Two charities worked together to deliver aid to 130 families in Osokorivka: a liberated, but heavily damaged village in north Kherson Oblast.
Sunflower Scotland procured food and cleaning supplies in Ukraine, and asked them to be delivered to Shira Sprava in Kryvyi Rih. When Oleg Dmitriev (Sunflower Scotland) arrived in Kryvyi Rih, the two charities organised a joint mission to deliver aid in Osokorivka. This large village was occupied by the Russian invasion force in 2022. Ukraine’s forces liberated it on 07th April 2023. The heavy fighting took its horrible toll: large parts of the village are reduced to rubble, many homes damaged beyond repair.
The Shira Sprava team provided a Transit van, and teams from both Sunflower Scotland and Shira Sprava drove to Osokorivka on 02 March 2024. Soldiers at the nearest checkpoint warned us about the Russian spy drones. That if they see us, we may be in danger.
We drove through Osokorivka. This previously large village with over 2,700 pre-war residents now looked deserted. We drove past houses with roofs wrecked and blown up by bombs, windows smashed by gunfire. We were very alert and looking up for the enemy drones. Nobody dared to risk their lives wandering about.
Finally we reached the agreed distribution point. Larisa, the local community leader, gathered her fellow residents to receive aid.
90% of residents who remained were women, with only a few older men. You could see the heartbreaking level of poverty. We were glad that we came there to help, because they needed it.
Oleg (Sunflower Scotland chairman) asked Larisa why people remained in the village despite the high danger to their lives. She explained that the government subsidy for relocation to a safer area is only 2000 hryvnia per month. That’s not enough to buy food, let alone to rent an apartment. Because of that, those who had money savings left, and those who have nothing, remained.
This was a shocking conversation, which confirmed what we heard from other people in frontline villages, all across Ukraine. The war works as a negative natural selection.
Cost of humanitarian aid
The aid was produced in Ukraine. We sourced it in Ukraine, in order to support local businesses, which pay taxes and create local jobs.
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