Ukraine continues battling the aggressor and inflicting heavy damage on land, in the air and on the seas, as well as diplomatically. Support for Ukraine from democratic countries on four continents has grown and improved qualitatively. To do our part, Nova Ukraine raised over $15M in monetary donations as of April 11, 2022, and spent $12.4M. As of this week, we have shipped over 65 metric tons of medical supplies to Ukraine, of which 25 tons were donated by the medical community.
As the war continues with no end in sight, Nova Ukraine is shifting from crisis response to sustained operations, with a renewed emphasis on providing basic supplies, refugee support, and psychological services for the survivors of the horrors inflicted by Russian occupiers. As the war enters its second month, your support is more critical than ever. Analysts predict that Ukraine is in for a long battle, and so are we.
Our impact to date
Our spending to date is summarized below by category:
Supporting Factories in Ukraine
We have learned that our American dollars go very far in Ukraine, making it much more cost effective to source easy-to-find supplies in Ukraine and surrounding countries, rather than attempting to ship supplies from the United States or Europe. Our shipping expenses are dedicated primarily to those medical supplies and equipment which are no longer available in Ukraine or even Europe.
Meanwhile, our “Basic Needs” spending has been focused on buying food, hygiene items, and baby products on the ground in Ukraine and working with volunteers to distribute them, funding operations as small as a single grocery run to serve a neighborhood and as large as a street kitchen that serves over 15,000 meals a day.
Now, we have a new funding focus: Factories and local producers.
Supporting factories in Ukraine instead of shipping goods from abroad is not only cost effective, but it also helps Ukraine three-fold by: feeding Ukrainians, keeping locals employed, and supporting the local economy as we work towards a post-war future. We are currently supporting 20 factories located in 9 regions of Ukraine. This includes critical areas that have been recently surrounded or occupied by Russian forces, such as Chernihiv, Kherson, and Mykolaiv.
Supported by Nova Ukraine funding, these factories are producing over 430 metric tons of foodstuff, including 72,000 ready-to-eat meals and 85,000 loaves of bread, as well as fresh milk, butter, flour, cereal, and even cookies and cakes for the Easter holiday. In addition to delivering locally within their cities and regions, factories are also providing aid to besieged areas of Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia.
Workers in Mykolaiv Factory Continue Working Despite Shelling
Nova Ukraine is proud to support Shamil Molichiev and his workers in Mykolaiv. Shamil owns AMINA, one of the largest grain mills in Southern Ukraine. His team kept their factory running and producing grains and grain-based foods, including flour, pasta, and baked goods, to feed the people of Ukraine during the war. Since their work is interrupted nearly every day by air raids, they have adapted their operations to allow machines to keep milling even as workers hide in bunkers during attacks.
“We know how much responsibility is on our shoulders. We’re going to continue working until (inaudible) gets conquered. I don’t know, or the facilities are bombed. As long as we’re alive and we’re here and we have work, we’re going to continue working.“
Shamil Molichiev in his interview with The Journal podcast.
After producing and packaging the goods, AMINA workers deliver the food to city residents using any mode of transport available – including trucks, vans and even their own personal vehicles. Nova Ukraine’s $50,000 grant to AMINA allowed them to stay in operation, and consequently, funded the production and delivery of 63 metric tons of flour, dried pasta, and fresh baked goods to the residents of Mykolaiv.
Our factory partners assemble food packages for Ukrainian refugees at evacuation depots. Shown below are some of the happy recipients of fresh bread and warm soup, as well as a look into how food is delivered – by school bus!
Workers in Cherkasy are sewing sleeping bags for our partners in Ukraine. The children of the workers participated by painting pictures to include in the delivered sleeping bags.
Supplying Bread to Chernihiv via Zipline
A small Kyiv-based bakery received a Nova Ukraine grant to purchase 2,000 kg of flour to bake bread and give away to the civilians. In the photo below you can see how a transfer of bread was organized for then occupied Chernihiv using a makeshift zipline.
Heartwarming News from Bucha
Nova Ukraine supported our partners “Герда” and “КЦ” who delivered aid to the recently liberated town of Bucha.