Since the escalation of the war in February 2022, until mid-October 2024, nearly 6.8 million refugees4 from Ukraine have been recorded – 92 per cent of them in Europe. Inside Ukraine, an estimated 3.6 million people5 remain internally displaced as of October 2024.
Among the most vulnerable are also an estimated 12.6 million as of March 2025 people who were not displaced from their homes but who have been directly affected by the war – they have been wounded, their homes have been destroyed, their family members died.
Civilian infrastructure, such as power grids, water supply networks. hospitals transportation infrastructure, have been targeted by the daily missile attacks, severely disrupting people’s lives across the whole country, and particularly in the East.
27.02.2022
WE HAVE REACHED THE UKRAINIAN SIDE!!! When you don’t know that something can’t be done, you just do it. This simple rule has proven its worth many times before. Today we spent the night on the Ukrainian side near Budomierz. We helped several hundred people by handing out warm blankets, food and, above all, several hundred litres of hot tea.
What people need above all is to warm themselves up. They are freezing and exhausted. Hundreds of people waiting to cross without any shelter, in temperatures of six degrees below zero. Mothers with children. Men embracing their wives and tenderly kissing their children. This is where they part, as they are about to go back to fight. Many of them come from Kiev and the eastern parts of the country. Some left home 2 or 3 days ago. They had to walk the final leg of the journey to the border for three hours, along a queue of cars that stretched for miles.
We spent the whole night here. We were alone on the Ukrainian side of the border. It is here that those fleeing the war spend several hours at a time. When they finally reach Poland, they enter a well-organised network of aid. Our border guards are the first to reach out to them, keeping the formalities and crossing time to a minimum (on the Ukrainian side the procedures take a lot longer). Later, they are greeted by assistance fuelled by Polish hospitality. This is coordinated aid, prepared by humanitarian organisations or state institutions, as well as grassroots aid, organised by people whose solidarity would not allow them to stay at home.
We ended the night with the confidence that today we were exactly where we needed to be. In just a few hours, we took care of several hundred people. After meeting with us, they had one last stretch of about 2 km to the border crossing ahead of them. In a few hours, they would be safe.
The “Help Ukraine!” fundraiser continues! Join us!
30.01.2024
Smart Charity – Using Technology to Make a Difference The usage and expenses related to new technologies have dominated the business world, and this trend extends to non-profit organizations. What technological solutions are used in non-profit organizations? What are the characteristics of Smart Charity? Smart Charity is a new concept describing a modern and agile […]
12.06.2023
To our questions about estimated casualty numbers, the most common answer is: “A lot! On both sides!”. Exactly how many no one knows, because getting aid to the occupied territories is like asking the aggressor for an open day in his trenches. On the 11th of June, the Russians fired on a boat with civilians […]
02.05.2023
What if this was your neighbourhood? If, between the billowing smoke, you spotted the ruins of the grocery store where you had shopped since you were a child? To which your mother would still send you with a list written in pencil on a piece of paper so you wouldn’t forget anything? Bachmut had more […]
