There are a lot of horrific stories and imagery coming out of Bucha. This photo is from last Friday, we (@chefjoseandres @wckitchen) had only planned on going as far as Irpin, but when the mayor found us, he took us to Bucha where what was left of the population was emerging carefully from the Russian occupiers, some of whom were still entrenched in town. Mostly elderly, sick and hungry, their trauma was expressed in blank disbelief, then tears, then kisses and long desperate hugs. They started to arrive from all directions, and spoke to who ever would listen with shaking hands and voices
We promised we’d be back the next day and @chefjoseandres delivered. Two trucks filled with 6000 kilos of groceries, 600 warm meals, and more to come
We promised we’d be back the next day and @chefjoseandres delivered. Two trucks filled with 6000 kilos of groceries, 600 warm meals, and more to come
We promised we’d be back the next day and @chefjoseandres delivered. Two trucks filled with 6000 kilos of groceries, 600 warm meals, and more to come
We promised we’d be back the next day and @chefjoseandres delivered. Two trucks filled with 6000 kilos of groceries, 600 warm meals, and more to come
Hundreds of people still live in the Heroes of Dnipro metro station in the Obolon district of Kyiv, many of them children. Despite Russia’s retreat, most fear Russian reprisal attacks, and air raid sirens still sound throughout the night. Galyna runs this station. She hasn’t been home since the war began as there is still too much to do. The first days saw up to 2800 people crowding into the cold-war era shelter, replete with an underground cafe and pharmacy, and in case of a nuclear attack, 40cm thick iron blast doors that still shut at curfew. Volunteers from @wckitchen deliver meals and fresh fruit daily, where we met Dima who shared with us his dream of leading a boy-band (note @btsbighitofficial pin) one day. Also pictured are local volunteers entertaining the children and handing out toys. One side of the station had set up a cinema for the kids, and on our last visit I was surprised to see the movie of the night was… #notimetodie 🙂
Hundreds of people still live in the Heroes of Dnipro metro station in the Obolon district of Kyiv, many of them children. Despite Russia’s retreat, most fear Russian reprisal attacks, and air raid sirens still sound throughout the night. Galyna runs this station. She hasn’t been home since the war began as there is still too much to do. The first days saw up to 2800 people crowding into the cold-war era shelter, replete with an underground cafe and pharmacy, and in case of a nuclear attack, 40cm thick iron blast doors that still shut at curfew. Volunteers from @wckitchen deliver meals and fresh fruit daily, where we met Dima who shared with us his dream of leading a boy-band (note @btsbighitofficial pin) one day. Also pictured are local volunteers entertaining the children and handing out toys. One side of the station had set up a cinema for the kids, and on our last visit I was surprised to see the movie of the night was… #notimetodie 🙂
Hundreds of people still live in the Heroes of Dnipro metro station in the Obolon district of Kyiv, many of them children. Despite Russia’s retreat, most fear Russian reprisal attacks, and air raid sirens still sound throughout the night. Galyna runs this station. She hasn’t been home since the war began as there is still too much to do. The first days saw up to 2800 people crowding into the cold-war era shelter, replete with an underground cafe and pharmacy, and in case of a nuclear attack, 40cm thick iron blast doors that still shut at curfew. Volunteers from @wckitchen deliver meals and fresh fruit daily, where we met Dima who shared with us his dream of leading a boy-band (note @btsbighitofficial pin) one day. Also pictured are local volunteers entertaining the children and handing out toys. One side of the station had set up a cinema for the kids, and on our last visit I was surprised to see the movie of the night was… #notimetodie 🙂
Hundreds of people still live in the Heroes of Dnipro metro station in the Obolon district of Kyiv, many of them children. Despite Russia’s retreat, most fear Russian reprisal attacks, and air raid sirens still sound throughout the night. Galyna runs this station. She hasn’t been home since the war began as there is still too much to do. The first days saw up to 2800 people crowding into the cold-war era shelter, replete with an underground cafe and pharmacy, and in case of a nuclear attack, 40cm thick iron blast doors that still shut at curfew. Volunteers from @wckitchen deliver meals and fresh fruit daily, where we met Dima who shared with us his dream of leading a boy-band (note @btsbighitofficial pin) one day. Also pictured are local volunteers entertaining the children and handing out toys. One side of the station had set up a cinema for the kids, and on our last visit I was surprised to see the movie of the night was… #notimetodie 🙂
Hundreds of people still live in the Heroes of Dnipro metro station in the Obolon district of Kyiv, many of them children. Despite Russia’s retreat, most fear Russian reprisal attacks, and air raid sirens still sound throughout the night. Galyna runs this station. She hasn’t been home since the war began as there is still too much to do. The first days saw up to 2800 people crowding into the cold-war era shelter, replete with an underground cafe and pharmacy, and in case of a nuclear attack, 40cm thick iron blast doors that still shut at curfew. Volunteers from @wckitchen deliver meals and fresh fruit daily, where we met Dima who shared with us his dream of leading a boy-band (note @btsbighitofficial pin) one day. Also pictured are local volunteers entertaining the children and handing out toys. One side of the station had set up a cinema for the kids, and on our last visit I was surprised to see the movie of the night was… #notimetodie 🙂
Hundreds of people still live in the Heroes of Dnipro metro station in the Obolon district of Kyiv, many of them children. Despite Russia’s retreat, most fear Russian reprisal attacks, and air raid sirens still sound throughout the night. Galyna runs this station. She hasn’t been home since the war began as there is still too much to do. The first days saw up to 2800 people crowding into the cold-war era shelter, replete with an underground cafe and pharmacy, and in case of a nuclear attack, 40cm thick iron blast doors that still shut at curfew. Volunteers from @wckitchen deliver meals and fresh fruit daily, where we met Dima who shared with us his dream of leading a boy-band (note @btsbighitofficial pin) one day. Also pictured are local volunteers entertaining the children and handing out toys. One side of the station had set up a cinema for the kids, and on our last visit I was surprised to see the movie of the night was… #notimetodie 🙂
Hundreds of people still live in the Heroes of Dnipro metro station in the Obolon district of Kyiv, many of them children. Despite Russia’s retreat, most fear Russian reprisal attacks, and air raid sirens still sound throughout the night. Galyna runs this station. She hasn’t been home since the war began as there is still too much to do. The first days saw up to 2800 people crowding into the cold-war era shelter, replete with an underground cafe and pharmacy, and in case of a nuclear attack, 40cm thick iron blast doors that still shut at curfew. Volunteers from @wckitchen deliver meals and fresh fruit daily, where we met Dima who shared with us his dream of leading a boy-band (note @btsbighitofficial pin) one day. Also pictured are local volunteers entertaining the children and handing out toys. One side of the station had set up a cinema for the kids, and on our last visit I was surprised to see the movie of the night was… #notimetodie 🙂
Hundreds of people still live in the Heroes of Dnipro metro station in the Obolon district of Kyiv, many of them children. Despite Russia’s retreat, most fear Russian reprisal attacks, and air raid sirens still sound throughout the night. Galyna runs this station. She hasn’t been home since the war began as there is still too much to do. The first days saw up to 2800 people crowding into the cold-war era shelter, replete with an underground cafe and pharmacy, and in case of a nuclear attack, 40cm thick iron blast doors that still shut at curfew. Volunteers from @wckitchen deliver meals and fresh fruit daily, where we met Dima who shared with us his dream of leading a boy-band (note @btsbighitofficial pin) one day. Also pictured are local volunteers entertaining the children and handing out toys. One side of the station had set up a cinema for the kids, and on our last visit I was surprised to see the movie of the night was… #notimetodie 🙂
Last week @natemook @seblindstrom and I visited our @wckitchen partners in Zaporizhzhia. One of the most affecting places was the refugee reception point in the Epitsentr parking lot. There, young and motivated volunteers provide warm meals to cars loads of refugees, the vehicles often riddled with shrapnel and bullet holes. The volunteers never know how many will actually make it and struggle to anticipate the true numbers. Sometimes a 1000 will arrive unexpectedly, and then a planned convoy will be turned around by Russian checkpoints, demoralizing the teams who had worked tirelessly to prepare thousands of meals that will go uneaten. We listened to these issues and worked with the volunteer teams to provide a healthier version of an MRE that can be stored and then heated when unexpectedly high numbers arrive. The amount of refugees from Mariupol has dropped significantly in recent days, with as many as 33,000 forcibly diverted to Russia and Crimea, but thousands more are still pouring in from all over Donbas, Melitopol and Kherson as a new Russian offensive looms. 1. A family from Melitopol await instructions on where to go next. 2/3. Most cars show damage. The ICRC does not allow private citizens to put a red cross on their car, so they tape the word ДЕТИ “children” to alert Russians. However the effectiveness of this isn’t assured, I saw many cars in Bucha destroyed on the side of the road with the same announcement. 4. Lina, the volunteer coordinator at the reception center in Zaporizhzhia returned to Ukraine from vacation in Cypress at the start of the war. She provides refugees with basic needs, smiles, and a warm welcome. 5. Message board in the children’s center. 6. “People of Mariupol! If anyone knows about the fate of Pravoberezhnyi (Hrets’ka St., 207) Looking for: Dudko Alexander & Dudko Valentina PLEASE CALL WITH ANY INFORMATION!” 7. [ ] 8. “I will fix your damaged car windows using transparent clear plastic -Andrei” 9. Lina is constantly collecting toys for the children whose families often arrive with nothing, sometimes not even a bag
Last week @natemook @seblindstrom and I visited our @wckitchen partners in Zaporizhzhia. One of the most affecting places was the refugee reception point in the Epitsentr parking lot. There, young and motivated volunteers provide warm meals to cars loads of refugees, the vehicles often riddled with shrapnel and bullet holes. The volunteers never know how many will actually make it and struggle to anticipate the true numbers. Sometimes a 1000 will arrive unexpectedly, and then a planned convoy will be turned around by Russian checkpoints, demoralizing the teams who had worked tirelessly to prepare thousands of meals that will go uneaten. We listened to these issues and worked with the volunteer teams to provide a healthier version of an MRE that can be stored and then heated when unexpectedly high numbers arrive. The amount of refugees from Mariupol has dropped significantly in recent days, with as many as 33,000 forcibly diverted to Russia and Crimea, but thousands more are still pouring in from all over Donbas, Melitopol and Kherson as a new Russian offensive looms. 1. A family from Melitopol await instructions on where to go next. 2/3. Most cars show damage. The ICRC does not allow private citizens to put a red cross on their car, so they tape the word ДЕТИ “children” to alert Russians. However the effectiveness of this isn’t assured, I saw many cars in Bucha destroyed on the side of the road with the same announcement. 4. Lina, the volunteer coordinator at the reception center in Zaporizhzhia returned to Ukraine from vacation in Cypress at the start of the war. She provides refugees with basic needs, smiles, and a warm welcome. 5. Message board in the children’s center. 6. “People of Mariupol! If anyone knows about the fate of Pravoberezhnyi (Hrets’ka St., 207) Looking for: Dudko Alexander & Dudko Valentina PLEASE CALL WITH ANY INFORMATION!” 7. [ ] 8. “I will fix your damaged car windows using transparent clear plastic -Andrei” 9. Lina is constantly collecting toys for the children whose families often arrive with nothing, sometimes not even a bag
Last week @natemook @seblindstrom and I visited our @wckitchen partners in Zaporizhzhia. One of the most affecting places was the refugee reception point in the Epitsentr parking lot. There, young and motivated volunteers provide warm meals to cars loads of refugees, the vehicles often riddled with shrapnel and bullet holes. The volunteers never know how many will actually make it and struggle to anticipate the true numbers. Sometimes a 1000 will arrive unexpectedly, and then a planned convoy will be turned around by Russian checkpoints, demoralizing the teams who had worked tirelessly to prepare thousands of meals that will go uneaten. We listened to these issues and worked with the volunteer teams to provide a healthier version of an MRE that can be stored and then heated when unexpectedly high numbers arrive. The amount of refugees from Mariupol has dropped significantly in recent days, with as many as 33,000 forcibly diverted to Russia and Crimea, but thousands more are still pouring in from all over Donbas, Melitopol and Kherson as a new Russian offensive looms. 1. A family from Melitopol await instructions on where to go next. 2/3. Most cars show damage. The ICRC does not allow private citizens to put a red cross on their car, so they tape the word ДЕТИ “children” to alert Russians. However the effectiveness of this isn’t assured, I saw many cars in Bucha destroyed on the side of the road with the same announcement. 4. Lina, the volunteer coordinator at the reception center in Zaporizhzhia returned to Ukraine from vacation in Cypress at the start of the war. She provides refugees with basic needs, smiles, and a warm welcome. 5. Message board in the children’s center. 6. “People of Mariupol! If anyone knows about the fate of Pravoberezhnyi (Hrets’ka St., 207) Looking for: Dudko Alexander & Dudko Valentina PLEASE CALL WITH ANY INFORMATION!” 7. [ ] 8. “I will fix your damaged car windows using transparent clear plastic -Andrei” 9. Lina is constantly collecting toys for the children whose families often arrive with nothing, sometimes not even a bag
Last week @natemook @seblindstrom and I visited our @wckitchen partners in Zaporizhzhia. One of the most affecting places was the refugee reception point in the Epitsentr parking lot. There, young and motivated volunteers provide warm meals to cars loads of refugees, the vehicles often riddled with shrapnel and bullet holes. The volunteers never know how many will actually make it and struggle to anticipate the true numbers. Sometimes a 1000 will arrive unexpectedly, and then a planned convoy will be turned around by Russian checkpoints, demoralizing the teams who had worked tirelessly to prepare thousands of meals that will go uneaten. We listened to these issues and worked with the volunteer teams to provide a healthier version of an MRE that can be stored and then heated when unexpectedly high numbers arrive. The amount of refugees from Mariupol has dropped significantly in recent days, with as many as 33,000 forcibly diverted to Russia and Crimea, but thousands more are still pouring in from all over Donbas, Melitopol and Kherson as a new Russian offensive looms. 1. A family from Melitopol await instructions on where to go next. 2/3. Most cars show damage. The ICRC does not allow private citizens to put a red cross on their car, so they tape the word ДЕТИ “children” to alert Russians. However the effectiveness of this isn’t assured, I saw many cars in Bucha destroyed on the side of the road with the same announcement. 4. Lina, the volunteer coordinator at the reception center in Zaporizhzhia returned to Ukraine from vacation in Cypress at the start of the war. She provides refugees with basic needs, smiles, and a warm welcome. 5. Message board in the children’s center. 6. “People of Mariupol! If anyone knows about the fate of Pravoberezhnyi (Hrets’ka St., 207) Looking for: Dudko Alexander & Dudko Valentina PLEASE CALL WITH ANY INFORMATION!” 7. [ ] 8. “I will fix your damaged car windows using transparent clear plastic -Andrei” 9. Lina is constantly collecting toys for the children whose families often arrive with nothing, sometimes not even a bag
Last week @natemook @seblindstrom and I visited our @wckitchen partners in Zaporizhzhia. One of the most affecting places was the refugee reception point in the Epitsentr parking lot. There, young and motivated volunteers provide warm meals to cars loads of refugees, the vehicles often riddled with shrapnel and bullet holes. The volunteers never know how many will actually make it and struggle to anticipate the true numbers. Sometimes a 1000 will arrive unexpectedly, and then a planned convoy will be turned around by Russian checkpoints, demoralizing the teams who had worked tirelessly to prepare thousands of meals that will go uneaten. We listened to these issues and worked with the volunteer teams to provide a healthier version of an MRE that can be stored and then heated when unexpectedly high numbers arrive. The amount of refugees from Mariupol has dropped significantly in recent days, with as many as 33,000 forcibly diverted to Russia and Crimea, but thousands more are still pouring in from all over Donbas, Melitopol and Kherson as a new Russian offensive looms. 1. A family from Melitopol await instructions on where to go next. 2/3. Most cars show damage. The ICRC does not allow private citizens to put a red cross on their car, so they tape the word ДЕТИ “children” to alert Russians. However the effectiveness of this isn’t assured, I saw many cars in Bucha destroyed on the side of the road with the same announcement. 4. Lina, the volunteer coordinator at the reception center in Zaporizhzhia returned to Ukraine from vacation in Cypress at the start of the war. She provides refugees with basic needs, smiles, and a warm welcome. 5. Message board in the children’s center. 6. “People of Mariupol! If anyone knows about the fate of Pravoberezhnyi (Hrets’ka St., 207) Looking for: Dudko Alexander & Dudko Valentina PLEASE CALL WITH ANY INFORMATION!” 7. [ ] 8. “I will fix your damaged car windows using transparent clear plastic -Andrei” 9. Lina is constantly collecting toys for the children whose families often arrive with nothing, sometimes not even a bag
Last week @natemook @seblindstrom and I visited our @wckitchen partners in Zaporizhzhia. One of the most affecting places was the refugee reception point in the Epitsentr parking lot. There, young and motivated volunteers provide warm meals to cars loads of refugees, the vehicles often riddled with shrapnel and bullet holes. The volunteers never know how many will actually make it and struggle to anticipate the true numbers. Sometimes a 1000 will arrive unexpectedly, and then a planned convoy will be turned around by Russian checkpoints, demoralizing the teams who had worked tirelessly to prepare thousands of meals that will go uneaten. We listened to these issues and worked with the volunteer teams to provide a healthier version of an MRE that can be stored and then heated when unexpectedly high numbers arrive. The amount of refugees from Mariupol has dropped significantly in recent days, with as many as 33,000 forcibly diverted to Russia and Crimea, but thousands more are still pouring in from all over Donbas, Melitopol and Kherson as a new Russian offensive looms. 1. A family from Melitopol await instructions on where to go next. 2/3. Most cars show damage. The ICRC does not allow private citizens to put a red cross on their car, so they tape the word ДЕТИ “children” to alert Russians. However the effectiveness of this isn’t assured, I saw many cars in Bucha destroyed on the side of the road with the same announcement. 4. Lina, the volunteer coordinator at the reception center in Zaporizhzhia returned to Ukraine from vacation in Cypress at the start of the war. She provides refugees with basic needs, smiles, and a warm welcome. 5. Message board in the children’s center. 6. “People of Mariupol! If anyone knows about the fate of Pravoberezhnyi (Hrets’ka St., 207) Looking for: Dudko Alexander & Dudko Valentina PLEASE CALL WITH ANY INFORMATION!” 7. [ ] 8. “I will fix your damaged car windows using transparent clear plastic -Andrei” 9. Lina is constantly collecting toys for the children whose families often arrive with nothing, sometimes not even a bag
Last week @natemook @seblindstrom and I visited our @wckitchen partners in Zaporizhzhia. One of the most affecting places was the refugee reception point in the Epitsentr parking lot. There, young and motivated volunteers provide warm meals to cars loads of refugees, the vehicles often riddled with shrapnel and bullet holes. The volunteers never know how many will actually make it and struggle to anticipate the true numbers. Sometimes a 1000 will arrive unexpectedly, and then a planned convoy will be turned around by Russian checkpoints, demoralizing the teams who had worked tirelessly to prepare thousands of meals that will go uneaten. We listened to these issues and worked with the volunteer teams to provide a healthier version of an MRE that can be stored and then heated when unexpectedly high numbers arrive. The amount of refugees from Mariupol has dropped significantly in recent days, with as many as 33,000 forcibly diverted to Russia and Crimea, but thousands more are still pouring in from all over Donbas, Melitopol and Kherson as a new Russian offensive looms. 1. A family from Melitopol await instructions on where to go next. 2/3. Most cars show damage. The ICRC does not allow private citizens to put a red cross on their car, so they tape the word ДЕТИ “children” to alert Russians. However the effectiveness of this isn’t assured, I saw many cars in Bucha destroyed on the side of the road with the same announcement. 4. Lina, the volunteer coordinator at the reception center in Zaporizhzhia returned to Ukraine from vacation in Cypress at the start of the war. She provides refugees with basic needs, smiles, and a warm welcome. 5. Message board in the children’s center. 6. “People of Mariupol! If anyone knows about the fate of Pravoberezhnyi (Hrets’ka St., 207) Looking for: Dudko Alexander & Dudko Valentina PLEASE CALL WITH ANY INFORMATION!” 7. [ ] 8. “I will fix your damaged car windows using transparent clear plastic -Andrei” 9. Lina is constantly collecting toys for the children whose families often arrive with nothing, sometimes not even a bag
Last week @natemook @seblindstrom and I visited our @wckitchen partners in Zaporizhzhia. One of the most affecting places was the refugee reception point in the Epitsentr parking lot. There, young and motivated volunteers provide warm meals to cars loads of refugees, the vehicles often riddled with shrapnel and bullet holes. The volunteers never know how many will actually make it and struggle to anticipate the true numbers. Sometimes a 1000 will arrive unexpectedly, and then a planned convoy will be turned around by Russian checkpoints, demoralizing the teams who had worked tirelessly to prepare thousands of meals that will go uneaten. We listened to these issues and worked with the volunteer teams to provide a healthier version of an MRE that can be stored and then heated when unexpectedly high numbers arrive. The amount of refugees from Mariupol has dropped significantly in recent days, with as many as 33,000 forcibly diverted to Russia and Crimea, but thousands more are still pouring in from all over Donbas, Melitopol and Kherson as a new Russian offensive looms. 1. A family from Melitopol await instructions on where to go next. 2/3. Most cars show damage. The ICRC does not allow private citizens to put a red cross on their car, so they tape the word ДЕТИ “children” to alert Russians. However the effectiveness of this isn’t assured, I saw many cars in Bucha destroyed on the side of the road with the same announcement. 4. Lina, the volunteer coordinator at the reception center in Zaporizhzhia returned to Ukraine from vacation in Cypress at the start of the war. She provides refugees with basic needs, smiles, and a warm welcome. 5. Message board in the children’s center. 6. “People of Mariupol! If anyone knows about the fate of Pravoberezhnyi (Hrets’ka St., 207) Looking for: Dudko Alexander & Dudko Valentina PLEASE CALL WITH ANY INFORMATION!” 7. [ ] 8. “I will fix your damaged car windows using transparent clear plastic -Andrei” 9. Lina is constantly collecting toys for the children whose families often arrive with nothing, sometimes not even a bag
Father Vasyl, Mother Olia, with daughters Anya (10) Sasha (11), and Lilia (2) are from Donbas, East Ukraine. Originally from Horlivka, they first fled their home to Slov’yansk in 2014 when the separatist movement turned Donbas into a war-zone. They left behind their home, their garden, their jobs, to an unfamiliar community with unfamiliar faces. They had no idea what was in store for them, but their new neighbors “turned out to be good. People willing to help,” Olia smiled. The community invited them to a shashlyk (шашлик), neighbors gathered outside to cook together on the first warm day of spring. They had found a new home, until Russia’s invasion forced them flee again. As the first warm days of the year return Olia looks pensive, “we don’t want to leave Ukraine,” she sighs then adds, “at least we are together.”
Iolanta (center) the manager of the Inso Orchestra, was recording a charity concert for displaced Ukrainian artists when the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” was interrupted by an air raid siren. As the conductor directed the players off of the stage into the bomb shelter, Iolanta shrugged and passed around a bottle of prosecco for the handful of guests who remained. She toasted, “за смерть путіна – death to Putin” and poured as others mumbled their grievances about Putin. Oksana (right) spoke with shaking anger about how she had already fled Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. She has restarted her life in Lviv, opening three bakeries, but still misses Crimea. She predicted “the Russians would do this… nobody believed [her].”
Local volunteers wait to check in newly arrived families for dinner. Everyone’s lives have changed, volunteers who were students, fashion stylists, artists, composers, and publicists, now spend their days housing and feeding the millions of Ukrainians on the move. In Lviv @wckitchen is providing 25,000 a day to shelters like this one, which used to be a University dormitory. Outside of Lviv, they have already surpassed 1 million meals in Ukraine alone since the start of the war
