Themes by tag: military

On June 30, at 11:00 AM, Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform will host a presentation of the “Guide for Veterans and Their Family Members” (within the system of providing psychological, medical-psychological, and psychiatric care in Ukraine).

This guide is a collection of work and adapted materials based on the experience of the crisis support hotline of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation (UVF) of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. It was prepared by expert psychologists who work as UVF Hotline Counselors. The guide contains a “Road Map” to the system of psychological, medical and psychiatric care, as well as recommendations for veterans and their family members.

The participants of the event will include:

Svitlana Kashenets — Deputy Minister for Veteran Affairs

Natalia Kalmykova — Executive Director of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation

Oleksandr Chamorsov — veteran, UVF Crisis Hotline Counselor, crisis psychologist, trauma therapist

Olena Lashko — UVF Crisis Hotline Counselor

Oksana Zbitnieva — Head of Barrier-Free NGO, Head of the Coordination Center for Mental Health under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

• military
• psychological support
• Kyiv

Anna joined the 93rd Mechanized Brigade “Kholodnyi Yar” in the spring of last year. Since “Tsunami” has a background in logistics, the girl had planned to do this kind of work, instead she became a liaison officer. And later, she even retrained to become a kamikaze drone operator. Then she became the commander of an FPV drone unit. Anna has already been to many hot spots: Izium, Soledar and Bakhmut. There, she successfully used drones to attack the invaders. The woman has already transferred to “Herts” regiment of the Airborne Assault Troops. And now she is in Zhytomyr oblast for additional training.

• military
• women

Training for 20 participants of the “Sports Ambassadors” project by the “Come Back Alive” Foundation will start in July. These are 20 active veterans who have gone through their own recovery journeys after being injured on the front line. Now they will help others to go through the same.

Over three months, the ambassadors will be trained in adaptive sports, coaching, mentoring, and leadership to help their brothers and sisters in arms restore their faith in themselves and their abilities after an injury.

Journalists will be able to attend the training of the Sports Ambassadors in the Kyiv region.

• casualties
• military
• Kyiv

Kateryna Halushka is a volunteer and combat medic with the Hospitallers Medical Battalion. Even before the full-scale invasion, Kateryna underwent Hospitallers training and served at rotation method. After February 24, she rejoined the Hospitallers: from mid-March to mid-April 2022, she worked in the Kyiv region: Bucha, Hostomel, and Irpin. Then she went to the East to rescue the military in the Avdiivka sector. During the war, Kateryna lost her beloved: he and his unit were going to liberate Mariupol but were killed in action. Now Kateryna works in the Armed Forces as a communications officer.  She has now returned to Kyiv, and in a month, she will return to the East.

• doctors
• military
• women

Mariia Smirnova, 24, joined the military in the summer of 2022 and choose the Da Vinci Wolves battalion to serve. Without hiding her sexual orientation, a girl she did not experience any harassment or prejudice from her fellow soldiers though. Serving as a clerk at the Da Vinci Wolves battalion, Mariia then decided that she wanted to be useful directly on the front line, so she transferred to the airborne assault troops. Now she is undergoing training in Zhytomyr region.

• military
• women
• LGBT

Oleksandr Shylin started his own business with the help of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation. Waste Technology is a company that removes bulky and household waste that happens after missile debris is shot down over Kharkiv almost after every Russian attack. The Northern Saltovka, the area that is subject to the most extensive shelling, is a place where much remains to be done. After Oleksandr set up Waste Technology, he enlisted in the army. He was recently wounded and is currently undergoing treatment in a hospital in the Kharkiv region.

• military

Odesa “Workshop of Invincibility” volunteers repaired an old minibus turning it into a mobile barbershop for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It took the repair technicians a month to complete this “transformation.”  Now the minibus is a real barbershop on wheels: equipped with necessary furniture and even heated water.  Local barbers who had previously worked with the military joined the vehicle’s interior furnishing. Later, this mobile barbershop will be sent to the front.

Earlier, volunteers from Odesa made a buggy car and a mobile bathhouse for the defenders.

• military
• volunteers
• Odesa

Roman Pelekh, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, makes an old Ukrainian liqueur whose recipe was lost at the beginning of the last century. Before the full-scale invasion, Roman found 90 liters of alcohol called kontabas in an old abandoned hut in Zakarpattia and a notebook with a recipe. The drink’s main ingredient is blackcurrant buds, which are quite tricky to acquire. But Roman managed to resume production of the drink and even improved the recipe. After being wounded at the front and returning to civilian life, the man set up an actual kontabas production in Lviv.

• culture
• food
• military

Volodymyr “Shamil” Sheredeha is a Joint Forces Operation veteran who went back to defend the country on February 24, 2022. Last summer, he injured his leg and has been undergoing treatment in Kyiv since then. After the injury and several unsuccessful surgeries on his leg, the soldier became depressed and was twice hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital in Kyiv. But Volodymyr managed to get the disease under control and now continues therapy with his psychologist. “Shamil” is well aware of the importance of mental health for people returning from the front. So he managed to attract more than 30 thousand of his Twitter followers to raise funds for the rehabilitation of the military.

• casualties
• military

Ukrainian photographer Marta Syrko founded the photo project “Sculpted” last December. The subjects of her photos are Ukrainian defenders who suffered as a result of the russian federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (These are soldiers who received injuries, burns or whose limbs were amputated.) Ten defenders have already participated in the photo project. Civilians who have suffered as a result of the war can also take part in the project.

• casualties
• culture
• military
• Lviv