted all of the supplies that the team had and was able to purchase. This is in addition to 230 packages of aid that were delivered around Saltivka and rescuing a dog, a kitten, and 2 chinchillas.
Earlier last week, Dina was shaken by the rocket attacks on Dnipro that happened close enough to rattle her windows, but the very next day she continued her unfaltering efforts. Her team distributed aid to 1,550 families. Also last week we received the first shipment of blankets that Dina was able to source locally at about $6 a piece - which is an excellent price, given the high demand for blankets among the internally displaced.
Pavel’s team evacuated 537 people from Zaporizhia, Mykolayiv and Kharkiv, including 173 kids. In Zaporizhia, his team left shortly before the attack on the humanitarian convoy, once again missing lethal danger by just a few minutes.
We are also working with Pavel’s team to provide more regular reporting on the humanitarian aid deliveries, which Pavel and Olena receive from other partners, while Ukraine TrustChain continues to fund fuel and running expenses. The team has been averaging 10 tons of aid that are directed mostly to the rural areas around Mykolayiv that continue to suffer from unrelenting shelling.
While his team continues on their mission, Pavel is traveling to Europe to arrange for additional funding and negotiate continued aid delivery.
After coming back from her trip to Balakliya, Natalia took a few days to regroup. When we connected, Natalia shared how hard it is psychologically to experience the adrenaline rush in the devastated territories and then come back to the relatively peaceful Kyiv streets, and continue with her everyday life providing for her family and continuing to volunteer. Despite these hardships, later this week Natalia is planning to head back into the liberated territories.
Kseniia’s team was in preparation mode as well. This week her team was sorting clothing, shoes and appliances donated to their headquarters. Later this week, Kseniia’s team is traveling to Kirovohrad region, where they are supporting a particularly vulnerable group of refugees that relocated to a town too small to support them.
Kseniia continues to forward help to Kharkiv and teams volunteering in the occupied territories where humanitarian relief efforts are associated with increasingly lethal risks due to the repressive occupation regime.
Although Ukraine TrustChain had to reduce Oleksandr’s funding by about 20%, he continues to stay connected and support multiple volunteer teams across Ukraine:
“Angelia” mobile clinic helped 50 people in the Kyiv region and then traveled to Kharkiv, providing medical services to 111 people. This time the medical team was extended and included an ENT, a physical therapist, a gynecologist, a dentist, a cardiologist, a psychiatrist, and a mobile lab that could process tests, as well as conduct ultrasounds and cardiograms.
Vladislav’s team continued to deliver 38.5 tons of drinking water into Mykolayiv.
Sandra feeds people with refugee registrations arriving at Odesa’s railroad station.
Teams in Lutsk in the west of the country are working on bringing in aid from European countries. Some of this aid was moved to refugee families in Vinnitsa, substantial delivery of medical equipment is expected next week - as one of the volunteers is already returning with this equipment from Stuttgart.
UTC continues to support communities in the occupied territories in Kherson and Nova Kahovka regions.
Tetiana learned from one of the people signed up for aid that she was living in a repurposed summer camp along with dozens of other women, children and elderly. People in the camp do not have heat and have to stand in line to cook food. This week, Tetiana’s team went to the camp to distribute food and some of the basic supplies needed there.
Update on Chernihiv Schools
This week, Olga Chizhova’s group put the finishing touches on the Kolychivka School, one of the schools in Chernihiv which UTC helped to make operable for in-person learning. A direct missile flight to the principal’s office at the school tore off the roof and broke the windows. More than 250 villagers had been hiding from bombing in the school basement. Now, having added chairs and lights to the bomb shelter, along with installed bio toilets and sinks, lighting, and water supply, Olga’s group has provided the chance for roughly 170 students from dozens of villages to resume learning. The children started offline learning this week and, thankfully, so far there have been no air raid sirens. We hope the children can continue learning upstairs.
How to Help
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