We stand in solidarity with Ukraine’s citizens as they bravely fight for their right to live in a sovereign country and determine its fate; as they endure uncertainty, fear, and concern for their loved ones; and as they upend their lives to escape immediate danger. We aim to keep their voices front and center, through their own accounts and the stories of volunteers working to help them.
Voices From Ukraine
Through raw and honest accounts, Ukrainians share what life is like in a country at war against an invader and what they want us to know.
Today, on the one-year after of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I look back and see what a difficult, tragic, sometimes unspeakably horrific path of transformation I, and perhaps the whole of Ukraine, have gone through.
Kseniia, psychologist, 38 years old.
Feb 24, 2023
Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine has shifted the lives of Ukrainians irrevocably on personal and societal levels. As Ukraine closes in on one full year of war, people have had to adjust to an aggressive new climate, reconstruct their habits and work schedules, and mentally acclimate to a harsh new reality.
Dmytro and Boris, medical
professionals, Kyiv region. Dec 2022
Today I saw tanks passing by my building. They looked dirty, outdated and out of place. Although I knew they must have been on the way to the military base right outside of the city, it was unsettling to see.
Regina L, Mykolaiv, age 50. March-May
Volunteering from Ukraine
Volunteer work takes many shapes and forms. Learn how others are making a difference for Ukraine and the individuals whose lives are uprooted by war.
On top of the overwhelming task of trying to alleviate industrial-scale violence, aid work can have negative consequences that must be combatted as well, such as corruption and undermining a fragile local economy. But the answer is very simple: work amongst those on the ground from within. They know how to address these problems within the nuanced context of their localities. All Ukrainians need right now is your help to empower the solutions they have already come up with.
Britta Ellwanger, Ian Crookston, and John Vsetecka, March 2023
The war has reminded me of New York City after 9/11, where I lived and worked at the time. A day or two after that massive attack, we all just went back to work and did our best to be productive while slowly try to come to terms with the horror of what had just happened. Looking at this current war through the eyes of Ukrainian psychologists, I realized they are having something like a 9/11 every day for a year and counting.
Alexander A. Lupis, March 2023
The memories of my time volunteering on the Romanian border with Ukraine are vivid and indelible; the piercing screams of children, still haunted by the echoes of bombs. Firsthand accounts from children telling me about watching their grandparents bleed out as they were too slow to reach a bomb shelter once the bombs started falling. The sight of individuals so traumatized that they were unable to speak.
David Kirichenko,
January 2023
I felt as if I were living in a Kafka novel. There is war going on, people fleeing occupation and artillery fire. They urgently need medicine for their wounds, they need food and clothes. And here I am, stuck with this foundation and making sure that all the receipts are all right and they all amount precisely to a necessary sum (not one cent more, not one cent less) that we were given.
Dafna Rachok, September 2022
If anyone takes a lesson from my experience, I hope they learn that we can all do something. I cannot go to Ukraine and fight against Russia. I cannot go to Poland and help process refugees. However, I can use the tools I have at my disposal to keep the West’s public eye on Ukraine and highlight the deeply disturbing repetition of Russian falsehoods in public discourse.
Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, August 2022