The 81-year-old resident of Kharkiv is largely confined to a wheelchair and can rarely go outside without assistance. He has no other family nearby. Her husband, who she said had no legs and was also in a wheelchair, died five years ago and her son died a year later. For Savchenko, there is no refuge from Russia’s constant shelling of Ukraine’s second-largest city. As air raid sirens sound, he lives with the knowledge that he cannot escape to safety even if he wanted to. Svitlana Savchenko uses a side table to help her walk around her small apartment in Kharkiv. Ashley Stewart “This is my homeland and I have nowhere else,” says Savchenko. “I have no relatives. I can’t walk. What can I do?” Savchenko is one of thousands of elderly and vulnerable locals left to fend for themselves in Kharkiv, the site of heavy fighting early in the war and a continued target of Russian bombing because of its proximity to the eastern front lines. Although their disabilities and age-related frailties predate the invasion, an exodus of friends, relatives and other community support has made them more vulnerable and dependent on local volunteers.
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One of the organizations that has intervened is Rescue Now, which was founded at the beginning of the war by well-known Kharkiv actor Igor Klyuchnik and Vitalii Bandura, founder of a sexual wellness app, and is run by a group of local businessmen. restaurateurs, IT professionals and investors. In addition to organizing evacuations from Luhansk, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, Rescue Now has created an online database of elderly and vulnerable locals that includes a brief bio, photos and fundraising goals for each of them for each month, depending on their needs . It’s almost like hundreds of GoFundMe pages rolled into one place. Rescue Now’s ‘adopt a grandparent’ platform aims to connect needy locals with international donors. The program is referred to as the ‘adopt a grandparent’ campaign and allows people from anywhere in the world to donate money towards food and medicine packages for a specific person. People can donate as much or as little as they want, like a GoFundMe, or they can take full responsibility for their monthly costs, making them “adopt a grandchild.” “We want to show people who they can help and who the faces are. We are trying to make it tangible,” says Kharkiv hub coordinator Vlad Glavachek. Kharkiv hub coordinator Vlad Glavachek left his pre-war life behind to focus on the most vulnerable in his city. Braden Latham Before the war, he was a business development manager and, like many of his team, lived a very different life. One of the managers of Rescue Now is behind many well-known restaurants in Kharkiv. Another is the founder of a travel agency. There is the head of a financial company, a clothing designer and a lawyer. Not everyone necessarily knew each other before the war, Glavachek says, but “someone knew someone who knew someone” and the organization grew from there. A car marked ‘volunteer’ waiting to be loaded with goods at Rescue Now headquarters. Ashley Stewart Last week, Global News accompanied Rescue Now on a daily help to run out of packages. The hope is that as interest in the war wanes and donations decline, an accessible online portal will continue to facilitate donations to the war effort. Which means continued support for people like Savchenko. She breaks down in tears as she reflects on how her life has turned out, pointing to Busia’s cat as her saving grace. “It’s very difficult when you’re alone. My cat is the only thing that saves me,” she says.
How to “adopt” a Ukrainian in need
Rescue Now operates from an empty warehouse in the center of Kharkiv. When we visit, there is a strong stench in the air from a nearby rocket attack the night before. Hours later, the building is still burning, spewing smoke over the city. Inside the warehouse, volunteers stack bags of food against a wall before loading them into the trunks of waiting cars. Local taxi driver Evgeny was in his car when he was hit by shrapnel. He delivers for Rescue Now every day. Ashley Stewart Evgeni, a taxi driver, enters the warehouse with an old car riddled with shrapnel holes. He was driving the vehicle when a rocket exploded nearby, he explains, and the back seats and doors had to be replaced because of the damage. However, it hasn’t stopped him from driving around town. delivers for Rescue Now every day. Volunteers now reach about 1,500 homes a week. Food packages for the needy are stacked in a warehouse in the center of Kharkiv. Ashley Stewart Stories vary in degree of need. There is an old woman who has gathered dozens of hungry animals to feed after their owners left town. Another woman poured peroxide on her legs for burned veins when pharmacies were closed. Others have lost spouses during the war or have debilitating injuries. “One man we helped, I remember, was elderly and when we evacuated him he was so happy because he couldn’t get out of bed for three years,” Glavachek says. It’s those stories that drive him and his fellow volunteers, he says.
The elderly cannot leave their homes
In the hallway of a Soviet-style apartment building in eastern Kharkiv, a young Rescue Now volunteer approaches a second-floor apartment, knocking on the door and shouting, “Hi Grandma!” A voice from inside tells the young man to enter. Svitlana Savchenko greets us from the corridor, bent over her trusty side table. Back in her living room and sitting in her wheelchair, Savchenko, who also suffers from a heart condition, says she is recovering after a sleepless night. Svitlana Savchenko lives alone in Kharkiv and says her cat is her only saving grace. Ashley Stewart “I didn’t sleep last night because of the four rockets that landed. No sleep, just sitting,” he says. She is clearly happy to have visitors. A few weeks shy of her 82nd birthday, Savchenko is elated as she speaks. Her apartment is tidy, but small, with narrow corners that her wheelchair can hardly maneuver — hence, the double use of the table.
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Apart from volunteers, visitors to her home are few and far between, Savchenko says. Of the rest of her family, she has a grandson who lives two hours away in Poltava and can only visit once a month. Her daughter-in-law and another grandson fled to Poland on February 25, a day after the Russian invasion. Savchenko refuses to leave. She has lived in Kharkiv for more than 70 years, she explains, and it is her home. A building in the center of Kharkiv that became the target of bombings. Ashley Stewart After five months of war, she says she has gotten used to the constant shelling, but still relies on valerian drinks to calm her nerves. He can’t leave the house to buy supplies, but he tries to remain as self-sufficient as he can. “I’m not hungry,” he says. “Thanks to [volunteers], I am not hungry. Little by little I am cooking by myself. I vacuum and wash myself.” The only time Savchenko gets emotional during our visit is as we prepare to leave. Through tears, she spoke of her dependence on her cat for company, then told us to “always look after your mothers.” Many elderly people in Kharkiv have not left their homes for months. While many struggled to do so before the war, the threat of bombing makes outdoor excursions even more terrifying now. Lubov, who asked that her last name not be used, was last seen outside in the fall. Lubov lost the use of her legs a year and a half ago due to three consecutive strokes, and is now confined to a small one-bedroom studio on the fifth floor of a suburban apartment building, which has no elevator. Lubov says she hasn’t been outside since the fall. Ashley Stewart Her husband is now her full-time carer. Lubov cries uncontrollably as she talks about her situation, stuck in an apartment barely the size of a medium-sized bedroom – a bed crammed into an alcove, a few tables, a small kitchen and nothing else – and constantly terrified by explosions outside. . Her husband does not speak. “It’s terrible,” he says of the nightly air raid sirens and bombings. “I just sit and sit. I’m not moving at all.” The food parcels she receives are not enough, she says, and she relies on potatoes she made months ago to supplement her diet. When asked if there was anything she wanted people in the West to know, she made a desperate plea through tears: “Please help us.” 2:46 War-torn hospital near Ukraine’s front lines continues to operate Hospital near Ukraine’s front lines continues to operate It is unclear what social assistance is currently offered to vulnerable residents through the Kharkiv City Council, or how many elderly and disabled people remain in the city. Global News attempted to contact the council through several channels, but our questions were not…
