No end in sight

by Finn Sawyer

The author is an international volunteer from the UK. He has spent the last month volunteering with Dignity Aid International in Ukraine, helping with various projects such as supporting the Odesa psychiatric hospital and village distributions.

More than three years since the full-scale war began, there still appears to be no end in sight, and the suffering of the Ukrainian people persists. When Russia’s full-scale invasion began in early 2022, the southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv Oblasts were quickly transformed into frontline battlegrounds. Parts of Mykolaiv Oblast and the entirety of Kherson Oblast fell under Russian occupation – the latter of which was later annexed following an internationally unrecognised referendum in September 2022. After eight long months of occupation, a counter-offensive launched in November 2022 by the Ukrainian military liberated the occupied areas of Mykolaiv Oblast and reclaimed the right bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast, including the city of Kherson. Scenes of celebration and joy followed liberation in the de-occupied areas as elderly women greeted their liberators with food and flowers, and patriotic slogans were chanted in the streets. However, this was short-lived, as it did not mean safety for the residents of Mykolaiv and Kherson.

The trauma of war and occupation lives on in these areas, and their proximity to the frontline makes them frequent targets of Russian drone and missile attacks. Since the liberation of Kherson, there have been 3,996 reported Russian attacks in the oblast – an average of over four per day – and hundreds of civilians have been killed. The humanitarian situation in these areas remains dire, infrastructure is lacking and inconsistent, and many people have fled in search of safety.

During a visit in May to villages around Kherson Oblast to deliver humanitarian aid, I met many people who had survived the Russian occupation and heard their stories. The villages bore the marks of war; homes lay in ruin, and the walls of the surviving buildings were scarred by shrapnel. In the village of Kyselivka, situated only twenty kilometres from the frontline, I spoke with a resident who had lived there during the occupation. He was an older man named Vitalii and was the leader of the remaining community. Vitalii spoke of the brutality the community endured during the occupation: Russian soldiers conducted daily house raids on residents under the guise of ‘security’, beating people unprovoked and looting their homes. At night, the occupation forces would shell the village and blame it on the Ukrainian military, in hopes of turning the residents against them. Another woman, who I’ll call Sasha, was forced to bake bread for Russian soldiers under the threat of death while she and the other starving villagers were forbidden to eat any of it – it all went to feed their occupiers. Kyselivka has been left utterly devastated. Vitalii took me to an old factory that had once been used to store and process food until shelling reduced it to rubble. Only twisted metal and piles of concrete remained, and large craters dug deep into the earth.

With vital infrastructure like the factory destroyed, Kyselivka’s residents are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. Without a consistent water supply, they’ve resorted to digging wells, but with limited fuel for machinery it is not sufficient to supply the whole community. Many of the residents now live with disabilities – missing arms and legs or confined to wheelchairs – leaving them unable to work. Now dependent on donations and the few able-bodied neighbours remaining, they struggle to provide for themselves and their lives have been changed forever. Though the occupation of Kyselivka has ended, the village still remains under constant threat of daily drone and missile attacks, it was unclear how they would be able to recover.

Kyselivka is not an exception, it’s story of struggle and hardship are commonplace across Ukraine. In Zapovit, a village in Kherson Oblast which was also once under occupation, only 300 residents remain – over a third of them children. No building has escaped the fighting unscathed; each one is either destroyed or damaged – the only structure left untouched by the Russians is an old memorial commemorating Soviet soldiers who had died during World War 2. The surrounding fields, which had once been fertile farmland before the war and supplied the village with food, are now littered with landmines left behind from the occupation. Red signs bearing skulls warn people not to venture off the paths due to the risk of death. With their farmland unusable, the residents of Zapovit have relied on their own ingenuity and the few humanitarian aid deliveries that come to their village.

The destruction seen in villages like Kyselivka, Zapovit, and beyond has left 10.6 million Ukrainians displaced from their homes – nearly a quarter of the total population – while 12.7 million are in need of humanitarian assistance. As the war rages on, these numbers continue to grow by the day. There is no end in sight for the Ukrainian people; Putin has shown no interest in negotiations, and Western leaders continue to show hesitation out of fear of escalation, while whether those who are displaced will ever be able to return home is unknown. When – or if – the war ends, its devastating effect will ensure a long and difficult road to recovery. Poverty is a growing problem, with levels now 500% higher than when the full-scale war began, and reconstruction will cost an estimated $524 billion, 2.8 times the country’s GDP. With uncertainty around funding, amplified by Trump’s cuts to USAID spending, it has never been more important to continue supporting and fighting for Ukrainian freedom.

At Dignity Aid, we continue this fight by helping those civilians in desperate need of assistance. While we receive no public government funding and have no backing from major international organisations, the work we do is much needed. Details about Dignity Aid projects (such as support for the Odesa psychiatric hospital and humanitarian aid deliveries to de-occupied and frontline villages) can be found on the website or Instagram. Any donations go a long way, and all funds are spent on humanitarian aid. If you wish to support our work and support the ongoing struggle, the link to donate is provided below.

Dignity Aid International (Give Lively donations)