A humanitarian NGO based in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv is seeking to find sponsors as it expands its operations in the outskirts of the city.
The NGO is the same one interviewed by The Malta Independent a few weeks ago.
TMI journalists Neil Camilleri and Giuseppe Attard and Ukrainian press officer Liza Kozlenko were accompanying two of the NGO’s members when they came under Russian artillery fire on 22 May.
The ‘Association for the Protection of Human Rights in Ukraine, Osnovyansky Unit’ was founded by Galina Kharlamova and her partner Sergii earlier this year, although the couple have been volunteering since the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014.
The couple had explained to this newsroom how they founded the NGO when the Russian army attacked Kharkiv in March of this year. When The Malta Independent met with the group in May, they were operating from a primary school in Kharkiv.
They explained that the NGO’s growing number of volunteers were focusing mainly on the city’s Saltivka district, which bore the brunt of the Russian offensive and sustained enormous damage.
The volunteers not only deliver food, medicine and other supplies to residents who are stranded in their homes, without water and electricity, but also perform extractions of elderly and infirm persons from their bombed-out homes. The volunteers often have to carry these people by hand several floors.
Galina and Sergii (right), during an interview with The Malta Independent in May
They also travel to villages in the outskirts of Kharkiv to deliver humanitarian aid. Some of the volunteers have lost their own homes in the fighting, yet they have found other places to live and spend their days helping others.
The volunteers had explained that they rely on donations of money and supplies to be able to distribute humanitarian aid to those in need. Their situation was already dire in May, but now it has become even worse.
Despite the problems they are facing, the volunteers are expanding their humanitarian efforts to other areas, including to villages that are located in the so-called ‘grey zones’, which are not yet completely under Ukrainian control.
Currently, heavy fighting is still underway in this part of the country, which is located close to the Russian border, and several of these villages are still getting shelled on a constant basis. Yet the volunteers still brave the Russian artillery to get to stranded citizens and deliver much-needed supplies to those who have chosen to stay in their homes or who simply have nowhere else to go. While the group is not short of volunteers, it is in desperate need of money and supplies.
The NGO has reached out to The Malta Independent, asking this newsroom to help it seek Maltese companies or individuals who are willing to donate or to sponsor to the NGO on a longer-term.
Galina explained that the NGO distributes some 250 to 350 packages per week, which include cereals, sugar, oil, meat, pasta, biscuits, flour and vegetables.
Each package costs around 425 hryvnias (€13.75).
Personal hygiene products cost around €6.50.
The group sometimes receives items like medicines, diapers and baby food, but food items are the most difficult to get.
“Unfortunately, most of these people depend on us. “We will continue for as long as possible because Kharkiv is still under constant shelling - our help is needed. “We need to keep on doing this for at least two to three months,” Galina said, adding that without help, the NGO will not be able to reach its targets.
She explained that the NGO needs to raise around €35,000 per week. To sustain its operations over a three-month period, the total amounts to over €420,000.
Anyone who is interested in helping these volunteers and the Ukrainian families affected by the war may send funds to the organisation by bank transfer on the following Ukrainian account: 5354 3210 2049 1586 Kharlamova Galina/Ukrsibbank, or by PayPal on: [email protected]
The NGO has recently launched its Instagram account - @volonter_68_kharkiv