Themes by tag: Zhytomyr

Oleksandr Kovalchuk is 47 years old and a veteran of the russian-Ukrainian war. He has been working as a teacher at a private kindergarten in Zhytomyr for almost six months.

In the fall of 2022, Oleksandr was drafted and served in the Donetsk oblast. In 2023 he was injured, lost 50% of his hearing and suffered a concussion. Due to his health condition he was discharged from military service. After that he underwent rehabilitation. Oleksandr is also a member of a Ukrainian veterans organization.

Currently, the veteran works with children, conducting creative and sports activities in the kindergarten. He also helps take care of the children by helping them dress and feed themselves.

Kseniia Lavrina, the director of the private kindergarten, explains that the goal of this initiative is to create a positive image of veterans in the eyes of the public.

The private kindergarten where Oleksandr now works was co-owned by Kseniia Lavrina and Artem Sachuk. According to Kseniia, Artem was the one who came up with the idea of having men do half of the teaching. Later he supported the inclusion of veterans in the process. Artem Sachuk voluntarily joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine and tragically died on the front lines on November 26, 2023.

• children
• military
• Zhytomyr

The Yulyni Babusi (“Yulia’s Grandmothers“) Charitable Foundation is organizing a “Secret Santa for the elderly from shelters” campaign. Anyone can help organize a holiday by donating money for a gift for a person from a nursing home or sending a gift of their own. These can be tea, coffee, warm socks, blankets, household chemicals and hygiene, diapers for adults of all sizes and diapers. The collection of gifts will last until December 10.

By prior arrangement, journalists can cover the charity’s representatives visiting the shelters to create a festive mood and hand out gifts. 

For reference: Yuliia Karpova, a radio morning show host, founded the Yulyni Babusi (Yulia’s Grandmothers) charity foundation in 2022 to help the elderly. The foundation takes care of single elderly people, residents of boarding schools, nursing homes, and residents of the de-occupied territories. In total, it operates in three regions: Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Dnipro regions.

• Dnipro
• Kyiv
• Zhytomyr

Anna and Oleh’s journey began in 2020 when they met while Oleh was serving in the Azov Brigade. Their connection blossomed from phone calls and letters into a committed relationship. Their daughter was born just before the outbreak of the full-scale war.

Oleh and his twin brother Vitalii both served in the Azov Brigade, defending Mariupol from the war’s outset. In April 2022, while attempting to reach the Azovstal steel plant, their unit was ambushed. Vitaliy was killed, and Oleh, though wounded, managed to reach Azovstal before being captured a month later.

On the night of July 28-29, 2022, Oleh and 192 fellow prisoners were detained in Volnovakha Penal Colony No. 120 in Olenivka. Several explosions that night killed over 50 Azov Brigade members and injured more than a hundred. When russian media released lists of the wounded and deceased, Anna was horrified to see her husband’s name on both. Later, she discovered that Oleh had survived. Since then, Anna has tirelessly worked to secure his release, joining the Olenivka Community NGO to aid her efforts.

Anna Lobova is currently in Zhytomyr and is available for interviews, both online and in person.

• military
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• women
• Zhytomyr

Arkadii Fishman, an innovative mind hailing from Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast, now residing in Ternopil Oblast, has devised a unique fundraising strategy. Teaming up with his companion, Olenka Dunets, Fishman is embarking on a 650 km journey across Ukrainian cities, showcasing his creation—a sofa on wheels—to raise funds for the Armed Forces.

Their odyssey has already commenced, with Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, and Kyiv slated as pit stops along the way. Residents of these locales can catch a glimpse of the mobile sofa, snap photos, and contribute to the cause through donations. Fishman aims to culminate the tour in the capital on July 6th.

As Fishman is on his way to Khmelnytskyi, journalists have the opportunity to delve deeper into the charitable expedition and engage in conversation with him.

• Khmelnytskyi
• Kyiv
• Ternopil
• Vinnytsia
• Zhytomyr

On May 17, the team of the All-Ukrainian youth movement “Let’s do it Ukraine” invites media representatives to the official ceremony of transferring the flag of Ukraine, which has been in space, to the Zhytomyr Museum of Cosmonautics. Lina Borozdina, an Odesa resident, took this flag along on a space trip.

As part of the event, a press briefing will be held, during which representatives of the Zhytomyr Museum of Cosmonautics and the leader of “Let’s do it Ukraine” Yuliia Markhel will talk about the uniqueness of this event and its significance for Ukraine. The event will also feature an official ceremony of transferring the flag and a number of attributes that also visited space with Lina to the museum. These include her astronaut badge and a patch from the suit, also with the Ukrainian flag.

Journalists will have the opportunity to watch the exclusive footage of Lina Borozdina’s video address from Las Vegas and listen to the story of her space journey.

The event requires accreditation.

For reference: on January 26, 2024, the company Virgin Galactic sent 4 space tourists, including Lina Borozdina, a native of Odesa, on a suborbital flight. Tourists spent 90 minutes in space, and for a while they experienced weightlessness. Lina Borozdina had been preparing for this flight for 18 years.

• culture
• Zhytomyr

The Military Sewing Company is a voluntary association of people who volunteer to sew adaptive clothing for wounded soldiers: pants, shorts, underpants, T-shirts, etc. The adaptive clothing with Velcro, ties, or buttons is designed so injured defenders can put it on comfortably and painlessly. 

The Military Sewing Company has already produced over 30,000 pieces of such clothing. They are sent to more than 50 medical institutions across Ukraine, as well as to soldiers in need of such garments.

The Military Sewing Company was founded in Dnipro. People who have joined the initiative and sew clothes (in workshops, sewing shops, or home-based ones) are located in Kyiv, Dnipro, Rivne, Poltava, Zhytomyr, and Lviv. Some seamstresses are actively involved in sewing while residing in Norway, Germany, and Canada.

• casualties
• military
• volunteers
• Dnipro
• Kyiv
• Lviv
• Poltava
• Zhytomyr
• Rivne

The head of the Military Souvenir NGO, Yurii Lysak, has opened a woodworking workshop where veterans can come to work. The initiative aims to create a place for the military to communicate and support each other while teaching them how to work with wood. According to Lysak, this will help veterans get back to normal life and improve their psychological state. Currently, they are recruiting for those willing to join. There are enough tools and equipment to train seven soldiers at a time.

• Zhytomyr

On June 26, the equestrian sports camp, organized in Zhytomyr oblast by refugees from Kharkiv, will welcome a new group of children. The camp is designed for schoolchildren aged 10 to 17 years. For ten days, camp attendees will be taught horseback riding and how to care for horses.

As reported, the children’s equestrian sports school was damaged as a result of russia’s full-scale invasion. During the battles for Kharkiv region, the horses began to run out of food: all the hay was in the occupied territory. An enemy shell even hit the territory of the stables, but did not explode. The owner of the school, Anna, together with her family, decided to evacuate the animals from Kharkiv. Later, they found a stable near Zhytomyr, where they started all over again. 

• animals
• Zhytomyr

Veteran Oleksandr Shvetsov, who lost his leg in 2014 near Luhansk, and his brother in arms Serhii Khrapko, who has a prosthetic leg and arm after being wounded in eastern Ukraine in 2015, set out on a journey to meet each other halfway. The distance between the soldiers is 120 kilometers, Oleksandr is coming from Zhytomyr, and Serhii is from Kyiv. By doing this, the veterans want to draw attention to the need to create a modern admission department at the National Military Medical Clinical Center “Main Military Clinical Hospital” and raise funds for a gastroscope worth over UAH 3.5 million.

• military
• volunteers
• Kyiv
• Zhytomyr

As the volunteers of the Zhytomyr regional branch of the All-Ukrainian charity organization “Turbota pro Litnih v Ukraini” (Age Concern Ukraine), ‘Grandma’s Battalion’ helps Ukrainian soldiers. More than 30 older women have joined the team. The oldest one is 85 years old.

Among other things, the women sew pillows, bedding, balaclavas, mittens for the military, and even special underwear with fasteners for wounded defenders. The women also knit socks. 

For reference: ‘Grandma’s Battalion’ has been helping the military since 2014. It was Ukrainian defenders who came up with the name.

• volunteers
• women
• Zhytomyr