Delivering Hope: A Day in Ukraine’s Aid Ecosystem
How Volunteers and NGOs Support Civilians Near the Front Line
For civilians near the front lines, mutual aid has become indispensable; humanitarian deliveries from local NGOs help alleviate the burden of war. It is in this context that the synergy between foreign and local volunteers finds its full expression.
« You have vest, but not others. Tak, I’ll go look for some. I should have enough for everyone. » Anna* hurries in the dimly lit storage room, navigating between stacks of boxes on the shelves, to find the bulletproof vests. The storage room is directly accessible from the lobby. There, four volunteers are waiting, strategically positioned between two sofas and a coffee machine. It’s still early.
« Tak, try this on. And you too, » she says, distributing the vests to each person between the hums of the coffee machine. Nikita*, a tall 17-year-old built like a string bean, poses proudly in his vest; a photo session is inevitable. Jason*, a 30-year-old with a sturdy build and former U.S. Navy member, is busy near the coffee machine. He chats with Nathan*, a tall, bald 40-year-old with a well-groomed goatee and an earring in his left ear ; a former waiter for his part. On the sofa, Axel*, 25, with blond hair slicked back and sunglasses on his nose, scrolls through his phone. With a final “Nu da” of approval from Anna, the team jumps into two vans, and 2.5 tons of food head north of Kharkiv, ten kilometers from the Russian border.
Traffic is heavy on this weekday morning. As we follow the large green van from a small black van, Soviet-era apartment blocks alternate with more modern buildings. Gradually, they give way to more traditional houses in the city’s outskirts.
« Oh shit, » Nathan slams on the brakes to avoid hitting the back of the green van. « I thought he was going to run the light, but he braked at the last moment. » While the van’s side door doesn’t work properly, knowing that the brakes do is reassuring. The light turns green, and the vehicle continues its journey under billboards bought by various military units. The third Assault Brigade, known as « Azov, » has made a noticeable communication effort. Using memes and AI-generated images, they are behind half of the military advertisements.
Leaving the city, the volunteers navigate a network of secondary roads lined with hedgerows before moving onto dirt roads. A right turn, a left turn, the green van leads the way on bumpy paths winding between country houses. Each house has its own small garden, but behind the decorated walls, the houses are either dilapidated or damaged. The front line is 15 kilometers from the village.
The green van turns a corner, and the large green dome of an Orthodox church, proudly topped with a golden bulbous spire and cross, comes into view. In this Orthodox country, the meeting point is naturally a church. The two vans pull into the church grounds, marked by a low wrought-iron fence. About fifty people are waiting in front of the church. Naturally, everyone rushes to help unload the food; a human chain forms spontaneously.
The first step of the distribution is to unload the vans and stack the food on the church’s forecourt. « Privet, three packages. Four? Here, four. And you? Two? Here, two packages. And you? » From the back of the van, rudimentary Russian is enough to hand out packages of flour, pasta, lentils, or beans. In this village, only the elderly remain, their skin wrinkled and tanned by the harsh rural life. Here, men carry more than women; it’s their role. By French standards, they should all be retired or in nursing homes.
The donor for this mission is « Samaritan’s Purse, » an American evangelical Christian NGO providing crisis aid. Their logo is on all the distributed product packaging. The religious dimension of their action is also unmistakable. Initially, each distributed bag was supposed to contain a Bible, replaced at the last moment with semolina.
In front of the church, the piles of food accumulate by product type. The volunteers organize themselves. Each beneficiary passes with a bag, obviously labeled « Samaritan’s Purse, » into which the volunteers distribute the food. « Privet, here you go. That’s all, paka-paka (goodbye). »
For the volunteers, the task is simple. Get in a van, follow a guide to the distribution point, distribute, and then return home. However, ensuring an action as simple as food distribution depends on a more complex organization. In this case, it’s a tripartite organization. « Samaritan’s Purse » handed over the food to « Peaceful Sky of Ukraine, » which took care of storage. This Ukrainian NGO, with its extensive network, established the contact point with today’s village. Finally, a local NGO with vehicles and drivers had to be found, the responsibility to raise the funds to finance the fuel for the trip of its responsibility.
Gradually, the villagers leave the church forecourt with their loaded bags. Once the distribution is complete, there are still some food items left. About ten people who stayed behind help reload them into one of the vans; a new human chain forms. Once the food is back in the van and several warm handshakes exchanged, the organizers invite the volunteers into the church annex, where tea and biscuits await them.
Happy to receive foreigners, the organizers spontaneously offer to open the doors of their church. The interior is richly decorated with vibrant and clear Gospel paintings. However, the eye is drawn to the floor, where a piece of painted wall lies against a piece of furniture. The guide explains and points to the base of the dome. Under a gaping hole in the structure, patched with a tarp, an entire section of the interior wall has disappeared, revealing the wooden framework of the building. « It’s the work of the Russians, » translates Nikita.
For civilians near the front lines, mutual aid has become indispensable; humanitarian deliveries from local NGOs help alleviate the burden of war. In this context, the cohesion between foreign and local volunteers finds its full synergy.
At man’s height, between the lines — Little Frenchy
06/10/2025