#UNACOPERTAPERLUCRAINA in support of severe cold emergency in Ukraine

The most extreme winter hasn’t arrived yet, but temperatures in Ukraine have already dropped a lot and are generating a new humanitarian emergency, which adds to the drama of a conflict that shows no signs of stopping. Together with the bombs the first snow falls and in war even the cold can become a weapon.

Temperatures are rigid, it is expected to reach -20° in the coming weeks, but already at this moment ten million people are without electricity and heating.

Lack of electricity means the absence of basic services for survival and for having contact with the outside world: water for daily use, internet connection to communicate with the rest of the country, but above all heating to heat water and homes. The people who are suffering from the cold right now are mostly women, children and the elderly who remain in their homes waiting for those who have enlisted and are at the front.

We meet women who desperately try to warm their babies by holding their little feet in their hands, but that’s not enough. The children are crying, they are cold and in their eyes the terror of the bombs and of the war that has been going on uninterruptedly for 10 months has dulled their vivacity: even the snow that once made them play is now an enemy.

Everyone’s help is needed to create places of protection and warmth, and we at CESVI are setting up the first 11 heating points in the city of Bucha: heated places where you can find comfort, shelter together with a blanket, a hot drink, biscuits and baby food for the little ones and a socket to recharge the mobile phone and communicate with the rest of the family who are elsewhere. We estimate to bring warmth to over 20,000 people in the coming weeks.

To do this we need everyone’s support and that’s why the #UNACOVERTAFORLUKRAINA campaign is active, through which anyone can donate on gofundme.org.