In the ongoing war in Ukraine, Russian shelling consistently targets civilian infrastructure, including critical objects like power plants and electrical facilities. As a result, power banks, generators and other power sources are some of the most critical items in besieged cities where active fighting is taking place. Nova Ukraine has purchased 17 gas-powered generators which have been delivered from Cherkasy to Chernihiv General Hospital where electricity and heat are currently out. Our volunteers had to transport the generators across the Desna river by boat, because all the bridges in the area have been destroyed.
Sadly, while delivering these generators to Chernihiv, one of the vehicles in the convoy was hit and destroyed by Russian troops killing two volunteers. The very next day, 5 other evacuation vans were again targeted by Russian missiles in continued attacks on aid workers. A young woman who was driving one of the buses was killed, while others were severely injured. The volunteers who delivered our generators were trapped in the besieged city of Chernihiv until Russian forces were pushed from the area.
Nova Ukraine team is heartbroken for the brave volunteers who lost their lives undertaking the dangerous task of bringing life saving supplies to Chernihiv, for their loved ones who mourn them, as well as for the citizens of Chernihiv who were trapped under heavy shelling with no capability to get additional supplies to them.
Nova Ukraine is highly concerned with volunteer safety. We compare known threats to our volunteers’ delivery routes and we require that emergencies are reported to us, in addition to the regular delivery reports. Thankfully, access to the region was restored by Ukrainian troops and we can continue our supply deliveries to Chernihiv. We take every measure possible to keep our volunteers safe despite operating in an active war zone.
