Themes by tag: Kyiv

Adaptive cross-country skiing training sessions for military veterans are taking place in the Ukrainian capital, led by Oleksii Prokopenko, head coach of Ukraine’s national cross-country skiing team for the 2025 Invictus Games and founder of the Endurance School.

The free year-round sessions, held in both summer and winter, make use of specialized adaptive ski gear, including chair for seated skiing along with tailored cross-country skis. These tools, part of established techniques for handicapped skiing, enable people with reduced mobility to participate fully in the sport.

Prokopenko has recently introduced adaptive ski touring, a hybrid of cross-country and downhill skiing, to the program. Veterans with amputations are among the participants training with this equipment.

Journalists wishing to cover the sessions can arrange access in Kyiv by prior appointment.

• culture
• Kyiv

Khrystyna Drahomaretska, a 28-year-old trained architect, has stepped away from her profession to rescue animals amid Ukraine’s war, where she works as a stray animal catcher and evacuates pets from active combat areas.

She carries on despite constant danger from enemy shelling. In Toretsk in the Donetsk region, three russian guided aerial bombs detonated near her. In Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region, she sustained shrapnel wounds while rescuing animals as russian forces hammered the area with mortar fire.

Originally focused on sterilization missions, Khrystyna has spent the past year leading evacuation efforts, pulling abandoned and stray animals out of frontline zones and finding them foster or permanent homes.

She also founded a shelter in the Odesa region, where many of the evacuated animals are taken for treatment, socialization, and rehoming, about 70 percent eventually find adoptive families abroad. The facility currently houses around 250 dogs.

Journalists interested in learning more about her work or arranging an interview can reach out to speak with her online or in person in Odesa, Kyiv, or Kharkiv, by appointment.

For reference: Khrystyna Drahomaretska conducts her rescue operations in partnership with the 12 Vartovykh Charitable Foundation and Animal Rescue Kharkiv. She is also part of the UAnimals rescue mission.

• animals
• casualties
• women
• Kharkiv
• Kyiv
• Odesa
• evacuation

On January 22, Unity Day, the Khartiia Patronage Service will open the photo exhibition “The Path to Healing”, dedicated to wounded soldiers, in cooperation with the Kyiv Khartiia Hub, the cultural space KultMotyv, and the Pryncyp Legal Aid Center for Military Personnel.

Event participants:

• Mariia Kobzaruk, Deputy Head of the Khartiia Patronage Service;
• Oksana Yavorska, lawyer at the Pryncyp Legal Aid Center for Military Personnel;
• Khartiia servicemembers;
• Alina Karban, Head of the Khartiia Hub in Kyiv.

The exhibition, which runs from January 22 to February 5, features eight portraits by Roman Pashkovskyi, a portrait photographer and Khartiia serviceman. Each photograph tells the story of soldiers’ courage and resilience at various stages of their journeys from injury through rehabilitation and back to service or civilian life. Each photograph is accompanied by the soldier’s recorded story, covering their motivation to serve, their injury, the challenges of treatment and rehabilitation, their dreams and plans, and the support and strength that help them overcome these challenges.

This photo project aims to highlight the dignity, strength, and invincibility of our defenders and to raise funds for the Khartiia Patronage Service.

Background: This initiative supports the Patronage Service of the 13th Khartiia Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine. The Patronage Service’s goal is to support soldiers in difficult situations, help them recover from injuries, assist their families, and honor fallen heroes.

• culture
• Kyiv

Veterans from the 3rd Assault Corps traveled to areas experiencing power outages to support the people during this difficult time. From a special food truck, they served residents hot broth, tea, and uzvar, a traditional drink. The veterans also provided a mobile phone and power bank charging station so people could stay in contact with their loved ones.

According to the ex-soldiers, these outreach trips allow them to continue being useful to society and support those enduring severe hardship.

Journalists have the opportunity to obtain video materials from the trip and cover the food truck’s next deployment, as well as speak with the veterans.

• blackout
• Kyiv

Against the backdrop of Ukraine’s declared energy emergency and widespread, prolonged blackouts that have left thousands of Kyiv residents without heat during the bitter cold, World Central Kitchen has stepped in with emergency food aid for the capital.

The WCK team has set up hot meal stations throughout the city, serving hearty bowls of bograch and borscht. The stations are positioned in various neighborhoods to ensure the help reaches as many people as possible. At present, 50 such bograch-and-borscht stations are up and running.

Meals are also being distributed from WCK’s Invincibility Train Cars.

Journalists are welcome to cover the initiative and observe the stations in operation. The World Central Kitchen team is available for interviews and can help arrange filming at the sites.

• blackout
• food
• Kyiv

On January 23, the Fight For Right NGO, which advocates for the rights of people with disabilities in Ukraine, will present its latest research, titled “Not My Choice: Institutionalization and Restriction of Legal Capacity of Individuals with Disabilities in Ukraine.”

The presentation will highlight the organization’s findings from a year-long study into the institutionalization of people with disabilities across Ukraine, as well as the outlook for deinstitutionalization amid the government’s stated commitment to reforms that would enable everyone to exercise their right to independent living.

Fight For Right aims to spotlight the need for real progress in this area among Ukrainian policymakers, civil society, and the media. The new research includes three key sections:

– In the labyrinth of “care”: how the system channels people with disabilities into boarding schools in Ukraine.

– The legal capacity regime in Ukraine: a systemic failure in upholding the rights of people with disabilities.

– Ukraine’s deinstitutionalization strategy: caught between European integration demands and preserving the status quo.

In 2026, deinstitutionalization stands as both a major requirement for Ukraine’s European integration and a pressing domestic priority, especially as the war continues to drive up the number of people living with disabilities.

Registration is required to attend. Registered participants will receive the event address and a link to the online broadcast.

For reference: The event is organized by the NGO Fight For Right with support from the International Renaissance Foundation through the projects “Creating the preconditions for an independent and dignified life for all” and “Strengthening the community of people with disabilities for equal participation in the negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU,” as well as backing from the European Union under the joint initiative “Joining the EU Together” and the Norwegian-Swedish Askold and Dir Fund. It is administered by ISAR Ednannia as part of the project “Strong Civil Society of Ukraine – a Driver Towards Reforms and Democracy Project,” funded by Norway and Sweden.

• Kyiv

For the past three years, the InNikos canine therapy center in Kyiv has provided a unique form of support, bringing together therapy dogs, professional dog trainers, psychologists, and rehabilitation specialists to aid in the mental and physical recovery of those impacted by Russia’s war.

The center serves a wide range of clients, including active-duty military personnel, families of service members, internally displaced persons, children who endured occupation, and others affected by the conflict. All sessions are offered free of charge, available either in group settings or one-on-one.

Six therapy dogs currently work at the facility. The most experienced are Chelsea, a mixed breed, and Freya, a miniature schnauzer, both 11 years old. The youngest is Sunny, a two-year-old Australian shepherd. Two Belgian shepherds, set to turn one in February, are now in training and preparing for certification.

Similar canine therapy programs are also up and running in Rivne, Chernivtsi, and Myrhorod.

Journalists interested in covering the center’s work in the capital are welcome by prior arrangement.

The InNikos center operates with support from the Royal Canin Foundation.

• animals
• casualties
• psychological support
• Kyiv

Participants:

– Natalia Tabaka, Head of the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine.

Key topics:

– Domestic travel trends: Which destinations are the most popular among Ukrainians amid the ongoing war?

– Foreign visitors: Despite persistent security risks, what continues to draw international visitors to Ukraine?

– Travel as a wartime necessity: Does it serve primarily as a recreation, psychological relief, or a way to cope with stress?

(The event will take place without simultaneous interpretation.)

• Kyiv

Mobile resilience centers, known as Mitzvah Tanks, are operating in the Ukrainian capital. People can warm up, drink hot tea, and charge their phones there. As explained by Ukraine’s Chief Rabbi, Moshe Reuven Azman, the word Mitzvah translates from Hebrew as “Commandment”, which is why the mobile centers are called Mitzvah Tanks.

“Our volunteers are constantly on duty with the Mitzvah Tanks so they can immediately go to help — whether to the site of a russian shelling (God forbid) to warm those who have lost their homes, or to an address where there has been no electricity or heat for over four days straight. They even assist when many liters of water need to be carried up 18 flights of stairs for elderly people who cannot do it themselves or ask someone else,” noted the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine.

Journalists have the opportunity to cover the work of the Mitzvah Tank Mobile Resilience Centers in Kyiv and speak with the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine by prior arrangement.

• blackout
• Kyiv

Prolonged power outages in the Ukrainian capital are putting the delicate collection of tropical and subtropical plants at the Hryshko National Botanical Garden under serious strain.

Winter marks the peak flowering season for many of these species, which require a steady minimum temperature of 20°C (68°F) to survive. With electricity unreliable, staff are turning to diesel generators to keep the greenhouses warm and the valuable plants alive.

The garden – home to roughly 4,000 tropical and subtropical specimens – is also supported by philanthropists through the longstanding “Heat for Greenhouses” initiative, which helps cover fuel and other emergency costs.

Journalists may visit and document the garden’s operations by prior arrangement.

• blackout
• Kyiv