I am a British academic of Ukrainian origin who is trying to fill the gaps in provision of humanitarian support to people affected by the war in Ukraine waged by the Russian Federation. I have had experience of helping my sister with her two young sons and several other families to escape the war zone and that enabled me to see closer the needs of the affected families.

We can see that not every place in my homeland is reachable by the international organisations which provide humanitarian aid. There are a number of reasons for this situation - either there is a lag in response because of a number of procedures that large organisations have to follow or because they have to be located in the areas of the greatest need or because they have to prioritise. Regardless, there are places or areas of concern where they do not reach or do not reach in time. 

A set of projects is being set up by a team of volunteers (Julia Grygorenko, Alina Slyusarchuk and others) who together with Ukraine Charity have identified these gaps and are channelling support in the quickest possible way relying on the network of trusted volunteers throughout Ukraine and abroad.

One such project is paying for the lorries which bring directly into Ukraine the humanitarian loads which people in the UK collect. These humanitarian goods are then taken by the local Ukrainian charities to the most hard to reach places which are under attacks by the Russian Army. The other project is to buy a minibus for transporting necessities to the hard to reach areas for the local Ukrainian Charity Misto Dobra.

Another gap is in enabling people who do not know or have no means of reaching safe place or a place where they can get food/medicine/shelter. If you want to support this initiative, please go to my other JustGiving page, where I collect money to support specific families in need - like organising and paying for the transport for women and children escaping the combat zones or safe places for them to stay. That page is my own to enable even quicker response.