At dawn on February 24th, Russia attacked cities all over Ukraine with missiles, advancing on the ground along the border. It started the war – cruel, invasive, and unprecedented in Europe since World War II.
The youth organization “STAN” (members of WG4 UNP) organized a shelter in the office in Ivano-Frankivsk for people traveling from the most dangerous cities. The first migrants were met at the resource center on February 24. In addition, representatives of the Ukrainian Prism organizations from Chernihiv (members of UNP WG1), CrimeaSOS from Kyiv, and the Caritas Kharkiv Charitable Foundation are currently working here.
STAN cooperates with shelters in Lysets village near Ivano-Frankivsk, in Vorokhta and in Bakosh in Zakarpattia oblast. These shelters’ coordinators are STAN’s old friends and partners, as well as STAN’s educational programs alumni.
Since March 1st, volunteers have been offering food and support for people arriving at the train station. This initiative teamed up people of diverse jobs and communities, but STAN has been among those who started. STAN also is developing the programs of psychological and legal support, working on educational projects for children in partner shelters.
Non-governmental organization “National Ecological Center of Ukraine” (NECU), WG3 UNP, has launched an indefinite campaign to raise funds to support Ukrainians and Territorial Defense Forces (TDF) of Ukraine locally to approach our common victory of good over evil.
– NECU collect information about the local needs of the people and the TDF
– NECU monitor the availability of goods (from the list of needs) elsewhere: in Ukraine, Europe, the world.
– NECU pay for the goods and their delivery to the destination either directly or through our sponsors, as well as monitor its receipt by the final addressee.
Volunteers from Chernihiv, who live around the world, have joined the Iron Fist of Chernihiv initiative to save their hometown. “Ukrainian Prism” (members of WG1 UNP) also comes from Chernihiv and joined the network.
Members of the Ukrainian Prism team initiated humanitarian aid to Chernihiv residents.
To help, women’s rights organisation “Centre Women’s Perspectives” (WG1 UNP) has turned their domestic violence shelter (Lviv, in western Ukraine) into an emergency shelter for refugees.
The organisation is specialised in dealing with gender-based violence and has now shifted its work to providing urgent humanitarian assistance to refugees. In their bigger premises, they can house 30-50 people. They have also converted their office space into an emergency shelter for an additional 10 people since accommodation is extremely difficult to find.
Alongside beds, food and bathing facilities, Centre Women’s Perspectives also provide urgent psychological support. Many people who arrive at their shelters are traumatised by the effects of the war.