STELP founder Serkan Eren was on a relief mission with our partners from Zhyva Nadiya last Monday near the frontline in the town of Avdiivka, which was recently captured by the Russian military.
But the mission could not be carried out as planned. The Russian military attempted to capture Krasnohorivka on Monday. The town our team was supposed to supply. Throughout the day, they attacked Krasnohorivka with rockets, artillery and drones.
After our team was warned by the Ukrainian soldiers and sometimes even had to seek shelter in their shelters, it was clear to us that we would abandon the mission. Of course, there is always a certain amount of risk involved in such dangerous missions, but we don’t want to endanger the lives of our crew under any circumstances.
Even when our team was distributing food to civilians in villages a little further away from the front line, they were apparently being followed and targeted by drones.
We are glad that our volunteers are now all safe. But we also realize that our crew was extremely lucky. Luck that thousands of Ukrainians don’t have. They are still stuck in the contested areas and no longer have the opportunity to escape this hell.
On Tuesday, the crew started a new attempt and went back to the area near the front line. This time, fortunately, they were able to complete the mission without further incident. The civilians the team visited are unable to leave the endangered areas for various reasons and have been living without electricity, heating and running water for almost two years. The relief supplies – primarily food and warm sleeping bags – can at least help the people a little.
Unfortunately, there is no end in sight to this terrible war in the coming weeks. Thanks to your donations, our local crew will therefore continue to supply people in various regions.
