UKRAINE, Marinka Update: Those Left Survival or Extinction

We periodically make raids, carrying different kinds of help to disabled, bedridden and persons with disabilities, their stay here there's not enough. The difference between previous visits, not more than three months, but during this period three people just died.

It's only those we go to those that phoned relatives. At this time, we deliver products and adult diapers.

Every man is a different story. One lives in the "Red Zone", 80 years old, single, the roof of the house is broken.

The toilet has been bombed. He relieves himself just in a bucket, and instead of a toilet without seat.

Another elderly one with a 60-Year-old daughter, stoked the oven, like an old lady because even in even in the hot weather in the summer she cannot get warm. And so with the third, fourth, fifth, tenth, all the other people equally have - pain, poverty, loneliness, devastation, the war.

Feeling helpless, I channel myself through other people's pain and see all of the darkness in which these people live. You leave them with a heavy heart, I want to help, but you understand and know all the limitations.

Everyone cried while we prayed and help them assistance They say that every day after the shooting, they are asking when is it all over? When will it all end? And we do not know what to tell them, but only cry with them, paying with our tears in prayer to God.

Again tonight in the evening, the shelling again, and tomorrow we do new raids to where the pain is, that we would do good, and do it together.

Just some info on life of volunteer organizations in Ukraine: Top 25 Volunteers Who Change Ukraine http://uatoday.tv/ua25volunteers/ 1. Max Nefyodov

(Public procurement online system ProZorro) A group of volunteers, including Max Nefyodov, who has become the face of the project, created the system ProZorro. Former investment banker and now the Deputy Economy Minister of Ukraine, Nefyodov and his colleagues literally fought for their vision, which Ukraine has adopted as its primary procurement system. According to the Deputy Minister, Kyiv has already managed to save several hundred million dollars, and the ProZorro team promises there's more to come. 2. Armen Nikogosyan

The "angel of war" When the Maidan Revolution started in Kyiv, Ukrainian paramedic with Armenian background Armen Nikogosyan quitted his job in Russia and returned to Ukraine. He treated people's injuries during the hottest hours of the clashes in the capital city and earned respect from the revolutionaries. After Russia annexed Crimea and instigated the war in Donbas, Armen volunteered to work in the conflict zone. In the first seven months, he and his colleagues saved more than 800 people wounded in the fights against the Russian-backed separatist forces, often evacuating them right from the heart of the battlefield. 3. Yuri Biryukov

(Phoenix Wings) Volunteer and reformist, Yuri Biryukov is a known figure in Ukraine's Ministry Defense. The former businessman started out by organizing the Phoenix Wings volunteer organization that supported the weakened and inexperienced Ukrainian soldiers in the wake of the Russian aggression. Later he joined the government as an advisor to President Poroshenko and Defense Minister's assistant. Nowadays Biryukov is coordinating the reform of the supply chains in the army, including military and technical equipment and vehicles as well as food, trying to eradicate monopoly in the fields. 4. Iryna Danylevska

(Ukrainian Fashion Week) Where would Ukraine's fashion be without Iryna Danylevska? Back in 1997 she founded the Ukrainian Fashion Week, the only pret-a-porter event in the country that fully corresponded to the world standards. Fifteen years later dozens of fashion designers take part in the Week, attracting hundreds of journalists from around the world. The event is usually attended by more than 25,000 people. The UFW have featured the works of renowned designers, including Eli Saab, Stephane Rolland and Antonio Berardi. 5. GoCamps team

(Mustafa Nayem, Dmitry Shymkiv, Oksana Movchan, Oksana Nechiporenko) Teaching Ukraine to speak English. After the Maidan Revolution, Ukraine has declared its course for the West. English is seen as a crucial tool that makes the integration process smoother. To help promote learning the language in the country, a group of volunteers and politicians introduced a special project. They invite people from all over the world to come over to Ukraine and teach English to the local students, while improving their skills themselves. This year more than a hundred volunteers from the US, UK, Japan, Egypt etc. have arrived at the summer camps throughout the country. Children from the conflict Donbas region have also had the opportunity to learn the language at a camp in the Kyiv region 6. Maria Berlinska

(Ukrainian Center for Drone Intelligence) Maria Berlinska did not hesitate to go to Eastern Ukraine as a volunteer when the war began. She served in the Aidar battalion where she mastered drone navigation. Upon returning to Kyiv, Maria founded the Ukrainian Center for Drone Intelligence. The organization is preparing experts and specialists, capable of conducting surveillance operations by using drones. Maria is also regularly going to the war-torn region, where she helps the army to expose the enemy's forbidden heavy weapons on the contact line. 7. Nastya Melnychenko

(Without armor) Nastya is a veterans' rehab organizer. After sending dozens of thousands of people to war, Ukraine has stumbled upon a problem of the psychological rehabilitation of veterans. Melnychenko's project "Without armor" aims to make up for what seems to be the lack of strategy in the government. Along with other volunteers, Melnychenko also introduced a joint database and an interactive map. It shows a list of all the organizations that provide medical, psychological and legal help to the demobilized servicemen. The social campaign on TV and in Ukraine's streets is a tool to raise awareness of this issue. 8.Vitaliy Deinega

(Come back alive) Volunteer supply officer of Ukrainian army. Vitaliy Deinega was a Kyiv IT specialist, and after the Russian aggression started, he, like many others, decided to act. His organization, called 'Come back alive', was founded to help underequipped soldiers and units that fought the militants in the East. Deinega and his team raise money to purchase equipment for the servicemen, introduce various military software (thanks to his and his colleagues' IT background), organize trainings for mine sweeper, repair damaged vehicles and do lots of other implementations. Vitaliy says his primary goal is to save lives. 9. Olga Kudinenko

(Tabletochki charity fund) Olga Kudinenko founded Tabletochki charity fund to help children, diagnosed with blood cancer. Established in 2011, the fund has raised money and sent several dozen children abroad for cancer treatment and surgery in the next four years. According to the official website, the volunteers have managed to collect 58 million hryvnas overall (almost USD 2,3 million dollars) and provided medicine to 1350 young patients. 10. Olga Spektor

(Happy Paw fund) Founder of the animal charity fund. Olga Spektor, a Ukrainian lawyer, always sympathized with stray dogs as a kid, and when she grew up, she decided to establish a charity fund 'Happy Paw', aiming to help the homeless animals. Since the fund was created in June 2012, more than 1,500 dogs have found new owners, and at least four thousand lost ones have been returned home. According to the Happy Paw's website, the organization has opened 45 shelters throughout Ukraine while holding social campaigns to bring the inhumane treatment of the dogs to the forefront. 11. Margo Gontar

(StopFake.org) A journalist Margo Gontar initiated a project StopFake, aimed at exposing propaganda from the Kremlin owned media outlets and resources. StopFake is a community of journalists that check and cross-reference the news reported by Russian correspondents. According to Gontar, she and her colleagues have exposed more than a 1,000 fake stories about Ukraine in the year and a half after the conflict started, including the heinous news about a boy in Slovyansk, allegedly crucified by Ukrainian soldiers. 12. Alim Aliyev, Tamila Tasheva, Sevgil Musaeva

(Crimea SOS) These people are IDP help center organizers. In early 2014 Russia ordered its troops to Crimea and effectively annexed the peninsula, forcing dozens of thousands to abandon their homes. Many international organizations admit the situation with human rights in Crimea have deteriorated rapidly under Russia's command. To help people, fleeing the region, Ukrainian activist Alim Aliyev organized Crimea SOS project, along with Tamila Tasheva and Sevgil Musayeva. Crimea SOS initially only helped refugees from the peninsula, but later expanded to cover the IDPs from Donbas, claiming that in 2014-2015 the organization provided assistance to 160,000 people overall and helped a thousand families find new homes. 13. Ivanna Kobernik

(School reform) Reformed elementary school curriculum Ivanna Kobernik, a journalist and newscaster, decided to oppose the whole Ukrainian Education and Science ministry for the sake of her son's future. She united other parents into a social movement "Parental control". Its goal was to change the school curriculum – eliminate mistakes and outdated materials. In just a few years, the movement became a real force. Kobernik joined the Ministry as an advisor, and a grand reform started. In less than a year, the elementary school curriculum was completely revised. The changes will come into effect in several days, on September 1, when the school year will begin. 14. Oleksandra Koval

(Publishers' forum) Today Oleksandra Koval is the president of a civil organization 'Publishers' forum', which promotes reading among Ukrainians by organizing various annual social events. They are attended by dozens of thousands of visitors and hundreds of renowned writers and publishers from all over the world. But when Koval initiated the project back in 1994, she merely wanted to remind the Ukrainians, suffering from the turmoil after the USSR fell apart, that reading was fun and important. During the next two decades, the organization stabilized the market in the country by supporting and promoting publishers' services as well as attracting people into reading. Nowadays Koval holds regular meetings with Ukrainian officials, working over a new strategy of cultural development with the help of the government. 15. Dmytro Dubilet

(Ukraine's e-government) This man has made public services available online. Dmytro Dubilet was an inspirer of an e-government system creation. Public services in Ukraine can be a real pain. Whenever a citizen needs to perform a task that also involves local or central authorities, it means standing in lines, applying for permissions and collecting piles of documents. All that is tempting to bribe an official to speed the process up. However, the shady tactics are likely to sink into oblivion with the introduction of the iGov project. It is being developed by around 200 volunteers in cooperation with the government and foreign advisers such as Jaanika Merilo from Estonia. Thousands more people assist the team all over Ukraine. Currently about 350 government services are available to people online, with another 700 to be added later. 16. Olga Aivazovska

(Civil Network OPORA) Elections watchdog Civil Network OPORA, founded in late 2005, is meant to stand vigil, monitoring and registering violations during the elections. In 2015, OPORA observers exposed more than 1,500 violations, shown at their live map in real time. Olga Aivazovska is the co-founder of OPORA and its main figure, but her work doesn't end there. She is one of the most passionate fighters for Ukrainians' rights to have fair elections. She also spent several months of her life in 2015, working on a new local election law, but as she said herself, her propositions were mostly ignored by the Parliament. In April 2016, Aivazovska joined the Minsk negotiations on the Donbas conflict, entering the political subgroup. 17. Vitaliy Shabunin

(Anticorruption Action Center) Founder of the Center and its ideologist Vitaliy Shabunin has been involved in the country's affairs since his last year in the university, when he joined the regional parliament in his home city Rivne, Western Ukraine. According to the official website, the organization has stopped officials from stealing hundreds of millions of dollars, forced 1,400 shady contracts to be broken, removed numerous ways for the government workers to rob the country's budget by introducing changes to the laws. 18. Dmytro Schebetyuk

(Accessible) Several years ago, Dmytro Schebetyuk found himself in a wheelchair after a serious injury of his back. Struggling to move around and have a normal life, Schebetyuk realized that Ukraine didn't suit the needs of the people with physical disabilities. That is when he and Margo Gontar launched the Dostupno.ua project (Accessible.ua) and started inspecting various public places to see if they are fit for disabled persons. Dmytro says that upon publishing reports of the visits, many owners decided to make their services more accessible. With about 10 establishments checked every month, Dmytro and his team have been mapping out the places friendly to people like him. His social campaign is supported by volunteers throughout Ukraine. 19. Oleksiy Shershnyov

(biotech medical center) Curated creation of unique bone tissue regeneration technology Fierce fighting in Ukraine's east leave many servicemen in need of advanced medical treatment, but often the most hospitals can do is amputation. Not wanting to see the soldiers suffer, Shershnev started a private medical center Ilaya, which created a technology of regenerating bone tissue. As of April 2016, 35 wounded men underwent the surgery, which successfully replaced missing bone fragments with the patients' stem cell implants. The costs of the operations are covered with money raised via social campaigns and volunteer contribution. 20. Natalia Gumenyuk

(Hromadske TV) Co-founder of the first publicly funded media NGO Hromadske TV was founded by 15 prominent Ukrainian journalists in late 2013 and became one of the biggest sources of information during the Maidan Revolution. The publicly funded online news media is now among the most popular channels in the country with hundreds of thousands viewers, broadcasting in Ukrainian, English and Russian languages. The NGO's current chairwoman is Natalia Gumenyuk, who replaced Roman Skrypin after he was accused of embezzlement. Ukrainian and international correspondent and writer, Gumenyuk is the main figure of Hromadske, and one of its ideologists. 21. Bogdan Globa

(Tochka Opory (Fulcrum) Originally from Poltava, central Ukraine, Bogdan Globa is an LGBT activist. He is also the executive manager of 'Tochka Opory' (Fulcrum), which claims to be the biggest LGBT organization in Ukraine. It focuses on defending the rights of LGBT community in the country. Bogdan was the first to publicly admit that he is gay while delivering a speech in the Ukrainian Parliament two years ago. Globa asked the lawmakers to ban discrimination based on sexual preferences. In 2016, Ukraine made its first step by adopting a law that bans anti-LGBT discrimination at work. Fulcrum has several projects, aiming at bringing the issue to the forefront. It publishes a pro-LGBT magazine, provides social services to thousands of HIV carriers. 22. Larysa Lavrenyuk

(Crab charity fund) Twelve years ago Larysa Lavrenyuk's little son was diagnosed with cancer, and after a long battle with the disease he passed away. Being totally devastated by the tragic loss, Larysa refused to leave the bed at first, but later managed to pull through. She founded a charity organization, called 'Crab', which raises money to buy medicine and equipment for the ill children and provides psychological support. Lavrenyuk says her fund gives assistance to approximately 500 kids every year. 23. Igor Sklyarevskyi

(Agents of changes) Urbanistic activist Igor Sklyarevsky and his project Agents of changes are trying to renovate the Ukrainian capital, make it more comfortable and accessible. 'Right now Kyiv looks like a grocery store in the Soviet Union – lots of screaming and tastelessness, with no respect and care', the official website says. Sklyarevsky and his colleagues have introduced numerous changes to the city, making lives of its residents much easier. For example, they updated the old subway maps with more conclusive ones, installed navigation signs and displays in public transport and assisted in the implementation of a contactless payment system in the subway. 24. Oleksandr Gorbatko

(Donbas SOS) Perhaps the biggest and most multidimensional volunteer organizations, providing help to hundreds of thousands of refugees in Ukraine. Donbas SOS was founded and is coordinated by Oleksandr Gorbatko. Donetsk-born Gorbatko was an active supporter of the Maidan revolution. After the city sank into chaos, he and his associates decided to help the refugees, providing humanitarian and informational aid, evacuating people from the war-torn region, helping them with legal issues etc. The organization cooperates with various international partners, including the UN and the Red Cross. Vostok SOS is a similar organization, created by activists from Luhansk. They also help the refugees by helping them look for homes, jobs, providing social and psychological help and even assisting in negotiating on hostage exchange and release. 25. Yuri Podliesniy

(Nation Race) Thanks to Yuriy Podliesniy, Ukrainians now like to run. Whether its a five kilometer, thirteen kilometer, or even half marathon. You will find most major cities in the country now take part in the Nation Race, drawing an analogy with the US Spartan Race. The event, founded in early 2015, attracts thousands of people into testing their stamina and spirit. Their numbers grow every year, even though the contestants often have to overcome many obstacles on their way, negotiating difficulties like swamps, wall climbing, mud crawling or even fire.

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