Themes by tag: volunteers

Anastasiia Kulish is the founder of VetEvak charitable foundation. For almost a year now, their team of volunteering veterinarians has been traveling as close to the front line as possible to rescue animals that stay with their owners near the front. Volunteers set up operating theaters in houses destroyed by the occupiers, treat animals under shelling. And the owners of cats and dogs line up when they find out that volunteers are coming to them. VetEvak also provides owners with medicine and food for their pets free of charge.

Additionally: It is possible to talk with the founder of VetEvak charitable foundation and the team of veterinarians, both online and offline by prior arrangement.

• animals
• volunteers

Volunteers of the Save Ukraine charitable foundation evacuate people from areas near the front line. Since early November this year, more than 105 thousand Ukrainians have been provided with help. Most of them are families with children.

By prior arrangement, journalists are welcome to talk to families rescued from frontlines. 

As a reminder, volunteers of the Save Ukraine charitable foundation also organize rescue missions to return Ukrainian children illicitly transferred to Russia and Russian-controlled territories. The first mission took place a year ago, on November 8, 2022. In total, as of November 2023, the charity workers have brought 200 children back.

• casualties
• children
• russian crimes
• volunteers
• evacuation

At the onset of the full-blown war, Nadiia’s husband stood up to defend the country and joined the Territorial Defense. He was killed while holding the defense of Chernihiv region in March 2022. Three children became fatherless. The house that the man was building for his family was destroyed by the occupiers. Nadiia was offered to sell the land, but she refused because she dreamed of rebuilding the house in memory of her loved one.

Currently, Dobrobat volunteers are helping to restore the house. They have already brought building materials to the construction site.

• dead
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• volunteers
• women
• Chernihiv

Ksenia Kostenko quit a successful IT career and started a farm in the Bucha district of Kyiv region. She even patented her own fertilizer production technology.

When Russia landed troops in the Kyiv region in February 2022, there were no workers on her field, which was a great joy to Ksenia. The farmer left for Kyiv and later learned that her house had been destroyed and the fields around her contaminated with mines. Ksenia engaged in volunteering and helping the Ukrainian army. Upon the de-occupation of the Kyiv region and having received permission from the sappers, she returned home. Now, the farmer is working to restore the capacity of her enterprise. 

• volunteers
• women
• Kyiv

Larysa is a graduate in law originally from Kherson. She learned about the full-scale invasion of Russia when traveling in Mexico. She immediately started looking for ways to return home. Larysa managed to get to Ukraine just in the days of the Russian occupation of Kherson. In May 2022, she traveled to the Russian-held city and took her friends, and those willing to leave for the territory controlled by Ukraine.

In the Kyiv region, Larysa joined the volunteer movement and dismantled the rubble of buildings destroyed by the war. She lived with the idea of a similar reconstruction project to be implemented in her hometown. So, after Ukraine regained control of Kherson on November 11, 2022, Larysa returned home and became the coordinator of the Dobrobat volunteer movement in the region. Larysa and her team cleared rubble and rebuilt homes. Local volunteers call Larysa “mom” for her dedication and care for people.

Journalists are welcome to talk to Larysa both offline and online.

For reference: November 11, 2023, marks the one-year anniversary of retaking Kherson. Also, during last year’s counteroffensive in southern Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated some districts of the Kherson region and part of the Mykolaiv region on the right bank of the Dnipro River.

• reconstruction
• volunteers
• women
• Kherson

Nadiia is a teacher of the art of making coffee. The woman and her family had moved from Mykolaiv to Kherson, a city in the south of Ukraine that was under russian occupation for more than half a year. This had happened two months before the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion. Nadiia wanted to open a barista school in the city. The official opening was scheduled for February 26, 2022, but the war changed everything.

The woman found herself under occupation, worked at a friend’s coffee shop, and volunteered by cooking food. When threats from the occupiers poured in, she decided to leave. She had to overcome 70 roadblocks. From Zaporizhia, she went to Kyiv, where she started all over again. On August 7, 2023, precisely on the anniversary of her escaping the occupation, she was able to open a coffee shop near Kyiv with the help of a state grant. Nadiia also helped a displaced woman from Zaporizhia region by employing her as a barista in her coffee shop.

Together with her close circle, Nadiia created the “Welcome to Ukraine” charity foundation in Mykolaiv, which helps the military and civilians.

For reference: November 11, 2023 marks the anniversary of the liberation of Kherson from the occupiers. Last year’s counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the South of Ukraine also liberated some of the districts of Kherson region and a part of Mykolaiv region on the right bank of the Dnipro. 

• occupation
• volunteers
• women
• Kyiv

Viktor Dudko, a potter, holds clay therapy sessions for defenders who were injured or wounded in the war. Sessions take place at a pottery school near Lutsk. They are free.

Soldiers work at the potter’s wheel and create plates, cups, glasses or vases. Defenders often dedicate clay objects that they create themselves to their loved ones and sign them with “for my beloved wife” or “for my daughter.”

Such clay therapy sessions have been taking place for almost a year. More than a hundred defenders visited it during this time. For a fee everyone is welcome to Viktor’s workshops in pottery. The potter then sends the funds to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Background: Potter Viktor Dudko became famous in Ukraine last year when he made two clay models of the russian cruiser “Moskva,” which was sunk by the Defense Forces of Ukraine.

• military
• volunteers
• Lutsk

Colonel Monte and Colonel Chuck from the U.S. call themselves the “Traveling Colonels.” They are retired US Marine Corps officers, both are Iraq War veterans. The men help Ukraine: they bring medical and other supplies purchased, in particular, with funds donated by U.S. citizens. All this is transferred to the Ukrainian military at the front.

Monte and Chuck, together with volunteers from Ukraine, Canada and the U.S., prepared and packed 1,167 IFAKS (Individual First Aid Kit — standard individual first aid kit in NATO member state) and 16 medical bags this week in Kyiv.

Journalists will have an opportunity to talk with Colonel Monte in Kyiv over the next week.

For reference: Colonel Monte first came to Poland to help Ukrainian refugees in April 2022 and worked with World Central Kitchen. Then he went to Ukraine, now this is his 10th trip. Colonel Chuck made 7 trips. Currently, he is not in Ukraine.

• military
• volunteers
• Kyiv

The French foundation AFUF (Association of Ukrainian Women in France) is handing over 4 ambulances and 4 off-road vehicles to Ukraine for some AFU brigades. The vehicles are equipped with medical hardware and medicines provision on board. That’s a third mission of this foundation, focusing on purchasing ambulances and evacuation vehicles.

Journalists can engage with the benefactors in Lviv, Kyiv, or, whenever possible, in the frontline area. There are French-Ukrainian in-house translators. 

The Foundation implements the mission in cooperation with the Charitable Foundation Harmata Volunteers. 

• volunteers

Stefan came to Ukraine from Finland. He is an entrepreneur consulting asset and fund management companies and a fund management director, previously working in Luxembourg. He attained education in accounting and law. 

The foreigner decided to help Ukrainians and joined the Brave to Rebuild project volunteers in early October. He dismantled the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Kyiv region. In addition, the volunteer helped make concrete for masons and dug a trench for a water supply system.

The man believes that the war in Ukraine is highly illustrative of the battle between good and evil that a person can witness nowadays.

Journalists are welcome to talk to Stefan during his volunteer work in the Kyiv region.

• reconstruction
• volunteers
• Kyiv