Themes by tag: Kharkiv

At the end of July, a temporary shelter was opened in Kharkiv for representatives of low mobility groups and people with disabilities who are being evacuated from frontline communities. They, for example, take care of bedridden people, people in wheelchairs or on crutches. The shelter is designed for 30 people. One can stay there for up to three weeks. But, if necessary, the period of stay can be extended.

For reference: This shelter has been created as a result of a joint initiative of Vostok SOS Charitable Foundation and Volunteer-68 Center for Humanitarian Aid.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, representatives of “Volunteer-68” have been taking care of people with disabilities and physical disorders. Among other things, volunteers take people out of shelled areas and provide humanitarian aid.

• casualties
• volunteers
• Kharkiv
• evacuation

Niels is a firefighter in Germany.  Back in the spring of 2022, he arrived in Kharkiv to help assist. Later, he performed tasks with rescuers in the Donetsk region: he eliminated the consequences of enemy shelling, extinguished fires, and cleared rubble. The rescuer also worked in the Kherson region in the first days after the Kakhovka dam collapse. 

During this time, the volunteer rescuer went home for only a few months.  And recently, he got back to the Kharkiv region again.

• volunteers
• Kharkiv

In a training center in Kharkiv region, dogs are being trained to help to demine the Ukrainian lands. The project was launched by Anti-Terrorist Operation veteran and professional dog trainer Serhii Lukinov last November. The Ukrainian Veterans Fund helped with the funding. Currently, 5 German shepherds are being trained at the center. All of them are less than a year old. They are being taught to look for explosives.

For reference: Serhii has been working as a dog trainer for 37 years. In particular, in 2021, a man trained guide dogs. However, during russia’s full-scale invasion, Serhii once again volunteered to defend the country. The man is currently undergoing rehabilitation.

• animals
• military
• Kharkiv

Before the start of the full-scale invasion, the company of Kharkiv-based Ihor Yefimenko was doing car repairs. After February 24, 2022, his team reformatted and began manufacturing level 5 body armor for the military. When a relative of Ihor Yefimenko lost his toes due to a mine explosion, the entrepreneur realized that his team should also develop protection for sappers and EOD experts. They took the Canadian model as a basis, adapted it to the needs of the Ukrainian military and rescuers, and began production. The weight of each boot is 4 kilograms, and the team uses 3D printers to manufacture the parts. Ihor Yefimenko explains that boots are not a magic cure, they will not be able to completely prevent injury, but they still allow those who use them to avoid traumatic amputation.

• military
• volunteers
• Kharkiv

FRIDA Ukraine, together with Polska Misja Medyczna, is launching a new project in the Kharkiv Oblast: mobile clinics will operate in the region. A team of doctors and healthcare workers will have patient appointments in different parts of the de-occupied Kharkiv region for 6 months.

The doctors have already undergone a series of training sessions to be qualified to examine local residents in any condition. In particular, a course was held by The HALO Trust, during which doctors were taught the rules of safe behavior in war conditions and told about the risks of handling explosive devices.

For reference: FRIDA Ukraine is a Ukrainian-Israeli mission of medical volunteers aimed at helping the civilian population.

• doctors
• volunteers
• Kharkiv

14-year-old Taisiia cannot fully engage in her favorite activity – drawing, because there is no bomb shelter in her art school. The institution is located in Saltivka (Kharkiv district, which suffered greatly as a result of russia’s full-scale invasion). The shelling even caused school windows to shatter. Currently, they are planning to auction off drawings, the money will be used to set up the bomb shelter.

The shelter will allow children to work offline and return to in-person communication.

After the victory, the students of the school plan to use the shelter as a gallery in the future.

• children
• russian crimes
• Kharkiv

The international organization “The Halo Trust” had been helping to demine the territory of Ukraine even before the start of the full-scale invasion. Currently, 800 Ukrainians are involved in mine clearing efforts in 5 regions: Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Kyiv and Chernihiv. “The Halo Trust” also works at the sites of flooding caused by the breach of the Kakhovka Dam. In the last eight weeks alone, sappers discovered more than 5,000 mines in Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions.

The international organization “The Halo Trust” surveys recently liberated Ukrainian lands, using the methodology tested in more than 30 countries of the world.

For reference: According to the State Emergency Service, 30% of the territory of Ukraine is mined. According to some assessments, it may take more than 10 years to clear the land.

• russian crimes
• Chernihiv
• Kharkiv
• Kyiv
• Mykolaiv
• Sumy
• demining

Journalists are invited to join the Volunteer Day at the environmentally responsible hot meal preparation and distribution center Dobra Kuchniya in Kharkiv on June 2. Each participant can volunteer at the soup kitchen and prepare meals for 800 Saltivka industrial district residents. 

Accreditation lasts until May 30, inclusive. Journalists from Kyiv will be provided with a transfer to and from Kharkiv.

For reference: Saltivka is a Kharkiv residential area to suffer the most from Russian shelling. More than half of the buildings there were damaged.

• food
• volunteers
• Kharkiv

The village where farmer Hennadii lives was under shelling for six months. In order to detect explosive objects in the fields where he grew wheat, the man decided to purchase a drone with a thermal imager. (Debris of rockets or mines are displayed in a thermal imager differently than, for example, the ground or vegetation). With the permission of the military, the farmer inspects the land and takes pictures to show the EOD.

In addition, the farmer’s lavender field was damaged due to russia’s full-scale invasion. About a third of the plants died. Now he and his wife are trying to restore it. Previously, tourists visited the lavender field and held photo shoots there.

As reported, Oleksandr, another farmer from Kharkiv region, rebuilt an ordinary tractor to demine his fields.

Important notice: taking pictures of mined fields can be dangerous.

• russian crimes
• Kharkiv

FRIDA Ukraine, a mission of Ukrainian-Israeli medical volunteers, continues to provide assistance to the civilian population affected by hostilities.

A total of 3 missions will take place on May 13-14. Two of them will take place in the de-occupied and front-line parts of Kharkiv and Kherson regions. A team of 20 doctors will provide quality medical care in regional communities for two days.

Also, another team of volunteer doctors will take outpatient appointments at the “Enjoying Life: Care” support center for displaced persons in Kyiv as part of the marathon organized jointly with “Enjoying Life” charitable foundation. It is the first time, FRIDA doctors will take appointments with temporarily displaced persons at such a scale.

Journalists are invited to accompany the team of medical volunteers during planned missions in Kharkiv or Kherson regions, or join the mission in Kyiv. There is also an opportunity to cover the activities of FRIDA Ukraine and conduct interviews with the team without traveling to hot spots.

Accreditation required.

• doctors
• volunteers
• Kharkiv
• Kherson
• Kyiv