Жовтень – October

This month is named after the colour yellow - жовтий, the colour of the leaves. In the autumnal sun, the colours are beautiful and Kharkivians delight in this time of year, before the cold and uncertainty of winter descends.

As always, the beauty of Kharkiv, and the joy of living and working here, is juxtaposed with the sounds of sirens and bombs, and the sadness of death and destruction. Kyiv continues to experience the most consistent attacks, but in Kharkiv and Kharkiv region there is a steady increase in drone, glide bomb and missile attacks, particularly during the day. The sound of explosions when we're out and about is not uncommon. Often, these are attacks on infrastructure and services, e.g. electricity substations and petrol stations. At other times there seems to be no explanation - people killed in a sewing shop, for example. On 19 October, at about 4:30 pm, a Russian drone struck a park in Nova Vodolaz, north-eastern Kharkiv region, killing six people, including two children, aged 11 and 1. At least 15 others were injured, including seven children. 

https://suspilne.media/amp/kharkiv/1420309-u-novij-vodolazi-ogolosili-den-zalobi-za-zagiblimi-cerez-rosijskij-udar-po-parku-19-zovtna/

Another growing concern is the potential for drone attacks on trains. The once punctual-to-the-minute rail service is now beset by the need for frequent passenger evacuations from trains due to nearby drone activity, which can sometimes last for hours. This makes our volunteers' journeys across Ukraine (already a minimum 18 hours) even longer and more tiring. It will be worse when temperatures plummet. Bus travel can seem a safer option but this is not always the case. An aerial bomb fell on 2 buses at a bus stop in Kramatorsk at 10 am on 8 October and killed at least 30 people. Although in Donetsk region, Kramatorsk is not far from us and we know people who do evacuations there. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/08/russian-attack-buses-ukraine-frontline-kramatorsk?CMP=share_btn_url

It seems like a long time since my last blog. This is partly because I've been very busy in the Kitchen - an unusually low number of foreign volunteers has coincided with the need to move from a computerised scheduling system to something that does not depend on the internet. But the main reason is because about 6 weeks ago I fractured a bone in my left shoulder when I slipped on my flooded bathroom floor! I've had to wear a support bandage all this time.

It's been somewhat limiting but, fortunately, I can still roll dough with my right hand! Ed, our foreign volunteer coordinator, has been filling in as Saturday baker, and may now make better rolls than I.

Speaking of Ed, he was recently the subject of a video interview in Hell's Kitchen. It's a moving account of his reasons for being here and a lovely portrayal of everyday life in the kitchen, including the importance of spicy sauce to foreign volunteers!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TxZjuK-leFM&is=GnM2VTERRgtShxTx

Although we've only had a small group of volunteers over the past few weeks, they have been exceptionally hard-working, not only doing their scheduled shifts in the kitchen but also putting themselves forward for other tasks; for example, helping to move several thousand kilos of potatoes and carrots to a storage area in another kitchen because ours does not have enough space.

Here, the guys are taking shelter during an air raid alert.

Some volunteers move from peeling vegetables in the kitchen to making iron staples for trenches, repairing laptops, or walking dogs for a charity that cares for abandoned dogs, mostly from war-torn Donetsk. This is something that I've been able to do with my one useful arm, as long as it's a little dog!

It's a great way to do something useful, as well as get out into fresh air and countryside, which is good for our mental health. Paws animal shelter (there are also horses, cats, 2 goats ad a cow!) is in a long-abandoned hippodrome on the outskirts of the city; the route for walking dogs and exercising horses is around what was once the race track.

Volunteers also enjoy seeing what Kharkiv has to offer, from bars and restaurants, to opera and ballet. This was an amazing, hypnotic, balletic interpretation of Ravel's "Bolero."

Donations

I have sent recent donations to Hell's Kitchen, Inna's camouflage netting and Adults For Children.

I sent my own donation to purchase products for a vulnerable community on the outskirts of Kherson. When I delivered aid to Kherson three years ago we were often threatened by shells, lobbed indiscriminately from the Russian line, only a couple of kilometres away. Now the threat is more menacing because it is targeted. This is a recent report from Anastasiia in Kherson, who purchases the necessities with the donations I send: 

"Hi Fiona, yesterday I finally finished all the shopping and distributed aid to families with children. Here is the brief story of one of them: a 9-year-old boy diagnosed with autism and suffering from constant epileptic seizures lives with his mom, dad, and grandmother. Due to medical negligence and a failure to provide timely care, ordinary convulsions escalated into severe epilepsy. His mother works as an artist at the Mykola Kulish Kherson Drama Theater. His father stays home to look after the child because of the constant threat of shelling and his son's condition. The family has come under fire several times; a month ago, the boy and his father were on their way home in a minibus when it was attacked by a drone. They were incredibly lucky, as the RPG round didn't detonate and simply rolled underneath the minibus. Koko {her daughter} and I were riding in that very same minibus."

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:

Hell's Kitchen cooks daily, nutritious meals and bakes bread, for hospitals, wounded soldiers and others in need. https://hellskitchenukraine.org/

The Adults for Children foundation in Kharkiv supports children and families affected by war, through humanitarian aid, including food and medicine. They focus on psychological rehabilitation, educational initiatives and creating safe spaces for children's development. https://instagram.com/adults_for_children?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== 

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

Forging Ukraine makes iron trench staples. https://linktree/forgingukraine 

I support an apartment community in Kherson.

Kharkiv Paw Crew runs a shelter for dogs and horses.

Thank you, as always, for your donations; however small, they are always effective. Thank you, also, for taking the time to read this post. Comments are welcome, either on the blog site itself or by text message.

My hedgehogs are fattened up, ready for hibernation!