Themes by tag: Kyiv

The charitable foundation savED, with support from Education Cannot Wait, has opened “Vulyk” (Beehive), a multifunctional educational hub in the village of Morozivka, Baryshivka community, Kyiv region, as part of the Multi-Year Resilience Programme 2024–2026 (MYRP).

The center hosts school lessons, creative workshops, STEM activities, reading and film clubs, as well as social-emotional learning sessions, and offers an open space for social interaction.

More than 250 students now have access to educational activities in a comfortable environment. Among them are six internally displaced children and five children with special educational needs. The center is also temporarily hosting preschool children, as the local kindergarten currently lacks heating, allowing younger children in the community to join activities at “Vulyk.”

Within the framework of the MYRP, supported by Education Cannot Wait, savED and the Kyiv School of Economics Foundation (KSE Foundation) are systematically supporting education in communities. In particular, savED renovated and equipped the “Vulyk” space at Morozivka Lyceum named after Denys Popovych, providing furniture, books, games, and supplies, and engaging tutors to coordinate activities.

In Morozivka, KSE Foundation also ensured student safety by equipping a shelter at the lyceum, allowing children to remain safe within the school during air raid alerts.

In total, 24 “Vulyk” education centers have been established across eight regions — Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Kherson, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions. These centers have created additional learning and recreational opportunities for more than 40,000 children and 12,000 teachers. They operate in de-occupied communities and regions where access to full-time education remains limited due to security risks, damaged infrastructure, and power outages.

Background: According to savED research, in 2025 only 41% of surveyed students in Ukraine regularly participated in extracurricular activities — a rate below average. Among the main barriers identified by educators are the lack of human and financial resources at the community level, as well as insufficient infrastructure. The study found that only 63% of schools have adequate space for clubs or sports activities. This is below the desired minimum, particularly in communities hosting internally displaced persons or facing infrastructure constraints. In the survey, 67% of children attending “Vulyk” centers said they had made new friends there, while more than 35% reported an improvement in their leisure time.

• children
• Kyiv

On March 26, volunteer doctors from FRIDA Ukraine will travel on a mission to a children’s home in the Kyiv region. The team includes around 20 medical professionals, including a pediatrician, neurologist, psychologist, urologist, and surgeon. The doctors regularly visit the facility and provide medical care to children.

On March 28–29, FRIDA Ukraine teams will travel to the Sumy and Kherson regions to deliver medical assistance to civilians.

By prior arrangement, journalists can cover the work of medical volunteers and conduct interviews with patients and doctors.

Background: FRIDA Ukraine’s medical volunteer missions are regular deployments of teams of doctors to frontline and remote communities across Ukraine. Each mission includes more than 20 specialists from various fields, including neurologists, surgeons, gynecologists, therapists, dermatologists, and others. During these visits, free medical consultations, check-ups, and tests are provided to local residents. The team has also recently introduced cancer screening services.

• doctors
• volunteers
• Kherson
• Kyiv
• Sumy

Dafna Sosnovska is the co-founder of the “Zavdyaky” project. The idea for the initiative emerged from her frustration with how Ukraine has commemorated those killed since the beginning of the russian-Ukrainian war in 2014. In 2023, she decided to take action, bringing together a team of like-minded people, and the project began to take shape.

“Zavdyaky” aims not only to honor those who died for Ukraine, but also to tell the stories of their lives, dreams, values, and contributions to the fight for freedom. Anyone can contribute to the project, as the team’s main priority is to preserve every memory of the fallen.

The platform combines a database, documentary films, and personal profiles that allow relatives, friends, fellow service members, and acquaintances to share their memories. The team is currently working on an ambitious goal to collect information on everyone who has been killed since 2014 and to create documentary films telling their stories.

Journalists can speak with Dafna Sosnovska and the project team both online and in person in Kyiv, by prior arrangement.

• dead
• military
• women
• Kyiv

On March 21–22, Kyiv will host the 20th AdoptMe Days pet adoption festival. The event is aimed at those looking to adopt a pet, learn more about responsible adoption, or simply spend the weekend in a meaningful way.

Visitors will meet healthy animals from nearly 60 shelters across the Kyiv region, all hoping to find a home.

Many shelters are operating at the limit of their capacity, especially after a difficult winter. Despite the challenges, they have continued rescuing and caring for animals, hoping that spring will bring their wards not only warmth, but also loving homes.

Over the past two years, AdoptMe Days has helped more than 2,170 animals from shelters find families.

• animals
• Kyiv

Media representatives are invited to cover the Final Four of the Ukrainian Amputee Football Cup. Journalists will have the opportunity to speak with representatives of the “League of the Mighty” project, players from the four finalist teams, their coaches, as well as match officials. The event will take place in Kyiv.

The teams reaching the final stage are Bartka, Vinnytsia AMP, Pokrova AMP, and Shakhtar Stalevi.

Media accreditation is required to attend the event.

Background: The “League of the Mighty” project was launched by the Ukrainian Association of Football in 2024 to engage people with limb amputations and limb impairments in the world’s most popular sport.

• casualties
• culture
• Kyiv

Olga is only 24. She is an otolaryngologist and has been participating in FRIDA Ukraine’s medical volunteer missions for two years. During her time as a volunteer, she has visited all regions where FRIDA operates, including trips to frontline areas and children’s homes.

Most often, the doctor encounters chronic sinusitis or hearing loss. And often these conditions become chronic not because people didn’t want to seek treatment, but because there was nowhere and no one to turn to.

Since the beginning of 2026, Olga has been going on missions every two weeks. The doctor has created her own little tradition that supports both her and her patients during the missions. She gives people fortune cookies and waits for them to unfold the paper and smile.

Once, a girl of about ten read her fortune: “The future of Ukraine is in your hands; remember that.” Olya told her: “Child, remember this—it’s true.”

The hardest thing for Olya is dealing with people who have survived the horrors of the occupation. They speak about it calmly, but the doctor herself has to hold back her tears.

By prior arrangement, journalists can speak with Olga in Kyiv.

For reference: The “FRIDA Ukraine” medical volunteer missions consist of regular trips by a team of doctors to frontline and remote communities in Ukraine. Each mission includes over 20 specialists in various fields: neurologists, surgeons, gynecologists, internists, dermatologists, and others. During these trips, free appointments, consultations, and tests are provided for local residents. Recently, the team has also begun conducting cancer screenings—early diagnosis of oncological diseases—to help detect illnesses in their initial stages.

• doctors
• volunteers
• Kyiv

Participants: 

– Alina Frolova, co-founder of Media Center Ukraine, Deputy Chair of the Board of the Center for Defense Strategies;

– Otar Dovzhenko, Ukrainian journalist and media critic. Creative Director of the Lviv Media Forum, Chair of the Independent Media Council. Co-editor of the “DovgyiPes” media newsletter. Book editor;

– Ihor Solovey, Head of the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

Topics for discussion: 

– Ukraine’s experience in countering Russian disinformation; 

– Key takeaways from the book and benefits for the international community

• culture
• Kyiv

Daria Ulman is the wife of soldier Kirill Ulman, who was killed on February 15, 2024. At the start of the full-scale invasion, her husband joined the ranks of the Territorial Community Volunteer Unit in Dnipro, which was formed by veterans of the 12th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine “Azov.” In December 2022, he joined the Third Separate Assault Brigade as part of an anti-tank battalion. Kirill was killed by a sniper’s bullet.

Daria says her husband was passionate about military affairs. After his death, she regretted not having started training alongside Kirill. Over the course of a year, Daria completed six courses and underwent two full training programs. She later founded her own community dedicated to military training for women. She named it Community Ulman in honor of her fallen loved one.

Over 80 women have already completed the training, and thanks to the project, 115,000 hryvnias were donated to Kirill’s comrades-in-arms.

Journalists will have the opportunity to cover the training on March 22.

Media can arrange interviews with Daria Ulman both online and in person in Kyiv by prior arrangement.

• dead
• military
• women
• Kyiv

Since the beginning of last school year, schoolchildren in the village of Bohdanivka, Kyiv oblast, have been able to study in a modular Temporary Educational Space (TES).  The space is accessible, with a generator for uninterrupted power supply, comfortable furniture, modern tablets and multimedia panels. The TES has six classrooms and now serves more than  200 schoolchildren who previously had to travel to a neighboring village.

Bohdanivka was occupied in 2022. russian soldiers set up camp in the local school and burned it down when they withdrew. They also blew up the kindergarten, where they had stored ammunition, leaving the village without any educational facilities.

By prior arrangement, journalists can cover the work of the modular temporary educational space in Bohdanivka.

Background: This project is being implemented by IREX in partnership with the SavED Charitable Foundation and the GoGlobal NGO. They work in close cooperation with local communities who have lost their educational institutions due to russian aggression.

• children
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

On the fourth anniversary of the terrible tragedy that occurred at the Mariupol Drama Theater, journalists are invited to attend memorial events and honor the memory of the civilian and military victims.

In particular, a prayer service will be held in Kyiv on March 15. On March 16, memorial events honoring those killed at the Mariupol Drama Theater will take place in various cities across Ukraine: Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Kalush, Kamensk, Kremenchuk, Kropyvnytskyi, Poltava, Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, Rivne, Ternopil, Uzhhorod, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, and Chernivtsi.

For reference: On March 16, 2022, russian occupiers dropped aerial bombs on the Mariupol Drama Theater. The word “CHILDREN,” written in large letters and clearly visible from the sky, did not stop them. Hundreds of Mariupol families were taking shelter in the theater. Hundreds of innocent people were killed that day, including children.

The russian occupation authorities restored the building, permanently destroying any possibility of conducting a fair investigation into the deaths at the Drama Theater.

• children
• dead
• russian crimes
• Dnipro
• Kyiv
• Lviv
• Odesa