“It’s dangerous there. It’s very scary and painful,” Olha is sobbing. “I’m sorry for crying so much. I didn’t want to cry. I’m just glad I left that nightmare.” She and her friend, Valentyna, were just evacuated from their homes in the village of Malynivka in the Kramatorsk district, Donetsk region, by the LUkraine team and placed in a special LUkraine shelter. “There’s heavy shooting. Sometimes you can’t sleep at night, and during the day, you can’t rest because the explosions are very loud,” Valentyna adds.
According to OCHA, 5.8 million refugees have left Ukraine, and 3.6 million have been internally displaced due to the war. Approximately 17.6 million people (49% of the current population) are now in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, with 4.1 million being children. More than 1,000 attacks on the country’s healthcare system have been recorded, constituting a violation of international humanitarian law. In July, WHO Ukraine reported 1,067 attacks on the Ukrainian healthcare system, with 952 of them targeting hospitals. The WHO claims this to be the largest number of attacks recorded by the agency in any humanitarian emergency.
In August 2023, LUkraine launched a humanitarian mission to assist people from areas close to the front line or liberated territories in Ukraine (Kherson, Zaporizhya, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Dnipro regions) who do not have access to medical and social services.
As the project requires prompt reactions and ad-hoc interventions, LUkraine has established its representative office in Ukraine in Dnipro. Chenbau Kim, a project coordinator, and a team, including the Center of Salvation of Lifes, a project partner, work with Ukrainians in the field, located 15-20 km away from the frontline, at least twice a week.
“The hardest thing is to see how people continue to suffer but refuse to evacuate,” Chenbau says. “Mostly, they explain this with having no place to go, the lack of sustainable financial support, and sentiments about their homes, as many of them, especially elderly people, have lived there their whole lives. I absolutely understand them, but the risk is too high.”
The team is in touch with these citizens and constantly checking on their needs to respond to them. The main needs are mostly basic ones - living conditions, as many of them live in destroyed houses, access to medical services, and food. To address these, the team provides emergency medical care, medical evacuation of wounded people, mobile dental services, evacuation, humanitarian aid, and social worker support. For those who are ready to evacuate, LUkraine has opened a temporary shelter with access to water, food, medications, electricity, internet, and washing facilities alongside psychological support and further social integration assistance.
However, the main challenge for the team is the psychological traumas of those who have been living under constant missile attacks for too long. “We care about people’s health with regular medical check-ups, mobile dental care, evacuation of wounded and sick people, but we cannot evacuate them forcibly. They have gotten used to living in these dangerous conditions so much that they don’t have this basic fear for their lives anymore. That is why we are planning to provide them with fast psychological aid in the fields,” says Chenbau.
As of the end of November 2023, the organization has provided 1,029 medical evacuations, offered dental services to 250 people, and distributed 650 humanitarian kits.
Nicolas Zharov, the President of LUkraine, states that the project is possible only thanks to the support of the Luxembourgish government and residents. “I have always said that Luxembourg is a small country with a big heart. For us, it is very important to work in the field and to do it together with Luxembourg. Thank you to all of our donors and partners for supporting this project.”
Thus, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action of Luxembourg covered half of the project’s budget, which amounts to 300,000 EUR. With this money, LUkraine opened a temporary shelter with access to water, food, medications, electricity, internet, and washing facilities for the evacuated; purchased a car for evacuation, a pickup truck, and established the LUkraine shelter. This money is also spent on monthly project expenses (petrol, medical worker salaries, medical and dental supplies, humanitarian kits, etc.). Lions Club Luxembourg purchased an ambulance for the project, which Special Truck Parts (Netherlands), a special vehicles and equipment manufacturer, redid into a mobile dental office. Pharmaciens sans frontières Luxembourg asbl donated medicines and medical supplies for medical cars. Additionally, Bazar International asbl and Scheffleng Helleft asbl provided financial aid for the project in the amounts of 10,000 EUR and 25,000 EUR, respectively.
The humanitarian mission also gained huge support from the British community. Thus, Ukraine Charity, a UK-based charity foundation, contributed 50,000 EUR to the mission. With such a budget, a bus was bought, and the Venary group UK, an emergency vehicles manufacturer, redid it into a medical bus for the evacuation of wounded people. This helps evacuate more people at one time and saves time and money.
Besides financial aid, Luxembourgish residents actively volunteer in the project. For example, the first convoy to Ukraine was driven by a crew of Luxembourgish residents. Mark Kitchell, a US citizen who has been living in Luxembourg for 10 years, was one of the first convoy drivers and took an ambulance from Luxembourg to Dnipro. “I’ve never been to Ukraine, and I wanted to see the country I supported in person. I wanted to speak to people who were on the frontline of the resistance to Russian aggression,” Mark explains. “Why should we keep supporting Ukraine? First, it’s the right thing to do. Second, if we don’t help Ukraine to stop Russians there, we will meet them in Western Europe.”
Though things with the project are going well, it still requires financial support. On December 6, Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca informed the U.N. Security Council that intensifying Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities are worsening humanitarian conditions across the war-torn country, where heavy snow and freezing temperatures have already arrived. LUkraine anticipates more requests and needs from Ukrainians in this regard. Hence, they have initiated a Christmas fundraising campaign to continue assisting Ukrainians with the most essential things,’ explains Inna Yaremenko, VP of LUkraine, extends her sincere gratitude to Luxembourg “There are no words to express our gratitude to the people of Luxembourg for everything they have been doing for Ukraine. Our achievements are not just numbers; behind them are the lives and destinies of hundreds of people that have been rescued thanks to Luxembourg’s unwavering support.”
You can donate to project on the LUkraine’s website https://ukrainians.lu/donate/. All donations are tax - deductible.
