News & Current Affairs
Ukraine War: Meet Anna, One of The Women Delivering Lifesaving Aid To Villages Amidst Russia's Shelling
With only fifteen minutes to enter and exit some of the most dangerous areas in Ukraine, Anna must do so while wearing body armour and carrying several heavy parcels.
She has the unusual duty of transporting aid to Ukrainian towns on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.
Anna leads a small team across bomb craters and muddy tracks to reach far-flung towns devastated by violence, all while coordinating with local and military officials.
Under the continual threat of probable Russian attack, she encounters locals in the centre of town, offering out anything from food to heaters, before scurrying out.
No one on the team is naive about the risks they're taking. A Russian drone was out on a mission in January when it observed a group of people waiting in a cluster in the open. Their three cars came under fire from Russian artillery. Amazingly, nobody got hurt.
Anna is just one of the thousands of Ukrainian women giving essential humanitarian relief to towns affected by the conflict while millions of men are overseas fighting on the front lines.
Most have little background in humanitarian work; nevertheless, before the war, Heritage Ukraine hosted summer programmes for underprivileged kids. To prevent the Russian invading forces from seizing and using their equipment, they gave it all away and focused on distributing supplies instead.
Anna's employer at Heritage Ukraine, Alyona, has said, "we could do nothing to help children if we were under Russian control," therefore it was clear from the start that they needed to leave the country.
Some of the 16 employees fled to the western part of Ukraine, while others joined the armed forces. The fighting around Kherson claimed the life of one person.
“In March 2022, the Russians were stopped at Mykolaiv. Anna and some of her colleagues stayed in our HQ to help deliver winter supplies to this region,” Alyona says. “Then the Russians were pushed back to the other side of the Dnipro River and there was an opportunity to go where we were most needed – where there was no water or electricity. Among many kinds of equipment, we delivered small generators that could provide water from village wells and also provided large containers for water storage.”
She continues: “What makes us unique is our variety of different supplies, like wood-burning stoves, which Anna and her team help the villagers set up and install. We don’t just deliver and leave them to it. We always check to see if help has been given by some other agency, but because we operate so close to the front line, it’s mostly just us.”
Beneficiaries are mostly elderly or disabled people who are unable to or unwilling to leave their homes. They are particularly interested in the villages liberated by Ukrainian forces from Russian occupation.
When they go to the settlements, they may find upsetting sights: people braving subzero conditions without access to utilities like heat, electricity, or running water; many of whom have been subjected to assault and abuse at the hands of Russian troops. The Russian siege often caused partial damage to, if not total destruction of, their dwellings.
They have reached an impressive 85 villages with aid so far.
Christian Aid's Ukraine programme manager Lizz Harrison praised Heritage Ukraine's efforts, calling them a tribute to the tenacity of Ukrainian women.
“Amidst the horror and terror of war, Ukrainian women haven’t hesitated to step forward and take on leading roles in running humanitarian projects with us,” she said. “We have been humbled and inspired by the remarkable bravery, ingenuity and resilience of these incredible women. Many of them had previously no experience of the kind of work we do but have learned quickly and are now at the forefront of reaching people most in need.”
Anna's choice to stay and lend a hand was an easy one. She firmly states, "We are not refugees. We are citizens of Ukraine."