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Almost saints. The stories of Ukrainian volunteers

Ukrainian volunteers. Photo: Oleksandr Lemenov
International Volunteer Day is celebrated on December 5th since 1985. The word “volunteer” has a special meaning now in Ukraine. The Euromaidan protests of 2013-2014 were driven by thousands of volunteers self-organizing into movements and initiatives. From that time on, volunteers in Ukraine and beyond are building their country, often doing better than the state institutions, and sometimes paying with their lives. For the third year in a row, the EuromaidanSOS volunteer awards honored these ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
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An exhibition held on in Vienna in April 2014 featured one of the most famous posters of the Euromaidan revolution, “I am a drop in the ocean.” Photo: RFE/RL

“There was an expression on Euromaidan, ‘I am a drop in the ocean’ – each one of us stepped in to do what was needed and not expecting anything in return. Then, the volunteer movement was born in Ukraine,” said Oleksandra Matviychuk, Euromaidan SOS coordinator at the opening of the awards on 30 November 2016.

The three years that followed were a test for Ukrainian society. Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and hybrid war in Donbas directly after the victory of the Euromaidan revolution had many volunteers leave from the barricades of Euromaidan directly to Donbas to fight against Russian-backed separatists. As the Ukrainian state was paralyzed from years of looting and mismanagement, the volunteer soldiers of the early days were funded and prepared for battle almost exclusively by another army of volunteers procuring everything from first aid kits to infrared visors to chocolate.

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Volunteers at the Euromaidan SOS volunteer awards ceremony. Photo: Euromaidan SOS

Often, they are invisible and don’t want to take credit for what they do. They also burn out and return to their regular life, which is why there is a feeling that the volunteer movement is waning. But a single “thank you” helps, as does the understanding that your work is needed. That is why the Euromaidan SOS volunteer awards were established – to highlight the volunteer movement and show that volunteers are doing very important work, told Palina Brodik, one of the organizers of the awards.

This year, more than 112 volunteers were nominated, up from 83 nominations in 2015. The jury, which included the winners of last years’ contest chose three, and one was given an Audience Choice Award.

For the strength of spirit

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Photo: Euromaidan SOS

Starting from 2014, Anton Dubishin supports soldiers in the military hospital, inspiring them to fight for their recovery with his example. By making decorative crafts, he sells them and buys the necessary medical supplies for the military hospital. All his life, Anton struggles against a difficult illness which makes movement of almost all muscles difficult for him. But this “peculiarity,” as Anton call his illness, didn’t prevent him from becoming a volunteer. Recently, he organized the event “Invite a defender to chill out,” paying for the billiard and pizza from his own pension. He was worried that the soldiers wouldn’t come, but they did and were impressed by his hospitality.

Together with other people like him, he organized a creative group that earlier gave concerts in schools, and now gives them in military hospitals.

“We decided to call ourselves ‘From the special to the special,’ because they, the military people, are special people that went to war, defending not the people in power, but the people and their homeland. And we are special boys and girls: despite our physical capabilities, we show that life is a cool thing,” Anton said.

For him, this is a personal statement. In 2008, five men told him in a grocery store that such people as him should be kept at home.

“I asked myself: why does society despise me? I am not an invalid, a cripple; I am a person just like you. So I went against the system,” Anton shared at the ceremony. “I created three rules for myself. Accept yourself the way you are; believe in yourself and your abilities; and society will accept you.”

Although recently more efforts for increasing accessibility and inclusiveness are being made, people with disabilities remain largely marginalized Ukraine.

For making sure Ukraine doesn’t forget its own

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Photo: Euromaidan SOS

For some, volunteering means doing anything to free your loved ones from captivity. After her brother was imprisoned in the 2014 battle of Debaltseve, Liudmyla Hlondar has dedicated herself to the campaign to free Ukrainian POWs kept captive in the “LNR” and “DNR,” who for more than 600 days they are on the brink of life and death. She organizing the family members of the other prisoners to and has become their spokeswoman. More than anything, Liudmyla said at the award, the campaign needs support: joining demonstrations, initiatives, requests.

There are at least 109 POWs imprisoned in the Russian-backed separatist “republics.” Despite the exchange of hostages on the “everyone for everyone” basis being part of the Minsk agreements, it is going slowly and many Ukrainians have basically become hostages, as the Russian side insists their release be postponed until the implementation of the political clauses of the Minsk agreements.

Read more: Ukrainian hostages in the “LNR” and “DNR: The price of life

For the self-sacrifice that saves lives

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Photo: Euromaidan SOS

Many volunteering efforts fall apart. It takes an efficient manager to create a long-running project. Iryna Huk from Narodnyi Tyl [“The Home Front’], a group that has the back of the soldiers that have Ukraine’s back, managed to create an efficient system that will last for long. Iryna works on the projects “Medicine of the Home Front” and “Children of the Home Front.” Medicine of the Home Front procures and sends first aid kits to the soldiers front, as well as materials for military doctors and medicine for the hospitals at the frontline. Thanks to Iryna, the sanitary instructors of the Ukrainian army have equipped medical backpacks and intensive care ambulances have medical equipment. She also organizes aid for children of the killed soldiers.

“Iryna does not believe in ceremonies and did not come to the ceremony, being true to herself to the end. The importance of what she is doing cannot be overstated, and I hope that the government takes over its functions, and she can dedicate her energy to what pleases her,” said Yevheniya Zakrevska, last years’ winner of the Euromaidan SOS volunteer awards, when announcing the nomination.

Read more about Narodnyi Tyl: Verified ways to help Ukraine

When $5 are worth a million

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Anybody can be a volunteer – proven by 80-year old Askold Naumets (pictured with his wife), who each month for three years in a row comes to bring a UAH 100 ($5) donation from his pension to a famous volunteer center in Kyiv [the average pension in Ukraine is UAH 1900 ($75), barely enough to cover food – Ed]. For him, this is a lot of money, but the cause is fundamentally important. Even though he is becoming tired in the last year and is lsing his eyesight, he comes in any weather and helps in any way he can.

“All his life now is in the participation in the life of the country. We think it’s important to notice extraordinary people around us,” the organizers of the award noted.

The organizers of the Awards stress that their goal is not to establish who is the best, but to give support and recognition to the many volunteers that show “what it means to have a truly big heart.” Each person that was nominated received a symbolic award.

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The volunteers were awarded pendants featuring a winged Ukrainian trident. Photo: Euromaidan Press

War still most pressing issue

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A Ukrainian soldier’s reaction to underwear of the “Combat seamstresses”

As Russia’s hybrid war in Donbas still remains Ukraine’s most pressing issue, war-related activities are still the main direction for volunteering this year, from efforts to procure sophisticated military equipment to initiatives like the “Women’s sotnia,” which makes camouflage nets for the frontline, or “Combat seamstresses,” which sew colorful (and spirit-lifting) underwear for soldiers at the front.

Still, as the government albeit slowly, but takes over some of the procurement problems, mental and physical rehabilitation of soldiers and civilians who suffered from the war becomes a prominent topic.

“Art therapy is increasingly more popular for these means, and the programs are becoming more complex and systematic,” told Anastasiya Chernoshtan, an organizer of the Awards.

Help also come from abroad – one of those nominated for this years’ award is Ivica Pirić, a retired football player from Croatia that organized the rehabilitation of 900 Ukrainian children and soldiers in his home country. A persona non grata in Russia, he is now the honorary consul of Croatia in Ukraine. “Croatia has lived through everything that Ukraine is going through now. I understand the horror very well,” he explained his interest at the ceremony.

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Ivica Pirić at the Volunteer Awards. Photo: Euromaidan Press

Some of the stories of the volunteers are fit for a film scenario.

“The story of Halyna Almazova impressed me the most,” Anastasiya told. “She was a professional racer, competing to be the first to drive to the finish line. She went to the front and became a paramedic, now also competing for speed by driving the wounded to hospitals. Her reward now is not an abstract prize, but a saved life. Or a woman that sold her valuables to go to the conflict zone. She received a list of items that needed to be procured for the soldiers of a battalion, and couldn’t gather the necessary funds, so she sold her own precious items.”

Many initiatives from Euromaidan grew into full-fledged funds, like the well-known Diana Makarova fund, of NGOs – like Crimea SOS which started as a volunteer initiative and now is a human rights organization working to adapt Crimean refugees and help the Crimean diaspora and political prisoners. Euromaidan SOS itself also such an example, which now deals with a wide specter of human rights issues, such as the LetMyPeopleGo campaign, which advocates for the return of Ukrainians illegally imprisoned in Russia on political motives.

Volunteer stories are inspiring, but provoke the question: the second year into the war, are volunteers doing the work that the Ukrainian government is supposed to be doing?

In an interview to Radio Svoboda, Nataliya Voronkova, herself a volunteer and advisor to Ukraine’s deputy Defense Minister, said that there shouldn’t be any problems with food, fatigues, or medicine. But the Ministry still does not procure specific equipment, such as infrared visors and noise-cancelling heandpones, which prevent hearing loss of artillery soldiers by muffling sounds from gunfire. This can save lives, beause the soldiers hear their enemy at the front. There can never be too much of small goodies like candies and spices, antiviral drugs, as well as children’s hand-made drawings and letters. As well, the vehicles that volunteers purchased for the army need to be maintained by volunteer efforts: they are still not on the balance sheet of any Ministry.

“The state is catching up, but not fast enough. Volunteers work better than the state. They care about the people they are helping, and that makes their activities more effective,” Anastasiya Chernoshtan suggested.

Perhaps that is why volunteers are the most trusted category of Ukrainians. According to a poll conducted by the Razumkov Center in May 2016, 63.7% of Ukrainians trust volunteers (the army, church, and NGOs got, respectively, 61.8%, 60.5%, and 46.8%). Meanwhile, the local governments had a trust rating of 37.5% and the President – only 24.3%.

“We are all responsible for what is happening in the country. That is why we are all doing what we are doing for three years in a row. If we stop, it will all stop,” Oksana Voropai, who volunteers with rehabilitating soldiers, told at the ceremony.

 

 

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January 18: A Peace March in Kyiv

January 18 – 4 Ukrainian military were killed and 32 wounded by the Russian terrorists in the ATO are in the last 24 hours, -informed NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

January 18 – 138 ceasefire violations were recorded in the ATO area in the last 24 hours according to a report by OSCE observer mission.

January 18 – Ukrainians have held mass peace rallies "Je suis Volnovakha" in cities of Ukraine and abroad. The rally is similar to recent rally agains terrorism held in Paris.

January 18 – Terrorists have shelled the city of Vuhlehirsk, which is under protection of Ukrainian army. Terrorists have used "Grad" multiple rocket launcher and fired from Yenakieve direction. Two children, brothers aged 7 and 16 were killed by a direct hit in their family home. A girl aged 8, their sister, was also injured and is being treated at the hospital, – informed the Head of Oblast Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vyacheslav Abroskin.

January 18 – Militants have decided to carry out forced mobilization of the "office workers", – informed NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko – "The leaders of the armed group "People's Republic of Donetsk" have decided to forcibly enlist employees of businesses that operate in the temporarily occupied territories and choose not to fund terrorists, in the ranks of illegal armed groups".

January 18 – Terrorists continue to shell residential buildings in Donetsk oblast, there are victims among civilians, including children, – informed the Head of Oblast Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vyacheslav Abroskin.

January 18 – On Sunday in Kyiv a Peace March commemorating the memory of the casualties of the bus which was struck by the shots of separatists near Volnovakha. The march began at the Taras Sevchenko monument and continued to Independence Square where at 3:00 PM a memorial service was prayed. Some 10,000 people participated in the Commemorative March.

President Petro Poroshenko who took part in the Peace March in Kyiv, expressed his certainty that Ukraine will regain complete control of Donbas: "We will not give up even an inch of Ukrainian land. We will return Donbas, we will regenerate Ukrainianism in Donbas, we will demonstrate that one of the extremely important elements of our victory is our unity with you," said Poroshenko, in his remarks on the Maidan after the funeral prayers for those who perished near Volnovakha.

January 18 – The idea espoused by Russia about ceasing the transit of gas through Ukraine and crossing over to a "Turkey route" by 2020 is a fantasy and it is not meant to be realized – Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine to the Turkish Republic, Serhiy Korsunskyj.

The Russian proposal involves the following. The underground part of the pipe from the compression point of Russkaya station will be redirected instead of to the Bulgarian harbor Burgas, to the European part of Turkey to the west of Stambul. Of 63 million cubic meters of the stated capacity of the pipe, approximately 14 million are directed towards the inner consumption of Turkey. The rest, almost 50 million, are delivered to the Turkish-Greek border and reach EU.

"Gasprom plans to build the "Turkish Stream" in circumstances when in Europe very soon there will enter into usage three new terminals which receive a diluted gas of the general strength up to 10 million cubic meters. Besides this, Turkey and Azerbaidjan have already begun the construction of the gas route TANAP, in which 10 million cubic meters will reach Germany and then Italy through the gas route TAP," notes the Ambassador. He also reminds all that on the basis of the continuous decrease of the level of consumption of natural gas in Europe (in 2011: by 10%; in 2012: by 2%; in 2013: by 1.4%), it is expected that on the European market the excess of the flowing gas will appear on the European market.

According to Konsunskyi, "the fairy tale" about the Turkish Stream isneeded by Putin in order to show on the inner market that: "Look, Russia remains the key player and there is no isolation -

China, India, and Turkey are with us."

Zakharchenko, ex-Minister of Interior of Ukraine working with Putin's close associate

Bishop Gudziak and seminarists carol in Paris metro

P.S.: Please spread this appeal as much as possible.

January 20: Ukraine plans to bring a case against Russia before international courts on violation of the Convention on the Financing of Terrorism

January 20 – No Ukrainian military have died in the ATO area in the last 24 hours, – informed NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

January 20 – Led by Russian army professional, Russian terrorists are being transferred from Luhansk oblast closer to Donetsk. Amid the aggravation in the conflict area in the Donbas, Russian military leaders are trying to organize cooperation between terrorist organizations of so called Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Also in Luhansk the militants are being replaced with proper Russian servicemen.

January 20 – Approximately 800 Russian servicemen have entered Ukraine on Monday, January 19th – they all are a part of two battalion task forces, – informed NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

January 20 – Five Russians were arrested on suspicion of terrorist attack in French city of Beziers. All of them are of Chechen origin.

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January 20 – Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine emphasizes that the scheduled trilateral meeting of the contact group in Minsk was disrupted by the representatives of the so-called People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, – stated the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin (as a result of Putin's orders, no doubt).

January 20 – Ukraine plans to bring a case against Russia before international courts on violation of the Convention on the Financing of Terrorism, – said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin.

January 20 – A bridge was blown up under a freight train in Zaporizhia oblast. The train was destined for Volnovakha. 10 out of 30 cars fell off the rails. According to preliminary data, there have been no victims.

January 20 – Experts have placed Ukraine on the 21st step in the world rating of the most strong armies among 106 countries. This is provided by Global Firepower rating. In compiling the rating, experts took into account 50 elements. In this rating Russia holds a 2nd place, immediately behind U.S. Army which holds the 1st place. in the 3rd place is China, followed by India, Great Britain, France, Germany, Turkey, and South Korea. Ukraine is placed between Australia (20th place) and Iran (22nd place). As the experts of Global Firepower noted, the Ukrainian army still bears the marks of the soviet era, although in a modernized version.

P.S.: Please spread this appeal as much as possible.