October 3rd, 2024
64,869 people evacuated from danger to date
143 people evacuated from danger this week
43 trips into deoccupied and frontline territories this week
This week we focus on just one story — an incident that happened last Saturday. This event touched on many key aspects of Ukraine TrustChain's work, so we thought it would be fitting to tell the story in full, from various perspectives.
Last July, Ukraine TrustChain’s founder Daniil traveled to Ukraine. He invited documentary filmmaker, Ryan Van Ert, to join him. Together, they traveled from Odesa to Kharkiv, connecting with several Ukraine TrustChain teams.
Intrigued by everything he had seen, Ryan began working on a new documentary. He recently returned to Ukraine to revisit locations from his previous trip, and document the changes that had taken place since July.
While in Dnipro, Ryan arranged to join an evacuation trip with Dobra sprava, a team that has been evacuating thousands from dangerous towns in the Donbas. Expecting a regular evacuation, Dobra sprava volunteers Sasha and Slava headed to the towns of Selydove, Kurakhove, and Hirnyk (about 50 km West of Donetsk) bringing Ryan along.
This was one of almost 20 trips Dobra sprava takes each week. However, unbeknownst to the team, the night before their mission, Russian forces had broken through Ukrainian defenses and advanced on a key road South of Selydove, turning the surrounding area into a “gray zone,” or in simpler terms, a trap into which the team was about to drive.
Around 1:00 PM, Daniil received a message from Timur, a volunteer based in Kharkiv. It said: "Ryan has disappeared. Have you heard anything from him?"
At first, this seemed too strange to be true, but a few messages to Dnipro confirmed that something had indeed happened. Daniil reached out to Ihor, the leader of the Dobra sprava volunteer team involved in the evacuation. By 2:00 PM, Daniil received a response, "They were found alive. I am driving toward Pokrovsk now."
Ihor had initially gone on an evacuation trip to another part of the Donbas, but after hearing about the situation, Ryan, Sasha, and Slava became his main concern. His last contact with them had been in the morning. The original assumption that the team’s car had simply broken down in an area with poor cell reception was becoming less likely with each passing hour. For the next nine, frantic hours, Ihor searched for the missing volunteers.
Approaching Pokrovsk, Ihor received a text from the team’s co-founder Alina: “Is this our bus?” Attached was a drone video of a destroyed bus.
Then confirmation arrived. The bus was indeed Dobra sprava's. A Ukrainian reconnaisance drone had spotted it in the new gray zone South of Selydove. What had happened to Ryan, Sasha, and Slava remained uncertain. Ihor passed Pokrovsk and continued toward the front line.
As it grew dark, Ihor parked on the side of the road, considering spending the night there. Just then, a Ukrainian tank appeared. A tank crew member screamed at Ihor that staying where he was with a warm car engine was a likely death sentence due to Russian night vision drones. Heeding the warning, Ihor turned back and drove to Sloviansk.
On the way, at last, he received a text message from Slava, who had finally returned to an area with cell reception. Although it was past curfew, Ihor jumped in his car and drove back to the pickup point.
We learned later that Sasha and Slava’s plan was to drive to Hirnyk and evacuate four elderly people, who had finally agreed to leave the area, after their homes were nearly leveled. Ryan came along to document the harsh realities of civilian life on Ukraine's front line.
As the team drove past Pokrovsk into a perilous area, they found their route blocked by a burnt-out truck and an armored vehicle on a bridge. Although it looked like these vehicles had been hit just the night before, these obstacle are not uncommon. After a brief discussion, the team decided to continue, taking a detour South.
Minutes after starting on the detour, Slava and the team heard the whistle of incoming mortar fire. The second shell exploded, blowing out the van's windows. Slava, the most experienced driver, ordered everyone to get out of the car and scatter.
Sasha dove into thorn bushes. Slava jumped into a deep crater left by an earlier explosion. Ryan accidentally ran toward enemy positions and then dropped into a heap of leaves, covering himself with sticks and dirt. Each man stayed put, thinking they might be the only surviving member of the group. There was more shelling, and Ryan lost his hearing for a few minutes. An explosive drone finished off the minivan. Then, everything went quiet, except for the mosquitos and drones buzzing above, and distant explosions all around.
Miraculously, all three team member chose the same plan of action. They knew they couldn't reveal themselves — the FPV drones would kill them on the spot. So all stayed hidden until twilight, when daytime drones are retired and night vision drones are not yet deployed. In the fading light, each of the three volunteers emerged out of hiding and began to crawl West, where the sun had set behind the horizon.
Eventually, Ryan stumbled upon Slava and Sasha, who had found each other earlier. Together, the three crawled and walked, avoiding anything moving on the road. They passed through abandoned trenches and minefields with warning signs. Finally, they found themselves surrounded by Ukrainian soldiers who greeted them, offered water, and took them in.
An hour later, an armored vehicle brought the volunteers to Pokrovsk, where they reunited with Ihor, embracing him with relief. Ihor recalls it as one of the strongest embraces in his memory.
At 4:00 AM that night, the team returned to Dnipro. Ryan allowed us to share a text he sent while processing his experience:
It's funny. I thought a lot about my comment to you. I was joking about life being futile. But all I could do [while I was hiding] was look up and stare at the leaves. For hours. This one — close to me — I could see the little veins in it. So delicate out there in the middle of this war. And it gave me the resolve to live. And a real appreciation for life.
Although Ryan’s phone and most of his equipment burned up in the vehicle, he managed to hold onto a camera and captured this experience on film.
(Last week, Dobra sprava took 16 trips, evacuating 135 civilians. Ukraine TrustChain teams made 43 trips to high-risk areas in the Kherson, Kharkiv, and Donetsk regions.)
Help in Occupied Territories
70 packages were distributed in occupied territories.
Team Summaries
Alina’s Team – Dobra sprava (Good Deeds)
16 trips and 135 people evacuated.
Inna’s Team – Krok z nadiyeyu (Step with Hope)
23.3 tons delivered to 8,650 people.
Deliveries took place in 4 regions and 40 cities, including high-risk areas, such as Kherson, Beryslav, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, Kostyantynivka, Mykolaivka, Izyum, Balakliya, and Nikopol.
6,500 people received bread.
Kherson operations: exterminations in 26 buildings and disinfection in 1 building.
Kryvyi Rih team delivered aid to the deadly zones around Beryslav, Shliahove and Novy Beryslav.
Oleksandr D’s Volunteer Networks
Oleksandr S (Boyarka): Oleksandr’s volunteers Andriy V and Maksym M delivered 2 tons of aid to Velyka Rybytsya and Vorozhba in the Sumy Region. Aid included 2 tons of food sets for those who have not left the villages, as well as hygiene, toys, and literature for large families.
Vladyslav K (Mykolaiv): delivered 35 tons of drinking water to Mykolaiv and 7 tons to Kherson.
Andiy P (Mykolaiv): Pavel B’s volunteers in Zaporizhzhia continue to distribute food kits and clothes, which were brought last week by Andriy’s truck. The aid is being distributed among internally displaced people (IDPs) from the Orikhiv Territorial Community.
Sandra S (Odesa): kitchen fed more than 600 people.
Yuri S (Vinnytsia): took 1 person to an agency to fill out documents and 1 person to hospice.
Vitaliy Z (Kharkiv): delivered 4 tons of humanitarian kits, clothing, medicines, and animal feed to Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk District. Despite constant shelling and destruction, people remain here, staying in basements and with neighbors, because they feel that they have nowhere else to go. Delivered 2.5 tons of clothes, wheelchairs and walkers for the elderly and disabled to Vil'khuvatka (Izyum District, Kharkiv Region). Delivered 2 tons of aid to Kostyantynivka.
Oleksandr D (Lutsk): Took 1 pallet of muesli, cereal, and baby food brought from Germany last week to Dnipro’s Krok z nadiyeyu (Inna’s) team. Preparing to support communities in the East and South through the heating season.
Oksana K (Lutsk): Sent 400-500 kg worth of packages with adult diapers and food for disabled children living in an orphanage in Znamianka (Kirovohrad Region).
Oleksandr Z (Lutsk): provided therapeutic interventions and aid for IDP children and adults, children with disabilities, and children from military families and from large families.
Held 2 art therapy sessions, working with a total of 84 children. One session also included a meeting with a soldier, and the father of an autistic girl.
Visited a museum with 67 IDPs, adults and children.
Helped 74 elderly people with clothes and shoes.
Helped 230 IDPs and 60 children and young adult students with bread and other food.
Provided 76 physical therapy and wellness sessions for IDPs, as well as other persons suffering from stress.
Kseniia’s Team – Livyy bereh (Left Bank)
Darya delivered aid to 71 families in 5 frontline villages near Kupyansk.
Karina’s Team — My ryatuyemo Ukrayinu (We Save Ukraine)
155 people staying in the shelter.
Tetiana’s Team — Dopomoha poruch (Help Is Near)
Distributed 250 aid packages in the village of Odnorobivka, Kharkiv Region.
Timur’s Team — Komanda Teymura Alyeva (Timur Alyev’s Team)
Distributed aid to 274 people in Saltivka, Kharkiv.
Evacuated 8 people from the village of Podoly.
Special diaper delivers to 18 elderly with disabilities and 31 babies.
Pavel and Olena’s Teams — Dotyk sertsya (Touch of Heart) & Svitanok mriy (Dawn of Dreams)
250 families received aid in Prybuzke.
1.5 tons of water delivered to Novohryhorivka.
Restarted art therapy classes for kids in Mykolaiv.
Pomahaem Foundation (We Help Foundation)
348 packages delivered to Mar’ivka, Novotroits'ke and Zhovta Krucha near Zaporizhzhia.
24.5 tons of water delivered to Nikopol.
4 trips, vetting 163 people to receive cash aid in Vysuns’k, Kherson Region, and Dobropillya, near Pokrovsk.
Marina’s Team — Daruy dobro Ukrayina (Give Good Ukraine)
150 food and hygiene packages were distributed among displaced families in Piatyhatky.
Dina’s Team — Vilʹni lyudy, vilʹna krayina (Free People, Free Country)
Distributed 365 packages in Kremenchuk, Poltava, Kanev, and Krasnokutsk.
Serhiy T traveled to Yaremivka, delivering aid to the 118 people who remain there.
Bohdan’s Team — Vse robymo sami (We Do Everything Ourselves)
42 families received food and hygiene kits in Zhytomyr.
Children at a club for kids with disabilities had a pizza making party. During a weekly psychological relief game, children talked about joy, a topic that turned out to be very difficult for them in this time.
Alena’s Team — Diva (Virgo)
Liza and Katya helped 5 wounded in Odesa hospitals.
How to Help
Donate — The money goes directly to teams providing aid on the ground, who respond dynamically to the most urgent needs.
Fundraise — Organize fundraisers at your school, work, place of worship, with friends and family, etc.
Spread the word — Share our website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn with your friends, family, and colleagues.
Fill out this form if you’re interested in volunteering with us, and we’ll let you know when opportunities come up.
Download and print our flyer. Ask your local coffee shop if you can add it to the bulletin, or use it as part of your fundraiser.