Themes by tag: casualties

On November 2-3, in partnership with the UNDP, Frida Ukraine will dispatch a team of medical volunteers to a community in the Kharkiv region, delivering crucial medical assistance. This mission will also include a dedicated dental team, supported by the Serhiy Prytula Charitable Foundation, aimed at providing specialized care for residents.

Frida Ukraine plans to offer regular medical consultations, alongside dental services facilitated through the Serhiy Prytula Foundation, with Vladislava Romaniuk leading the medical team. 

Details about the mission’s location will be shared following accreditation.

For reference: This mission is part of the UNDP’s “Comprehensive Medical and Psychological Support with Improved Referral System” project, designed to assist communities impacted by explosive hazards. The project includes mobile hospitals providing healthcare and psychological aid, aiming to reach 15,000-20,000 residents by year’s end.

Frida Ukraine, a non-profit organization of volunteer doctors from Ukraine and Israel, has been offering emergency and outpatient care to civilians affected by the conflict since the invasion’s onset.

• casualties
• doctors
• volunteers
• Kharkiv

Daria Bondar, once a lawyer, and Olena Tkach, a former translator and communicator, left their established careers to train in the USA as end-of-life doulas, offering support to individuals in their final days. Their goal was to ease the dying process and provide comfort to families. Yet in Ukraine, they found a different need—helping those grieving war-related losses.

Today, Daria supports people grappling with various forms of loss due to the conflict: homes, pets, marriages, identities, and even the joy of life. Olena works directly with those mourning loved ones lost in war, as well as the families of missing persons and prisoners of war.

Doulas, they emphasize, are not psychologists or medical professionals; they do not treat but offer compassion and companionship. Their sessions, lasting up to two hours, can be held online or in person when possible.

Daria is based in the Kyiv region, while Olena lives in the capital. Both are available for interviews with journalists, in person or online, by prior arrangement.

For reference: “Doula” comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “maid.” Traditionally assisting women in childbirth, the term evolved in the 2000s in the U.S. to include professionals offering end-of-life companionship. 

• casualties
• women
• Kyiv

After two years in enemy captivity, 33-year-old Vadym Nesterenko returned home bearing both physical and psychological scars. Having served with Ukraine’s Defense Forces since 2011, Vadym began his military career with the Izmail Border Guard and later joined the 35th Separate Marine Brigade. When russia launched its full-scale invasion, Vadym found himself on Snake Island, where he and his fellow soldiers were ultimately captured.

During his two years and three months in captivity, Vadym endured harrowing conditions. He faced relentless torture, including gassing, electric shocks, and beatings that left him with broken bones and missing teeth. By the time of his release on May 31, 2024, Vadym weighed just 59 kilograms.

Following his return, Vadym underwent rehabilitation at a center in the Lviv region, working tirelessly over three months to regain his health and rebuild some of his lost weight. Now focused on recovery and future goals, he hopes to return to service and fulfill his dream of visiting Paris.

Vadym is currently in Lviv and will travel to Odesa on November 4. He is available for interviews with journalists, either in person or online, with prior arrangement.

• casualties
• military
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• Lviv
• Odesa

The charitable foundation “Volunteer Association ‘Poruch'” was founded by a couple from Avdiivka (a city in Donetsk, now destroyed and occupied by russians). Before the full-scale invasion, Rusana and Bohdan were not involved in charity work, but the war changed their lives. At first, they began helping elderly people and abandoned animals near the front lines. Soon they managed to form a team of like-minded people and establish a charitable foundation.

Today, most of the members of the “Volunteer Association ‘Poruch'” are displaced persons from the war zone or from the territories occupied by russia. Among other initiatives, Rusana and Bohdan create safe spaces for children near the front lines. These spaces offer children a place to study, engage in creative activities, and receive psychological support from specialists.

One of these spaces was created by the “Poruch” team in a modular city in Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk oblast. The team renovated one of the modules, repaired the roof, and brought in furniture, school supplies, art materials, and qualified teachers. Since August 2024, 47 children have been attending this space on a regular basis. The team has set up similar spaces for children in Izium and Kramatorsk.

• casualties
• children
• occupation
• volunteers
• Dnipro

Yuriy Vetkin, 57, is a veteran, screenwriter, and former major in Ukraine’s military. With a background as a psychologist, he served in the State Special Transport Service until 2008. In 2015, he returned to active duty as a deputy battalion commander in the 95th Air Assault Brigade and, after russia’s full-scale invasion, joined the defense of his hometown, Chernihiv, with the 1st Siverskyi Tank Brigade. On March 5, 2022, Yuriy lost a leg in an enemy shelling.

Alongside his military service, Yuriy has developed a career as a screenwriter and blogger. His screenplays have received recognition in national competitions, and in 2016, his short film Interview premiered at Cannes in the Short Film Corner, later winning awards in Portugal and Saudi Arabia.

Yuriy also contributes to The Veterans’ Theater project by TRO Media, where his plays Phantom, Explosion, and Hospital Rhapsody were staged at the Festival of First Plays. He also wrote Turn to Irpin for a paper theater production, in which he performed his own role.

Now, Yuriy is working to establish a Veterans’ Theater in Chernihiv, based at the Chernihiv Veterans’ Space ‘Sercevir’. His goal is to create a space where veterans and their families can perform with professional actors, focusing on psychological recovery, re-socialization, and creative fulfillment.

Journalists interested in Yuriy’s story can connect with him in Chernihiv or through virtual interviews.

• casualties
• culture
• military
• Chernihiv

Rita is from the town of Avdiivka, Donetsk oblast (13 kilometers from Donetsk, now occupied). In 2015, 11-year-old Rita lived there without her parents, only with her grandmother. Their house was located in one of the most dangerous parts of the city. Rita had to attend school under constant russian shelling. Rita was one of the first children that Olena Rozvadovska, co-founder of the Voices of Children charitable foundation, met while helping children in eastern Ukraine. Since then, Olena, Rita and her grandmother have remained friends.

After the outbreak of the full-scale war, Rita and her grandmother moved to the west of the country. There, Rita worked at the Voices of Children charity center, helping children affected by the war. 

Later, Rita moved to the Kyiv region and got married. Her husband is now defending Ukraine. The Voices of Children foundation helped organize her wedding, and since Rita grew up without a father, one of the foundation’s employees walked her down the aisle. Rita is now expecting a child.

By prior arrangement, journalists can talk to Rita in the Kyiv region. (Footage of her wedding is also available).

Background: In February 2024, russian forces occupied the town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk oblast. Enemy shelling has left the settlement in ruins.

• casualties
• children
• occupation
• women
• Kyiv

On October 28-29, 2024, a press tour will take place in Mykolaiv Oblast, where volunteers of the international humanitarian project “Let’s Do It Ukraine SOS” will present renovated shelters in two educational institutions. These institutions were severely damaged by the floods caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam.

As part of the press tour, volunteers will also donate dehumidifiers, air purifiers and charging stations that work without electricity. These will be delivered to the facilities where repairs have already been completed. This equipment will help ensure healthy and comfortable conditions for learning and use of school shelters in the future.

Transportation for journalists from Kyiv and back will be arranged. Accreditation is required.

Background: The restoration work was carried out as part of the project to deal with the aftermath of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam explosion “Flood relief in Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts, assistance to households and social infrastructure facilities “Cleaning, disinfection, restoration and preparations for winter”,  with the assistance of AWO International and with the financial support of Aktion Deutschland Hilft. 

On June 6, 2023, the russian forces blew up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station in the Kherson region, causing almost 14 billion dollars of damage in Ukraine.  This is stated in the “Post Disaster Needs Assessment report of the Kakhovka Dam Disaster” prepared by the UN and the Ukrainian government.

• casualties
• ecology
• russian crimes
• volunteers
• Mykolaiv

On October 26-27, the Ukrainian-Israeli medical volunteer mission FRIDA will be in the Kherson region, offering local residents the chance to receive medical consultations and undergo necessary examinations. The volunteer medical team will include specialists such as a neurologist, ultrasound technician, gynecologist, dermatologist, psychologist, ophthalmologist, physical therapist, pediatrician, ENT doctor, vascular surgeon, dentist, and endocrinologist.

This visit is part of the project “Comprehensive Medical and Psychological Support with Improved Referral System for the Population of Explosive Hazard-Affected Communities in Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, and Kherson Oblasts.” The initiative, led by FRIDA Ukraine, is supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the “Transformational Recovery for Human Security in Ukraine” project, with financial backing from the Government of Japan.

Details about the visit’s location will be provided following accreditation.

For reference: FRIDA Ukraine is a non-governmental, non-profit charitable mission of volunteer doctors from Ukraine and Israel. Since the onset of the invasion, the organization has been offering emergency and outpatient medical care to civilians affected by the conflict. 

Their services include 

• outpatient appointments;
• medical care for orphanages and boarding schools;
• civilian evacuations;
• training of medical volunteers.

• casualties
• doctors
• volunteers

Before the full-scale invasion, Viacheslav Strazhets worked as a railway engineer and long-distance truck driver in European countries. On 25 February 2022 he joined the defense forces and became part of a separate machine-gun platoon of the Vinnytsia Angels rifle battalion, fighting on the Avdiivka front.

During one of his combat missions, Viacheslav was seriously wounded and lost his right arm. While in hospital, he wondered how he could help his fellow soldiers. So, during his rehabilitation, he took all the drone building courses he could find, ordered components and began assembling his first drone with his son and wife. The family spent a week building their first FPV drone: Viacheslav was still unable to hold a soldering iron with his prosthetic hand, so his wife took over.

Today, the veteran has fully mastered the use of his prosthetic arm and is adept with tools. He also received a grant from the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation to support the production of FPV drones, purchasing a 3D printer, controller and goggles to control the drones, while his 14-year-old son tests the drones before they are sent to the front lines.

• casualties
• military

Irpin, a city in Kyiv Oblast, has introduced a free demolition program for owners of private homes destroyed during the war. Launched by the Irpin City Council, the initiative is being executed by local utility services, which have already cleared dozens of plots for residents. This effort is designed to help homeowners begin reconstruction more quickly, while also reducing costs related to the initial cleanup.

The Irpin Housing and Utilities Department is using heavy machinery provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, including excavators, loaders, and crushers, to carry out the demolitions.

Journalists, with prior arrangement, are welcome to report on the demolition efforts underway in Irpin.

Background: During russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 1,130 private homes in Irpin were damaged, and 1,483 were completely destroyed.

• casualties
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• Kyiv