Themes by tag: volunteers

FRIDA Ukraine runs first aid training sessions for civilians with no medical background. The sessions are designed for people who want to be prepared to act in critical situations and provide lifesaving assistance before professional medics arrive.

Since launching the initiative, the organization has already held more than 100 training sessions. As part of the specialized Stop the Bleed course, participants learn how to:

• stop life-threatening bleeding;
• act effectively under stress and time pressure;
• provide assistance in trauma situations;
• respond to road accidents and other emergencies.

The trainings take place in multiple formats — from sessions at FRIDA’s office to field-based and simulation exercises using realistic scenarios. The main focus is on practical skills that help people make quick decisions and potentially save lives.

By prior arrangement, journalists can attend and cover FRIDA Ukraine’s civilian first aid trainings in Kyiv. The organization can also conduct first aid training sessions for international media teams.

• doctors
• volunteers
• Kyiv

On May 2, FRIDA Ukraine will host a charity event in Kyiv focused on the early detection of skin cancer, as part of Melanoma Awareness Month.

Dermatologists will offer free skin examinations to all attendees. The aim of the event is the early detection of skin cancer, raising public awareness about melanoma, and promoting regular medical check-ups.

Journalists are also welcome to attend the event, speak with dermatologists, and, where possible, with people attending the screening. 

Background: FRIDA Ukraine medical volunteer missions are regular deployments of multidisciplinary medical teams to frontline and remote communities across Ukraine. Each mission includes more than 20 specialists, such as neurologists, surgeons, gynecologists, therapists, dermatologists, and others. During these visits, residents receive free consultations, examinations, and tests. Recently, the team has also begun conducting cancer screenings.

• doctors
• volunteers
• Kyiv

Max Dorman, a German national, worked as a paramedic in Hamburg. When russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he and his friends began helping Ukrainian refugees in Germany. Later, he started traveling to Lviv as a volunteer.

Over time, Max became one of the co-founders of Artesans ResQ Ukraine, an organization focused on evacuating the wounded. Its medics have helped more than 3,000 Ukrainians — both military personnel and civilians.

Today, the Artesans ResQ Ukraine team is based in Dnipro and includes both Ukrainians and international members. Each month, the organization carries out around 150 evacuation missions. Its medics operate ambulance-based intensive care units across Ukraine and abroad.

By prior arrangement, journalists can speak with Max Dorman and the Artesans ResQ Ukraine team both online and in person in Dnipro.

• doctors
• volunteers
• Dnipro
• evacuation

On April 17, volunteer doctors from FRIDA Ukraine will travel to an orphanage in the Kyiv region. The team includes around 20 medical professionals, including a pediatrician, neurologist, psychologist, dentist, and surgeon. The doctors regularly visit the facility and provide medical care to children.

On April 18–19, FRIDA Ukraine missions will travel to the Mykolaiv and Sumy regions to provide medical assistance to civilians.

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

Background: FRIDA Ukraine medical volunteer missions are regular deployments of multidisciplinary medical teams to frontline and remote communities across Ukraine. Each mission includes more than 20 specialists, such as neurologists, surgeons, gynecologists, therapists, dermatologists, and others. During these visits, residents receive free consultations, examinations, and tests. Recently, the team has also begun conducting cancer screenings.

• doctors
• volunteers

Since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Franky and Сoen — two Dutch entrepreneurs — have been continuously providing humanitarian assistance across Ukraine. What began as a small initiative at the Polish border, where they distributed free French fries to refugees, has grown into a large-scale humanitarian effort spanning the country, including frontline areas.

Today, their work includes:

• distributing hundreds of thousands of hot meals;
• evacuating people and animals from frontline areas;
• delivering medical supplies, food, and humanitarian aid;
• providing financial support to vulnerable families;
• operating a shelter for internally displaced people in Dnipro (Holland House); a second Holland House is set to open in western Ukraine in the coming months, expanding support capacity for more than 100 additional people;
• organizing recovery trips for children affected by the war.

The volunteers are well known in the Netherlands not only for their work in Ukraine but also for how they communicate it. Through social media, documentaries, and national television, they bring the reality of the war directly into Dutch homes.

Franky and Сoen experienced the reality of war firsthand while dining at the Ria Pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk. On June 27, 2023, a russian missile strike hit the city center, killing 13 people and injuring 64 others, including the Dutch volunteers.

By prior arrangement, journalists can meet Franky and Сoen in Kyiv (April 15), Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and the Donbas region. Online interviews are also available.

• casualties
• food
• russian crimes
• volunteers
• Kyiv
• evacuation

Dentist Ivanna Romanchuk joined the medical volunteer missions of FRIDA Ukraine in 2023. During deployments, she primarily provides surgical care. She says that people living near the front line often endure pain and discomfort for long periods because they have no access to dental care. As a result, even routine dental conditions frequently progress to stages where tooth extraction becomes the only option.

One of the most dramatic cases Ivanna encountered took place in the Kherson region during one of her first missions with FRIDA Ukraine. A week earlier, russian forces had destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. Despite this, the long-planned visit by the medical team went ahead.

Artillery shelling continued, and the team was preparing to evacuate the location. But one more patient came to see Ivanna — an elderly man. While she was extracting his tooth, one of the roots slipped into the maxillary sinus. Performing an X-ray under those conditions was impossible. Ivanna decided to carry out a maxillary sinusotomy — a surgical procedure in which the sinus is opened and cleared — as she could not leave the patient without care.

“The siren is wailing — it all feels surreal. The drivers had already packed everything, we were being told to leave the hospital, and I managed to perform this procedure for the first time in my life. In private clinics, we don’t often do this,” Ivanna recalls.

A few weeks later, the medical team returned. The same elderly man was the first to greet them — he was doing well.

Ivanna continues to take part in the missions, describing her motivation simply: “I keep doing this because it’s what I do best — and it’s truly needed.”

By prior arrangement, journalists can speak with Ivanna in Kyiv or online.

Background: FRIDA Ukraine’s medical volunteer missions involve regular deployments of teams of doctors to frontline and remote communities across Ukraine. Each mission includes more than 20 specialists from various fields, including neurology, surgery, gynecology, internal medicine, and dermatology. During these visits, local residents receive free consultations, examinations, and tests. The team has also recently introduced cancer screening services.

• doctors
• volunteers
• Kyiv

On April 4–5, FRIDA Ukraine missions will travel to provide medical assistance to civilians in Zaporizhzhia and Chernihiv regions.

In addition, on April 4–5, doctors will conduct cancer screenings in Kyiv.

By prior arrangement, journalists will have the opportunity to cover the work of medical volunteers, as well as to interview patients and doctors.

Background: The “FRIDA Ukraine” medical volunteer missions are регуляр outreach trips by 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, local residents receive free consultations, check-ups, and medical tests. Recently, the team has also begun conducting cancer screenings.

• doctors
• volunteers

Oleh Bykov is a volunteer and activist from Kremenchuk in Ukraine’s Poltava region. Since the start of russia’s full-scale invasion, he and his team have been working to find ways  to make it easier for medics to deal with shell fragments left in the bodies of wounded soldiers.

The team has developed a series of magnetic devices named “Edelweiss,” “White Angel,” “Prometheus,” “Hydra,” and “Bucephalus.” These devices help doctors detect metal fragments in wounded patients and safely extract them.

A new device, “Sherlock,” is expected to join this lineup soon, once volunteers receive final feedback from medical professionals who are already awaiting its deployment. In particular, surgeons at the Shalimov National Institute of Surgery and Transplantology and the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery are preparing to use the device. Doctors at these institutions already rely on earlier inventions created by the team.

Over the past four years, Oleh Bykov and his team have produced and delivered more than 4,000 devices to medical professionals free of charge. The team is also developing another type of magnetic extractor called “Lilith.”

Journalists can arrange interviews with Oleh Bykov both online and offline in Kyiv by prior arrangement.

• casualties
• doctors
• volunteers
• Kyiv

The NGO Every Animal, together with dietitian Mark Shpara and partners Macro-2019 and Eat Me At, has developed seven-day plant-based meal kits for the military. The goal is to provide plant-based food to vegan and vegetarian soldiers, as well as those who avoid animal products for religious or medical reasons.

Defenders can order the vegan meal packs free of charge. Each pack is designed to provide seven days of full plant-based nutrition.

Journalists can learn more about the initiative in Kyiv.

Background: The NGO Every Animal was founded in 2019 to promote veganism and advocate for animal rights. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the organization has delivered 3,450 weekly vegan meal packs to the military. It has also organized ten charity festivals “Vegan Weekend,” raising and donating UAH 4.5 million to support Ukraine’s Defense Forces.

• volunteers
• Kyiv

Starting March 29, ceremonial releases of rescued Red Book-listed bats will take place across Ukraine. The animals were rescued by volunteers from different regions of the country. Over the winter of 2025–2026, more than 4,000 bats were rehabilitated.

Volunteers invite the public to attend the events and take part in the releases. The bats will be released at sunset, preceded by a briefing on their rehabilitation.
Events are scheduled as follows:
March 29 — Cherkasy and Rivne,
April 4 — Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv and Poltava,
April 5 — Lviv and Vinnytsia,
April 10 — Kamianske,
April 11 — Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih,
April 12 — Kharkiv.

• animals
• volunteers