Good afternoon, Denys! Tell us more about yourself. What do you do?
Good afternoon, Yulia. I was born and raised in Dnipro region. Currently, I am a member of the National Youth Council of Ukraine, the founder and director of the charitable foundation «Voices from Ukraine».
How and when was the charitable foundation established? What was its initial goal?
Primarily, it was a volunteer news agency. We informed our readers about the events of russian aggression against Ukraine. It was founded on February 23, 2022, The main goal was explaining to foreigners what was happening in Ukraine. We had a Telegram channel and a website where we published news every 5-10 minutes 24/7. We worked in a such way for two months. The team initially consisted of thirteen people, including well-known and less popular journalists. Later, the team was reduced to five people.
Later, we started to receive requests if it was possible to send humanitarian aid through us to Ukraine. Then we realized that people see us more like an organization rather than a news agency. That’s why my colleague and I decided to set up a charitable foundation, known as «Voices from Ukraine». We started looking for opportunities in order to embody our plan in reality. Our German and Polish partners helped us with financing, and with their support we opened the above-mentioned foundation. The official establishment was on April 13, 2022.
Could you please tell us about the main activities of the foundation now?
Currently, our foundation is engaged in several activities. We help IDPs as we work with refugee centers. We are taking care of orphanages that were evacuated from Ukraine to Lodz, Poland after the beginning of the full-scale invasion. As for now we have three orphanages there, but two more are moving in now, which we are taking under our care, so there will be five. We also have our own radio station, where we spread Ukrainian culture, including music, which is popular not only in Ukraine but in the whole world. People there also listen to Ukrainian songs. Furthermore, we organize a lot of cultural events on the territory of Poland and the European Union in order to support Ukrainians spirit and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Can you share more information about your team? What positions are present, and how can people join?
Currently, our team consists of five people. The head of the foundation is me. There is a deputy director who also performs management functions when I am not available. We have a photographer and project managers. We also have volunteer artists who perform on a regular basis and help us raise funds. These are Julik, a former member of the Dzidzio band, Andriy Zelisko, alyona alyona, Lesan, Dovi and other famous artists. The list can go on for a quite a while. A lot of artists cooperate with «Voices from Ukraine».
Our small team doesn’t receive any salaries and has no benefit from it, except for the feeling that we are doing a good thing. We don’t even have anyone officially employed by the foundation. We are all volunteers.
Do you plan to expand your activities in 2024?
Since we operate not only in Poland, but also in Europe, there is no room for expansion. We are definitely not going to open branches. It is not profitable for us, because we need even more investments for branches. In general, we are always happy to have any person, any specialist who is ready to help and support us.
Tell us about your project with the UN. What did you work on?
On this project, we worked together with the Mixed Migration Center and PoMA Global to identify the problems of internally displaced people due to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. We are talking about the exploitation of people while they are crossing the border, confiscation of passports, slavery, and sexual violence. Our team interviewed more than 400 people in order to document the crimes and understand what kind of assistance should be provided.
Our second cooperation was with another organization. We conducted interviews with Polish leaders, children, parents, and teachers, both Ukrainians and Poles. Our goal were to understand the thoughts of people and the specifics of working with Ukrainians. To find out how we can improve life of Ukrainian citizens in Poland.
The russians are trying to undermine our position in Poland and create a conflict of interest. That’s why we wanted to help the Polish people feel calm and not be nervous about the recent Polish-Ukrainian border blockade by farmers.
«Radio Voices from Ukraine». What is this project about?
«Radio Voices from Ukraine» is a project about Ukrainian culture, in particular music, and its spreading in Poland and beyond. Eighty percent of the music played on the radio is Ukrainian, the other twenty percent is divided into Polish, French, English, and Italian. Because artists from all over the world send their songs so that people can learn about another culture through music. The main goal of this project is to popularize Ukrainian songs and culture among foreigners. Ukrainian is Ukrainian, not Russian.
What is the hardest part of being the head of the charity foundation «Voices from Ukraine»?
The hardest part is to find funding. That’s hard to run the foundation without financial support. Sometimes, we have to invest our own money in order to keep moving. «Voices from Ukraine» is actively looking for partners, because all of our charity events require funds. The hardest part is to find partners.
Share your view of Ukraine’s future. What does our country look like in your dreams?
It seems that very soon Ukraine will be identified as Ukraine – a sovereign and independent state. It will be a strong and highly developed country. Ukraine will be the leader of international alliances and show the standard of living that other countries will endeavor. All this will certainly happen, but it can take many more years to rebuild our country.
On the other hand, it’s very difficult to dream because you don’t know what can happen tomorrow. You live every day as your last, knowing that your parents and friends are in the East, at war. We live in a such way that we can achieve the expected victory as soon as possible.
Of course, we want the war to end as soon as possible with minimal losses. I believe that Ukraine will recover all its capacities, flourish and restore its 1991 borders. It will show the whole world how beautiful Ukraine is. We have many places that worth to explore. I believe that it is crucial to add new technologies to the destroyed places, so that they get a second chance. After all, many Ukrainian cities that have become ghost towns and need a strong hand from the Ukrainian people.
Translator: Koleha Yuliia
The material was produced with the support of the NGO «Institute of Mass Information» as part of a project of the international organisation Internews Network.
