Themes by tag: casualties

On February 26, 2022, Vasyl Vyrozub, the abbot of the Odesa Holy Trinity Church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, was captured by the enemy. He was among those who went to Snake Island to collect the bodies of the border guards, who were still considered dead at that time.

The Ukrainian ship that Vasyl was traveling on was captured by the russian cruiser “Moskva.” The man, along with two other military chaplains and a doctor, was captured by the russians. Vasyl’s captivity lasted 70 days, during which he was tortured. The russians interrogated the Ukrainians constantly: they could not understand why the crew had set out to collect the bodies of the border guards. The captives were forced to sing the national anthem of the aggressor country, stand on their knees, and were kept in solitary confinement.

After being captured, Vasyl received the Memory of Nations award from the Czech non-profit organization Post Bellum, the main purpose of which is to honor living witnesses of historical events: war veterans, political prisoners.

For reference: The fighting for Snake Island began on February 24, 2022, when russian invaders captured the island. At first all 13 Ukrainian border guards who had been protecting the island were considered to have been killed. Subsequently, the Border Service of Ukraine reported that the Snake island defenders may be in captivity.

On July 4, 2022, Snake Island returned under Ukraine’s control. 

• casualties
• prisoners
• religion
• russian crimes

On December 8, the audiovisual exhibition “Voices of De-Occupation” will be opened in Kyiv. In addition, the results of the project “Brave to Document-2” will be presented there. The event is organized by the charitable organization “Brave Foundation” with the support of the Prague Civil Society Centre.

The audiovisual exhibition will tell the stories of people from Chernihiv and Kharkiv regions whose homes were destroyed or damaged due to the russian occupation and russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The exhibition will present the stories of 23 owners of damaged houses both in audio recording and text forms featuring photographs.

The participants of the event will include:

– Vitaliy Selyk, Director of the “Brave” foundation,

– a representative of the Prague Civil Society Centre (TBC),

– Yevheniia Papatsenko, representative of the Brave to Restore branch in Kharkiv region,

– Alina Krupianyk, “Brave to Document-2” Project Manager,

– Liudmyla Petrukhan-Shcherbakova, “Dare to Document-2” Project Manager.

The event requires registration.

• casualties
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Since the beginning russia’s full-scale invasion, the World Central Kitchen team has been working in various cities of Ukraine. Currently, they cook food for people in Kharkiv oblast (in particular, Vovchansk and Kupyansk districts), Chernihiv oblast, Sumy oblast, Kramatorsk, Kherson, Kyiv oblast (Irpin, Bucha, Hostomel, Horenka), Lviv shelters, etc. Despite the danger, the team works in front-line towns: they provide hot meals (the menu is developed by chefs) and food kits.

By prior agreement, journalists are welcome to cover how the team works.

For reference: World Central Kitchen is a non-profit non-governmental organization that provides food to victims of natural disasters and other types of disasters. WCK was founded in 2010 by celebrity chef Jose Andres, who along with his team cooked after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

• casualties
• food
• volunteers

Oleh Bykov is a volunteer and activist from Kremenchuk, Poltava region. With the beginning of the full-scale war, Oleh started looking into how to make it easier for medics to work with projectile fragments that remain in the bodies of wounded soldiers after being injured. Oleh’s team managed to create magnetic devices, which they named “Edelweiss” and “White Angel.” These are special devices that help doctors detect metal fragments in the wounded and safely remove them.

Oleg and his team can produce up to 50 magnetic devices in a week. More than 800 devices have already been delivered to hospitals and front lines by volunteers. “Edelweiss” and “White Angel” are used in many medical institutions of Ukraine, in particular, in Kyiv Hear Institute and O. O. Shalimov National Institute of Surgery and Transplantology in Kyiv.

• casualties
• doctors
• military
• volunteers
• Poltava

The news media representatives are welcome to attend the all-Ukrainian prosthetics training, which will take place at the Nezlamni Center in Lviv on December 6. The attendees will have an opportunity to film the process behind fabricating prostheses made by foreign specialists and interview them about their willingness to help Ukraine and the challenges our country faces in the field of prosthetics.

In order to train new specialists in prosthetics education and raise the overall level of those already working, the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center has launched a country-wide training program. Foreign specialists will visit Lviv to share their knowledge with prosthetists from all over Ukraine.

On December 4-7, the training will be conducted by specialists from Fillauer LLC, one of the world’s leading orthopedics and prosthetics companies. Participants from Kyiv, Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odesa, Poltava, Zhytomyr, and Zaporizhia came to Lviv for the training. These are prosthetists ranging from 3 months to 23 years of experience. 

During the workshop, special attention is paid to the manufacturing process of upper-limb prosthetics. After all, one of the main tasks for prosthetists is to determine the optimal functional purpose of artificial hands in cooperation with doctors.

Three patients of the Center have already been measured, and got their artificial limbs being made for them, within the training framework. At the end of the four-day workshop, these patients will be fitted with prostheses.

For reference: This year, 15 thousand prostheses have been fitted in Ukraine at the expense of the state alone, and experts assume that at least as many have been fitted at charity. However, while the number of fitted lower limb prostheses is measured in thousands, the number of upper limb prostheses is in the hundreds. At the same time, 30% of amputations today are of the hands. There are very few specialists who know how to “install hands”, so patients have to wait six months or more for a new limb.

• casualties
• doctors
• Lviv

On December 9, the Brave to Rebuild project volunteers will visit the owners of the houses they helped to restore (in particular by clearing the rubble, repairing damaged houses, and laying communications) in the Kyiv region.

The Brave Little Santas initiative will be taken at Irpin, Bucha, Horenka, and Hostomel to pay a visit to about two dozen families.

Volunteers have already bought gifts. These include, for example, power banks, blankets, shoes, and much more.

By prior arrangement, journalists are able to cover the “Brave Little Santas” visits. 

For reference: This year, Ukraine celebrates St. Nicholas Day for the first time according to the Revised Julian calendar on December 6.

• casualties
• reconstruction
• volunteers
• Kyiv

A 54-year-old Yevhen Tkachov has been evacuating people from the frontline cities and towns of Donetsk Oblast for more than 9 years. In particular, after February 24, 2022, Yevhen traveled to Bakhmut, Siversk, and Soledar. The man also delivers humanitarian aid to people in hot spots. He also takes care of animals, as he is a veterinary specialist. 

A few years before the full-blown war, he founded a hospice for older adults in Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region. This hospice care was destroyed by the invaders at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Patients had to be placed in the Khmelnytskyi region. The hospice for the elderly seniors is supported by Yevhen’s family, including his son.

• animals
• casualties
• volunteers
• evacuation

The Save Ukraine charitable organization and its partners have installed modular houses as part of the Fort Home project for people displaced from their homes by war. The modular housing is available in Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Chernivtsi regions. Currently, 117 Ukrainian families have settled in the modular homes.

Despite their small size (20 square meters), these modular homes are of good quality and have all the necessary living conditions for families to feel comfortable and cozy. These are dwellings with water supply, heating systems, a generator/air conditioner, a fully equipped kitchen, and household appliances. Housing is provided free of charge and for a long-term period. The residents receive monthly humanitarian and medical assistance.

Journalists can learn more about the Fort Home project and talk to the residents of the modular homes, whenever possible. 

• casualties
• volunteers
• Kyiv

Denys Abdulin is a boxer and soldier from Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region. Back in 2014, when a Russian-launched armed conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine, the man wanted to join the Defense Forces but got rejected four times.

When the full-fledged war broke out, Denys evacuated his wife and children to Lithuania and went to the military enlistment office. The soldier underwent training and within three weeks he headed to defend Sievierodonetsk. The soldier fought with the occupiers for two months, until a mine fragment hit him in the head during one of the artillery attacks. Denys underwent 5 surgeries, however, vision loss couldn’t be corrected. The man gains support from his wife Lesia and volunteers who are teaching Denys how to use the phone and computer again. Today, Denys has returned to boxing and wants to become a professional massage therapist.

• casualties
• military

The official opening of the learning ‘mini hub’ in the liberated Rudnytske village in Kyiv Oblast will be held On November 30. The settlement was severely damaged during the occupation of the region in the spring of 2022: private houses were utterly destroyed, and the school and other infrastructure facilities were smashed up. The children, eventually, had no place to study, attend after-school clubs, or just get together.

Thanks to the grant and philanthropists, we managed to create a hub where teachers can give lectures, the youth can organize their leisure time, and children can stay online to do their homework in case the power is out.

Event prior accreditation is required.

For reference: The learning ‘mini hub’ in Rudnytske in the Kyiv region, was created by the MHP-Gromadi Foundation with the support of ISAR Ednannia as part of the Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity project.

• casualties
• children
• occupation
• reconstruction
• Kyiv