Evacuating Families From Eastern Ukraine
The residents of Donetsk and Luhansk are no strangers to war. These eastern regions of Ukraine have been a focal point of active fighting and continuous skirmishes for the last eight years, after Russia first invaded and illegally annexed Crimea. Ever since it has attempted to do the same to the entire eastern part of Ukraine. But residents have not seen this level of all-out war or experienced this level of shelling of civilian targets until now. Today, your donations support critical humanitarian aid and life-saving evacuations in these front-line cities. Her evacuation to safety happened in the nick of time. Liudmyla holds on tight to her infant grandchild as she boards a bus to safety with her daughter, the baby, and her teenage grandson. She recounts how Angels of Salvation, a volunteer organization funded by Nova Ukraine, picked them up from the embattled village of Svyatohirs’k just one hour before a Russian rocket blew up their home to smithereens. “We had already evacuated from Bohorodychne,” Liudmyla says. “When the war started we left and came to Svyatohirs’k. And then things became so terrible there that after last night we decided to leave.” Shortly after speaking with volunteers, Liudmyla received news that her house had been hit by a direct rocket strike and completely destroyed. If it wasn’t for Angels of Salvation, Liudmyla and her family might not have survived. It’s for the sake of families like hers that the 60 volunteers with Angels of Salvation risk their lives every day, driving to and from areas of active fighting in eastern Ukraine. Since the start of the war, they have evacuated more than 15,000 people and delivered them to safety in cities in central and western Ukraine. With your continued support, Angels of Salvation can continue to save the lives of families like Liudmyla’s.