Hell's Kitchen, Kharkiv - spring 2025

There's a lot that goes on in Hell's Kitchen, apart from making bread rolls. Volunteers - Ukrainian and foreign - arrrive at 07:30 to begin scrubbing, peeling and chopping vegetables, to prepare the cooked meals that are sent, 365 days a year, to hospitals and military units. We need a lot of electricity -  we're in a basement, for a start, so we need light - and we have a 'cold room' (walk-in fridge) that runs 24/7. The cost of electricity is going up every month, no doubt as a result of the war and attacks on energy infrastructure. The energy bill last month was 66,819 UAH (nearly 90 % of which is electricity): approximately £1,242 / 1,484 Euros / $1,610 US. All of this is funded by donations. It was a smaller than usual bill because February is a short month and we use less electricity during winter - we need less ventilation and the air conditioner in the 'cold room' uses less power than in summer. 

As of 22 March, at least thirteen civilians have been killed and 83 others injured, by missile and drone attacks, since Putin agreed to a partial ceasefire. On the night of 19 March, Russian drones attacked a hospital in Krasnopillia, in our neighbouring Sumy oblast (region). 

The almost continuous air raid sirens continue to wail in Kharkiv city, night and day, whilst we await further developments. 

Update on donations

A big thanks to Trawden for £142 from the Community Shop collection box - monies have been divided amongst the charities mentioned at the end of the blog.

Franklin, foreign volunteer coordinator, used donations, including some of those from Trawden, to send quick clot compression bandages, thermal sets and fleece jackets to a local tank unit.

He also bought 5 tablet computers for a military brigade, in response to an urgent request. IT equipment, such as computers, tablets and routers are always badly needed. Transport can be arranged, e.g. there are always humanitarian aid vehicles driving back and forth from the UK and across Europe.

On Wednesday mornings I'm working as an English teaching assistant in a private school that decided to remain open, despite its reception area and cafeteria being bombed last summer (fortunately when no-one was there). I love working in Hell's Kitchen, where I've been for nearly a year, but I need some different experiences. Both teachers and children seem glad of the opportunity to speak to a native English speaker. It's amazing and moving, to see and hear children socialising, laughing and making lots of noise - it's the first time I've had this experience in Kharkiv.

A couple of weeks ago we had a taste of spring, almost summer, when the temperature went up to 20 degrees! This was a packed Shevchenko Park on Saturday 8 March - International Women's Day - which is celebrated in quite a big way here.

The following week it was back to winter for a few days. One of the volunteers took this rooftop photo. 

21 March is European Music Day, which was celebrated with a "Bach Marathon" in one of the underground metro stations in Kharkiv. There were musicians from the Kharkiv Philharmonic and music students, some very young. Attending such an event, in a drafty underground station, with the sound of public announcements, and trains coming and going in the background, evoked mixed emotions of sadness and admiration for the resilience of people who choose to continue playing music, whenever and wherever they can. My new Ukrainian word is пишаюся - proud.

To make a donation, please:

Open PayPal and, when asked for email, enter sunflower_house@hotmail.co.uk

These are the causes to which I regularly donate - you can specify where you would like your money to go, otherwise I will send it where I think the need is greatest:

Adults For Children supports families displaced by the war.

Hell's Kitchen - funding for daily, nutritious meals to hospitals and elecricity costs. 

Franklin, Hell's Kitchen foreign volunteer coordinator, supports local soldiers and medics.

Fabric for camouflage netting, ghillies and stretchers/seamstress costs 

If you would like to donate to charities that support animals, Animal Rescue Kharkiv needs funds for vaccinating cats and dogs so they can be taken west into the EU.