Could you please tell us more about yourself?
I’m studying “Public administration and governance”. Overall, my field is “Public Administration.” As for work, I’m not employed anywhere at the moment because it’s impossible to combine it with volunteering activities and university. I can’t leave volunteering because people are counting on me. Besides this, I’m also involved in certain community activities in Kremenets.
Tell us about your volunteer path. How did it all start, and how did it grow into what you’re doing now?
It all started with charity auctions. I used to draw pictures with acrylic or oil paints and sell them for the highest donation on social media (Volodymyr has been passionate about painting and graphics long time – author’s note). All money from the sales were sent to the account of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
I had been on the front line only one time before the war. I visited the guys in Donetsk region in 2021. My first mission during the russian invasion was to Kyiv region. Probably about a week after its de-occupation. At that time, I went to Bucha, Irpin, and other cities in the north of the region, not far from the belarusian border. We didn’t have a professional team at that moment. The trip was organized by proactive people from the religious community, and funds for everything necessary were collected with the support of caring people. We visited Kyiv region twice.
My missions to Kharkiv region, Donetsk region, and others became more extensive. I started cooperating with the charitable foundation “Pohliad” (meaning “View” or “Perspective”) from the city of Kremenets. This organization had been providing charitable assistance even before the full-scale invasion. Probably 95% of the trips I made with my friend Oleksandr Kotovskyi, who is also a co-founder of the foundation “Pohliad”. I always mention him because he’s a military chaplain and actively helps our defenders.
How big is your volunteer team now? Who is part of it?
Our permanent team is small. It’s Oleksandr Kotovskyi and me. There are people who are involved in loading the volunteer crew. This is a process that remains “behind the scenes”, but it is extremely important. When it comes to large cargo, the residents of Kremenets, members of the local religious community and others join in.
Our partners also make a significant contribution. There are many of them in total, too many to count, and quite a few are abroad. However, I consider volunteer Svitlana Dziuma-Chan a full-fledged member of the team. This woman is originally from Kremenets but lives in China. Svitlana has united Ukrainians living there into a large community – CUP (which stands for Creative Ukrainian People – author’s note). They work remotely and cover a significant part of our expenses.
How many trips have you made to the front lines and territories close to the combat zone since the full-scale war? Which regions have you visited?
I wanted to make such statistics once and “played” with the numbers. It’s difficult because we don’t keep track of trips. However, over two years, there were definitely over fifty trips. The number ranges from 50 to 70. We delivered aid along almost the entire “front line”. This includes Kyiv region, Chernihiv region, Kharkiv region, Donetsk region, Luhansk region (those 3% of lands controlled by Ukraine), Kherson region, and Zaporizhzhia. I visited all regions along the border with russia, except for Sumy region.
You help both military and civilians, particularly the local population. What requests do you usually receive from them?
First, let’s talk about civilians. We bring long-term storage food, clothes, hygiene items, and other things they need the most. Seeking and organizing the “aid” is actually what Oleksandr Kotovskyi and the charitable foundation do. We manage to collect everything thanks to international organizations and ordinary people who donate something. If at the beginning of the war, requests from civilians were huge, today they are minimal.
Regarding the military, it’s worth to take into account such a detail as the statutory activities of the foundation. That is, not every organization can help military units if the documents specify assistance to civilians. Therefore, we carry out volunteer activities for our defenders on our own behalf, not as part of the foundation.
The military need quick-to-prepare food, but only during rotations, establishment of a new brigade, changes in personnel, trips to combat zones, etc. We mainly receive requests for various material and technical support: charging stations, FPV drones, drone supplies, batteries for radio communication, electronic warfare equipment, unmanned aerial vehicle notification devices, etc.
I also often see posts about fundraising for the needs of soldiers on your Facebook page. Tell us more about it. What do you mainly raise money for?
Our volunteer team is small, but everyone has their own responsibilities. In particular, I am involved in fundraising. I don’t organize them “from scratch” because it’s difficult with the amount of followers I have now. So I join existing collections — I undertake to cover a certain amount of money. It would be impossible to do this without the support of people abroad, especially from Svitlana Dziuma-Chan’s team. The largest amounts come from Ukrainians living in China and directly from Chinese people. A lot of people are surprised, as they know China’s position on russia’s war against Ukraine. However, despite this, people living there help the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Ukrainian civilians a lot. Residents of Kremenets also join in closing the collections, especially if they know specific servicemen in brigade where we are going.
Usually, I respond to urgent requests or join collaborative fundraising of large sums that are difficult to close alone. There are calls from the guys, like: “Volodia, we need this and that immediately”. Mostly they need charging stations, because their price has increased now. One of the last large-scale collections was for a thermal imager for our guys from Kremenets – almost 78 thousand hryvnias (approximately 2,000 USD). Earlier we collected over 100 thousand hryvnias for drones (approximately 2,500 USD).
Do you help only the military from Kremenets or do other brigades also reach out to you?
No, we don’t have any “territorial attachment”. If we only visited one region, then maybe we would deliver aid to a single brigade. We have cooperated with the “Aidar” battalion, and with the marine infantry, and with the 68th Jaeger and 65th Mechanized Brigades, etc. We actively visit many military units on different front directions, most often Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia.
How do you prepare for each volunteer trip?
Preparations are actually long-term. First, you need to know more about the territory you are going to visit. Second, you need to find out about the needs of soldiers and civilians in those human settlements. We call people using contacts that Oleksandr Kotovskyi and I have, then we arrange the aid. The next stage is collecting and preparing the cargo (aid). Administrative work took a lot of time – processing requests, calling/writing to someone, posting on social media. One person has to perform several tasks simultaneously.
Another point – it’s not always possible to reach the front line with our own transport. Therefore, we have a familiar team of local volunteers with whom we interact in each region. If we’re there – they’re the first to know about it. They provide “targeted” transport that can get us where we need to go.
Links to Volodymyr’s Instagram profile and Facebook page, where you can see his volunteer activities, view war photos and join fundraising or assistance to Ukrainian military/civilians.
End of the first part of the interview.
Translator: Yuliia Koleha
