American – Ukrainian singer Kelsie Kimberlin traveled across Ukraine to honor her fallen cousin, who had died on the front line fighting in February 2024. Ukraine has endured aggression from a neighboring state for over three years — made possible by the courage of people like him.
While looking for a team to help her travel across the country, Kelsie met – UAid Direct – an international network of volunteers helping Ukrainians.
Starting in Kyiv, they took her on a journey across Ukraine – where she witnessed the life of civilians in regions close to the frontlines to finally arrive at her cousin’s grave.
Together they travelled thousands of kilometers, visited Kherson and the embattled Donetsk region. Ten kilometers away from the front line, Kelsie spoke and listened to ordinary people.
The volunteers of UAid Direct accompanied her all the way to Kharkiv and from there back to Kyiv.
FIRST STOP: PERVOMAISK, MYKOLAYIV REGION
This is an orphanage with many kids who have lost everything to the war. UAid helped renovate it and now the over 150 kids live in a safer and much more decent environment.
Next stop: Kherson
UAid take Kelsie to Kherson where the Russians sit just across the river and visit Kherson’s first maternity hospital.
After the maternity hospital they have visit Kherson’s regional blood donation clinic. Its medical campus was hit by Russian shelling in 2023 — twice. Much of it was destroyed, but its team stayed on.
UAid Direct helped renovate their basement, turning it into a relatively safe space where they could keep going to receive blood and save lives.
The clinic is run almost entirely by women who chose to stay. Under daily drone threats and targeted attacks, they keep showing up. Quietly and courageously, they keep Kherson’s hospitals running.
Despite using outdated Soviet-era equipment — some of it damaged in the strikes — they’ve continued to supply hospitals with donated blood. Surgeries, trauma care, and emergency responses all depend on their work.
The city’s maternity hospital, bombed multiple times, also continues to operate despite all challenges.
From Kherson the team move eastwards all the way to Pavlohrad, Pokrovsk, Slaviansk, Kramatorsk, then to the monastery of Sviatohirsk — a town we’ve been working in for a long time, supplying its residents with food, hygiene products and generators since its liberation in 2022.
The journey continues through the small towns of Izyum, Borova and Oskil — close to the front line, where you see and hear the shelling.
And then we are back to Kharkiv and from there back to Kyiv.
At UAid Direct, they see these stories every day. Children left without parents. Families displaced. Villages cut off from medicine. Volunteers deliver aid, rebuild clinics, and restore hope.
The people who volunteer for UAid quite literally give a piece of their heart and life to Ukrainians. Despite the not-so-easy working conditions, logistical challenges, and sometimes bureaucracy — they keep going.
How did UAid Direct start?
It all began in 2022 with 1 van and 2 volunteers.
“On 4 April 2022, I got in a van with Walter and we delivered a load of baby food to an orphanage near Ternopil, having spent the previous night collecting it with Dave in Przemyśl. This was the first aid delivery by what later became UAid Direct. Three years on, we are as motivated as ever to continue our work of aid provision as well as assistance in community and reconstruction projects across the country.”
— Konrad, Cofounder of UAid
After that, volunteers from all over the world — from Colombia to New Zealand, from the UK to the USA — joined. The story of UAid deserves a separate article. And we already have many achievements:
UAid completed the renovation of a home for over 150 orphans in Pervomaisk. Currently, they have involved in the renovation of a space for children with PTSD in Nikopol, purchase and delivery of equipment to Kherson’s blood center, and provision of generators.
In Kharkiv, we have just replaced windows in a hospital that was damaged during a missile attack.
UAid Direct mission
UAid mission is to help vulnerable people affected by the war in Ukraine. The team receive continuous help from global supporters due to the high levels of transparency, due diligence, and focus we put into our work. This ensures the donations get to those in highest need. They are highly adaptable, driven by ever-changing needs and the availability of goods and donations we receive.
How can you help?
Donate:
GIVEBUTTER (tax deductible for US donors)
Follow UAid pages and share UAid content:
You may also donate via Kelsie Kimberlin Foundation.
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