The Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Ukraine (ADRA Ukraine) reports, for calendar week 26, that it has distributed food to 1,200 people in Kharkiv and some 480,000 loaves of bread in various regions - supported by the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) - in cooperation with a regional youth organisation. In addition, the disaster relief organisation operates 27 free bus routes for the population in the eastern parts of the country. In Butsha, where Russian occupiers committed massacres, ADRA offers psychological help.
Food aid in the Kharkiv region
During the reporting week, in cooperation with the regional youth organisation "Kharkivskyi tsentr volonteriv", ADRA provided food, medicine, household items, etc. to more than 1,200 people in the Kharkiv region, formerly the second largest city in Ukraine, 40 kilometres from the Russian border. In addition to Kharkiv, the youth organisation works in several municipalities in the region.
Free bus rides and evacuations from crisis areas
So far, 4,689 people have been evacuated from crisis areas in the country, especially from the embattled regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, he said. As part of the humanitarian transport project, another bus route was opened in the Stepnenska municipality in Zaporizhzhya (eastern Ukraine) with the support of the Humanitarian Fund of Ukraine. Since June 24, ADRA Ukraine has been providing uninterrupted service for 27 free bus routes in six municipalities ofthe Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kharkiv regions.
The rural area around Zaporizhzhya is now home to about six thousand residents, including many internally displaced people who were forced to leave their homes due to fighting. "After February 24, all transport links to some of the remote villages in our municipality are missing," says village head Vyacheslav Lyubimenko. He says the free bus rides provided by ADRA are very helpful to them. Locals and displaced people could visit social services, the hospital, pharmacies, and shops this way.
Food aid in Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, Odessa and Zaporizhzhya
Food aid from ADRA Ukraine, which is supported by the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), distributed 480,700 loaves of bread in Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, Odessa, and Zaporizhzhya. 11,824 food packages were delivered in Kyiv, Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, and Donetsk. According to thedisaster relief agency, packages with basic foodstuffs as well as baby food continue to be distributed.
Psychologists teach practices to stabilise emotional state
ADRA Ukraine psychologists have started a new cycle of meetings for residents of Butsha, 25 kilometres northwest of the capital Kiev, who lost their loved ones and survived the massacres of the Russian occupiers. The first meeting was about dealing with feelings during the war. According to the report, 40 people took part in the event. The psychologists taught practices and techniques to stabilise the emotional balance. The aim is to enable the participants to use these techniques independently in the future.
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