New Year

It's hard to write with much hope and positivity for the New Year, given the scant prospect of peace in Ukraine in the near future and and the precarious state of the world elsewhere. 

At the end of last year the Mayor of Kharkiv, Ігор Терехов, posted the following statistics.

728 shellings of the city.

Air raid sirens:

• in the region — 2403 signals, 4791 hours 20 minutes (this is 200 days)

• in Kharkiv — 1826 signals, 2590 hours 56 minutes (this is 108 days)

Injured: 973 people, including 106 children.

Killed: 41 people, including 3 children.

In 2026 we have already started a new toll of deaths and injuries, following 2 Russian missiles that hit a high-rise residential building in the centre of Kharkiv, mid-afternoon on 2 January. As bodies are still being pulled from the rubble, the death toll increased to five today, including a 3-year-old boy and his mother. Two people are still missing.

It's hard to see how anyone survived this.

Recently, I visited a small photographic exhibition, dedicated to children who have died in Kharkiv city and region. It makes for sad and difficult viewing, especially reading about their dreams and aspirations - a teenage boy who wanted to become a chef, a boy who dreamed of walking around without his parents keeping an eye on him and a teenage girl who was already a kickboxing medallist.

I don't often mention the suffering of animals in this war, but there was a Russian bomb attack on Kharkiv's Ecopark on New Year's Day. The park provides an environment for wintering predators and birds, and a shell hit the building in which some of the birds were kept. Most were killed. Tigers and lions were injured when they became scared and ran into buildings, and they had to be sedated.

Hell's Kitchen Update

Going back to my first line about hope and positivity, they are always to be found in Hell's Kitchen, along with great warmth and humour, and wonderful food!

On 28 December we had our Christmas party - outside in the cold and snow, with a fire, barbecue and hot mulled wine. Liuda and Yegor always make a speech to all the volunteers, in English and Ukrainian, thanking us and renewing hope for the future, which seemed even more heartfelt as we move into the fourth year of war.

Over the Christmas/New Year period we have had a large influx of volunteers - from Germany, Netherlands, Japan, England, USA, Austria, Czech Republic, Spain, Belgium and Denmark - all contributing to keeping the Kitchen going, and bringing their unique personalities, experiences and customs, including cooking! Some volunteers funded ingredients and made a large quantity of Speculaas biscuits (traditional Dutch cookies, spiced with a mix of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamon and pepper) that were distributed to the troops and two Kharkiv fire station teams. Today, volunteers made chocolate chip cookies to take to emergency services workers at the devastated city centre site that Russia bombed a couple of days ago (as mentioned above). Volunteers will do the same tomorrow.

Donations

Thank you, as always, for your donations; however small, they are always effective.

One donation went to Inna's camouflage group and bought a roll of material in winter camouflage pattern, for a brigade in the Kharkiv region.

Donations have gone to Hell's Kitchen, and also to Franklin's fundraising drive for winterwear for local troops, made in a Kharkiv factory owned by a combat veteran. Each set costs 520 UAH (about $13 USD/just over £9).

Over the past week I received 4 separate donations that I will forward to support the families of victims of the recent missile attack.

On New Year's Day I moved into a new apartment - still close to the Kitchen but further from the city centre so it may not be quite as close to the flight path of drones. But one never knows. The flat is smaller, more manageable and cheaper, with its own Alcatraz-style veranda and a lovely shared garden.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and thanks, also, for comments.

To make a donation to the regular causes I support, please open PayPal and, when asked for email, enter sunflower_house@hotmail.co.uk

You can specify where you would like your donation to go, including whether or not you wish to support a civilian only cause; otherwise, I will send the money where I think the need is greatest:

Adults For Children supports children's physical and emotional well being in Kharkiv, and also local soldiers.

Hell's Kitchen cooks daily, nutritious meals and bakes bread for hospitals, including wounded soldiers, and also supports other people in need.

Franklin, Hell's Kitchen foreign volunteer coordinator, supports soldiers and medics on the frontline.

Inna runs a small group of volunteers who make camouflage nets, ghillie suits and stretchers.

If you would like to donate to a charity that supports animals - Animal Rescue Kharkiv.