Assistance in the temporary occupation

Despite the constant pressure, lack of electricity, medicine and necessities, limited information, and constant propaganda, Ukrainians under temporary occupation continue to fight. Though, for security reasons, we cannot talk about the resistance movement and activism in the temporarily occupied territories publicly, we admire the strength of the volunteers who resist the occupiers and take care of those around them. 

We continue to coordinate the volunteer community in the temporarily occupied Berdyansk, Skadovsk, Nova Kakhovka, Kakhovka, and Mariupol. Together with our volunteer community, we are working on key areas:

Humanitarian aid. Our priority is to provide humanitarian aid and necessities for children, large families and socially vulnerable groups, including food packages, water, medicine, hygiene products, baby food, etc.

Evacuation. Evacuation from the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) is currently possible only through the temporarily occupied territories and the russian federation. We support the “Humanity” volunteer initiative that helps Ukrainians evacuate.

Search of missing indivisuals. In response to requests from our partners at the Kateryna Osadcha Charitable Foundation, volunteers in the temporarily occupied cities help find information about the missing individuals and pass it on to their families.

Support for volunteers. Volunteers in temporarily occupied territories face challenges and risks to their safety, such as persecution, the need to evacuate, problems with documents, etc. We seek resources and provide the support that volunteers need in difficult circumstances.

Crisis response. There are often large-scale emergencies where more involvement and assistance are needed, such as the terrorist attack on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. During this crisis, we helped the volunteers in the occupation not only financially, but also with coordination and information.

We continue to coordinate the volunteer community in the temporarily occupied Berdyansk, Skadovsk, Nova Kakhovka, Kakhovka, and Mariupol. Together with our volunteer community, we are working on key areas:

Humanitarian aid. Our priority is to provide humanitarian aid and necessities for children, large families and socially vulnerable groups, including food packages, water, medicine, hygiene products, baby food, etc.

Evacuation. Evacuation from the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) is currently possible only through the temporarily occupied territories and the russian federation. We support the “Humanity” volunteer initiative that helps Ukrainians evacuate.

Search of missing indivisuals. In response to requests from our partners at the Kateryna Osadcha Charitable Foundation, volunteers in the temporarily occupied cities help find information about the missing individuals and pass it on to their families.

Support for volunteers. Volunteers in temporarily occupied territories face challenges and risks to their safety, such as persecution, the need to evacuate, problems with documents, etc. We seek resources and provide the support that volunteers need in difficult circumstances.

Crisis response. There are often large-scale emergencies where more involvement and assistance are needed, such as the terrorist attack on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. During this crisis, we helped the volunteers in the occupation not only financially, but also with coordination and information.

Support volunteers in occupation

Mental Health support

Throughout the project, we have been providing opportunities for both individual and group psychological counseling and therapy. Currently, the volunteers can get help from the Right to Protection charitable foundation by filling out the registration form.

Learn more

Legal support

Together with the non-governmental organization YurShtab, we have launched an opportunity to get free legal advice for volunteers. You can use the chatbot to submit a request and get help with volunteering or personal safety issues.

Receive the lawyer сonsultation

Volunteer Retreat

We organize retreats to restore, ground, and stabilize the emotional state of volunteers. They take place in two formats: a six-day retreat in the Carpathians and a four-day retreat in the Kyiv region.  

The retreat program includes practical psychological sessions, art therapy and artistic practices, volunteer networking, creative evenings, quizzes, walks in the picturesque mountains and forests, and much more.

Volunteering safely

Since volunteering has become one of the dangerous activities, together with the online education studio EdEra, we have developed a course called “Save, Don't Risk” where you can master the theoretical basis of physical, psychological and digital safety during the war.

Learn more

Educational program

We regularly conduct educational intensives for volunteers who provide assistance on the frontline, liberated and temporarily occupied territories. Experts teach management, communications, and fundraising in volunteer activities. Each participant has the opportunity to receive funding for their own project.

Internal communication channel for the сommunity

We have created a separate safe and secure space for the volunteers of the Blyzki community to stay in touch, quickly build capacity and maximize support opportunities. To become a part of our warm environment, fill out the application form — for security reasons, participants are added by the moderator only after a thorough check of the answers in the form, social networks etc.

Join the channel

“On February 24, I was in the city of Sumy. I decided not to leave. But sitting at home and doing nothing is not for me either.”

Oksana Malchenko's story 

Read

“The guys and I met at the provider's office and started sharing our impressions. No one knew anything. We hoped that the Ukrainian armed Forces were somewhere nearby and that we should help them. What else could we do?”

Yevhen Petrov's story

Read

“Interaction based on trust, support for the motivation of the volunteer community, and a sense of being supported - all this becomes the key to the resilience of both individual volunteers and the entire volunteer movement as a whole.” 

Natalia Kalantayenko on motivating volunteers

Read

“Taking care of yourself - the so-called oxygen mask - will allow you to continue helping others.”

How to help those who help others: material from Yulia Didula and Vira Pasishniuk 

Read