People kissed the bread and cried.

Olga Chizhova who spearheaded the effort to repair schools in Chernihiv continued to distribute supplies, delivery of which was sponsored by UTC. School supplies remain a critical need in multiple parts of the country and we continue to look for partners and ways to provide help to the schoolchildren, especially in refugee families in central Ukraine.

For all of us who follow events in Ukraine, it was hard not to feel hopeful last week, not to rejoice seeing the success of the Ukrainian army, nurturing our hope for the future of Ukraine, for victory over the aggressor's armies. But despite this reassuring news, Russian rockets and shells continued to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure, making Ukrainians relying on our help even more vulnerable to diseases, cold and economic instability. We continue to track the situation closely and hope that in the upcoming weeks, our teams will as usual find a way to push help to the liberated territories like they did in the Kyiv region. This however will require additional resources and as Ukraine liberates more area we continue to expect a steady increase in needs on the ground. Meanwhile alongside the drive to victory, other smaller stories continue to emerge from our conversations with our teams.

Timur’s team has braved intense fighting to make it to the villages in the "gray" zone, close to the front lines. Bezryki and Pechenigi were added to our regular distribution points in Tishki and Tsirkunovi. At both locations, 580 packages of aid were distributed, in addition to 300 other packages. Additionally, Timur’s team delivered 100 packages of aid to the children's hospital in the Kharkiv region. Timur’s team completed 10 relatively short-distance evacuations as, with the approaching cold, some residents are giving up on spending the winter at their homes after months of shelling.

Thanks to your generous support of Ukraine TrustChain’s fundraiser for school supplies for first graders, Dina’s nonprofit organization Vilny Liudy – Vilna Krayina was able to purchase enough items to send 229 displaced first graders to school. Below, you can see the distribution of school supplies for some of these children and the eagerness on their faces.

We are writing on Tuesday night, as Ukraine begins the celebration of the 31st Independence Day Festival. Though in the last 31 years, Ukraine has seen many momentous events, this year Independence Day bears unprecedented significance. Every minute of it vibrates with fresh memories of the enormous sacrifices people of Ukraine made defending Ukraine’s independence against a monstrous and tyrannical enemy. For us Ukrainians the Ukrainian citizen volunteers have epitomized the vibrant spirit of the free Ukraine that will come out victorious in this terrible war.

Another project we support through Oleksandr Davydiuk that is near and dear to his heart is a charity “Star of Hope” (Zirka Nadiyi). This organization focuses on working with the children from refugee families in Lutsk. A refugee camp in Lutsk has housed more than 6,000 people over the last 5 months, and Oleksandr Zhalovaga pours his soul into helping kids cope with their difficult situations by providing art therapy, music therapy and field trips for children from the shelter.

Members of Ukraine TrustChain held an art booth to raise funds for Ukraine volunteers at the Evanston, IL, night market. Thank you to Oxana Fursenko for donating such beautiful artwork that UTC gave as gifts for donations as well as to Natasha Burylina who did face painting for kids at the event in support of volunteers in Ukraine.

Andriy and his heroic drivers personally put on the helmets and armor to deliver 1.5 tons of aid to Siversk – a city just miles away from the hottest battle zone of the last few weeks. Coming back from these trips Andriy evacuated 16 people. See the video below that reflects this heroic mission.

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Timur delivers aid to villages on the outskirts of Kharkiv. Other organizations do not enter these danger zones, but people here live under constant shelling.

After a missile strike in Odesa, our team was able to enter and identify people that need help. UTC-funded volunteers, in coordination with other aid groups, are planning a larger push of aid to Serhiivka - the site of the latest terrorist attack in the Odesa region.

One of the teams that we are connected to through Oleksandr Davydiuk is actively working to maintain the supply of drinking water to the inhabitants of the city of Mykolaiv.

During the Russian occupation, 60-80 people were hiding in the basement of this school. The day that Kseniia and the rebuilding crew arrived, villagers came to welcome them, bringing the volunteers gifts and offering food. Installing a new school roof became a community-wide effort that reflected the power of mobilizing local and grassroots efforts to achieve results.

With almost no supplies but some balls, mops, sticks, and hoola hoops, these children re-experienced joy and childhood that was taken from them nearly four months ago.

“Last week I returned to Ukraine to connect in person with our volunteers. I will remember this experience for the rest of my life as one of the brightest and most meaningful moments despite the terrible backdrop of this unjust war.”

Ukraine TrustChain’s founder Daniil is now in Kyiv meeting with volunteer teams and helping with aid distribution efforts. Follow his journey home and his meetings for the first time with our trusted volunteers on our social media.

From time to time, Olena Shulha writes down her stories and thoughts about the evacuation missions her team lived through. We are including a translated portion from this chronicle here.

Despite ongoing fuel shortages, teams that we fund evacuated 1,452 people last week from the embattled Northern Donbas region, from Bakhmut, Lysychansk and the surrounding areas. Every evacuee had been staying in place in impossible conditions for three months until now. It is heartbreaking that circumstances have finally forced them to evacuate

This week, gas shortages in Ukraine became more severe. Volunteer teams waited in multi-hour lines at gas stations, and resorted to desperate tactics to fuel cars for the evacuations and aid deliveries. Some teams designated resupply vehicles that deliver fuel to caravans on the move; others get gas donations from friends, siphoning gas from their cars. Gas prices are projected to rise after the gas supply is stabilized.