Themes by tag: volunteers

A mobile medical clinic will be set up in Kyiv on October 19 to provide free breast and gynecological screenings for women. The one-day event is organized by FRIDA Ukraine, a medical volunteer mission, together with the DILA diagnostic laboratory.

Inside the specially equipped mobile unit, women can receive breast and pelvic ultrasounds, Pap tests using liquid-based cytology, and meet with breast and women’s health specialists. All exams will be performed by experienced FRIDA volunteer doctors.

The health-care drive comes ahead of October 20, Ukraine’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Day. The entire month of October is traditionally devoted to promoting early detection and preventive care. Organizers say the goal is to remind women to schedule regular screenings and take a proactive approach to their health.

Throughout the day, FRIDA volunteers will also hand out information on breast cancer prevention and women’s health. 

Media accreditation is required to cover the event.

For reference: FRIDA Ukraine is a volunteer mission that brings together more than 1,100 doctors from multiple countries. Its teams work in frontline and recently liberated areas, running field clinics that deliver free medical care to civilians affected by the war and occupation.

• doctors
• volunteers
• Kyiv

A team of Romanian veterinarians, led by Dr. Ioan Răzvan Șuteu from Cluj-Napoca, launched the “RoUa” campaign (its name combining Romania and Ukraine) to provide free veterinary care to injured, abandoned, and neglected animals throughout Ukraine. The initiative grew from Dr. Șuteu’s long-standing work with stray and underserved animals and his experience coordinating a mobile medical network for rural communities.

The core team includes two surgeons (Dr. Șuteu and Dr. Emma Stratulat), an anesthesia specialist from Slovenia, a PR photographer, and student volunteers.

The campaign provides on-site surgeries, sterilizations, and basic medical care; local partnerships (STEP in Brody, Inițiativa Cremeneț) ensure long-term follow-up for animals requiring extended care. The team uses translators and Google Translate to manage language barriers and leaves written treatment instructions for owners and local caregivers.

The team is currently working in Ukraine’s Ternopil region. Interviews with the veterinarians can be arranged in person through October 17 or conducted online by prior request.

• animals
• doctors
• volunteers
• Ternopil

The NGO Building Ukraine Together (BUR) is launching a two-week volunteer camp in the village of Byshiv, Kyiv region, where volunteers from Ukraine and abroad will collaborate with local youth to create a new community space. The initiative aims to provide a safe, welcoming, and inspiring environment to replace what was lost during the early days of the full-scale war.

In 2022, the community found itself on the front line – some nearby villages were occupied, and Byshiv suffered extensive destruction due to its proximity to heavy fighting. The community lost many key institutions, including the House of Culture. Since then, young people have had no dedicated place to gather, learn, or socialize outside of school.

To respond to this need, BUR and the Byshiv community will convert a room into a proper youth space. This will become a hub for learning, creativity, and community life.

The youth space is being created during two BUR camp sessions, with the second running from October 26 to November 2, 2025. 

For reference: Building Ukraine Together (BUR) is an all-Ukrainian non-governmental organization that engages young people in volunteer activities and non-formal education, empowering them to take part in building a democratic Ukraine.

• reconstruction
• volunteers
• Kyiv

The Lviv Defense Cluster (LDC) is a professional volunteer association that began its work in February 2022. From the first days of the full-scale invasion, the team united specialists, manufacturers, businesses, and volunteers to create high-quality personal protective equipment.

Through the joint efforts of the team, donors, and partners, over 100,000 bulletproof vests have been manufactured and donated free of charge to the Defense and Security Forces of Ukraine, critical infrastructure workers, journalists, Ukrainian Railway employees, and other specialists working in front-line or dangerous regions.

A separate focus for the LDC has been protecting civilian medics: since 2022, over 4,000 specialized bulletproof vests have safeguarded medical workers in front-line areas.

Another important initiative is evacuation kits for children (comprising a bulletproof vest and a helmet). 550 such kits are used by units, including the White Angels crew, during the evacuation of children from combat zones.

Currently, the LDC continues to provide bulletproof vests on a targeted basis to utility workers in the Kherson and Sumy oblasts, who perform critically important work under shelling.

The Lviv Defense Cluster financially contributes to a number of social and rehabilitation projects, such as the “Tytanovi” project (prosthetics for Ukrainian soldiers) and the “Heroes Among Us” project (helping businesses adapt to working with veterans and facilitating their return to civilian life). Furthermore, the cluster’s specialists provide organizational and advisory support to defense technology startups, helping them find investors and establish cooperation with other manufacturers.

By prior arrangement, journalists can speak with LDC representatives in Lviv or online. It is also possible to see children’s and medical bulletproof vests and obtain photo and video materials.

• volunteers
• Lviv

The Frame workshop, which converts ordinary vehicles into transport for evacuating the wounded from the front, appeared in Poltava in 2024. Its creators, Ihor and Polina, were combat medics with the Hospitallers. Thus, from their own experience, they know what a maximally convenient vehicle for evacuation from the front line should be like.

The workshop makes casevac vehicles meticulously detailed: with optimized space for medics to work, a high level of safety for the wounded and crew, and fully equipped with necessary gear and electrical systems for effective work in field conditions.

A team of over 20 people, which includes veterans, works daily to transform ordinary off-road vehicles into effective evacuation machines.

The Frame team has already converted more than 70 vehicles for various units. The workshop is funded by business and donations from subscribers.

Journalists can speak with Ihor and Polina in person in Poltava or online, by prior arrangement.

Background: The Hospitallers Medical Battalion has been operating on the front line since 2014. Its crews conduct dozens of evacuations daily along almost the entire front line. The Hospitallers have been teaching tactical medicine since 2015 and pre-medical care since 2018. Their instructors are certified by NAEMT (the American National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians), UVMA (the Ukrainian Military Medical Academy), and other organizations.

• volunteers
• Poltava

The “Unbreakables” team, united by Mariupol volunteer Mykhailo Puryshev, consists of volunteers who provide critical assistance to civilians in frontline areas. At an Invincibility Point in eastern Ukraine, residents can access free laundry services, hot showers, shelter from shelling, meals, and hot tea. The site also provides access to electricity, water, and mobile communication.

In addition to helping people, the volunteers care for abandoned animals, feeding them and rescuing them from enemy attacks.

The team’s humanitarian work is funded by thousands of compassionate supporters who have set up micro-donation subscriptions starting from as little as one hryvnia per day.

Journalists are invited to visit the Invincibility Point by prior arrangement to witness firsthand the conditions of civilians living near the front line, who often lack light, water, access to shops, and medical care. The visit provides an opportunity to observe the volunteers’ work and speak with local residents directly.

• volunteers

The Hospitails’ mission brings together veterinarians and volunteers to evacuate animals from Ukraine’s active combat areas.

One of the key Hospitallers voluntary organization’s efforts first sprang into action in June 2023, after the occupiers blew up the Kakhovka dam, endangering countless animals. Since then, Hospitails has operated systematically, equipping a fully functional mobile operating room that allows the team to vaccinate, treat, and perform surgeries on animals directly in the field.

In its first year, the project rescued and rehomed roughly 200 animals. The team vaccinated and treated 243 animals during field missions, performed 168 surgical and sterilization procedures, and distributed 10 tons of humanitarian aid.

Journalists can cover the team’s work by prior arrangement.

• animals
• doctors
• volunteers

Starting this month, the international relief group World Central Kitchen (WCK) is rolling out an updated food kit that, for the first time, includes a package designed specifically for children.

With families across Ukraine struggling to secure basic nutrition during the war, the new kits are meant to help children get the protein, vitamins, and minerals essential for growth, learning, and immune health.

The children’s package is added to WCK’s standard food kit and serves as a nutritional supplement. It includes ready-to-eat foods suitable for children ages 1 to 15, among them canned turkey, iron-rich bars, fruit purees, nut mixes, and cocoa with milk.

WCK says it plans to deliver thousands of the updated kits this month to communities across the Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Khmelnytskyi, and Sumy regions.

The organization says it welcomes collaboration with media outlets, offering photo and video materials, access to distribution sites, and interviews with its staff to highlight the new initiative.

For reference: Since the start of russia’s full-scale military aggression, World Central Kitchen has been operating in every frontline region of Ukraine, responding during evacuations, supporting civilians after strikes on infrastructure, and working alongside the State Emergency Service. To date, the group has provided nearly 290 million meals, including more than 70 million hot meals and 10 million food kits. It has also supplied vegetable packages, seeds, clean water, and launched projects aimed at helping families become more self-sufficient.

• food
• volunteers

Before the full-scale invasion, Ihor Yefimenko’s Kharkiv-based company was engaged in vehicle repair. However, after February 24, 2022, his team pivoted and began producing Level 5 body armor for the military. After a relative lost toes due to an explosion caused by a landmine, Yefimenko realized that his team needed to develop protective gear for sappers and explosive ordnance disposal technicians.

They used a Canadian model as a base, adapted it to the needs of Ukrainian soldiers and rescuers, and began production. In 2025, the manufacturers obtained a patent for a system that protects legs from anti-personnel blast mines. The product now holds all NATO standard certifications and has intellectual property protection. Yefimenko assures that the Canadian prototype was further refined and that the Kharkiv version differs in design elements and materials.

Each boot weighs four kilograms, and the team uses 3D printers to manufacture the components. Yefimenko explains that the boots are not a panacea; they cannot prevent injury entirely, but they help users avoid traumatic amputation.

Ihor Yefimenko is available for interviews online or in person in Kharkiv, by prior arrangement.

• volunteers
• Kharkiv
• demining

At 23, Artem Yerokhin has taken on a mission that blends endurance with compassion. Once employed by a humanitarian organization, he lost his job after U.S. funding was cut. Instead of standing still, he decided to set out on foot across Ukraine.

Yerokhin mapped out a 1,200-kilometer route from Dnipro, a major city in central Ukraine, to Uzhhorod, a city in the country’s far west bordering Slovakia, and launched a charitable initiative called Spilnokrok, to raise one million hryvnias for wounded Ukrainian soldiers. 

Eighty-four days into his journey, he has already walked more than 2,000 kilometers and collected 350,000 hryvnias. Much of that support, he notes, has come in the form of cash donations along the way, something he hadn’t expected. Funds raised will help provide treatment, prosthetics, and rehabilitation for soldiers injured in combat.

Yerokhin pushes himself to cover roughly 30 kilometers a day. He says the physical challenge pales beside his motivation: supporting those who sacrificed their health in the war.

People can meet with him in person along his route to Uzhhorod, or reach out to him online by appointment to learn more about his effort.

• volunteers