This Thursday, after a massive early morning Russian attack on the whole of Ukraine, Ukrainian citizens try to flee or protect themselves air strikes. To help these Ukrainian families, NGOs are trying to organize themselves on the spot. Among them, the NGO “Smile for Ukraine” created in 2014 by Nicolas Tacusel, Nîmes of Ukrainian origin.
The primary mission of this NGO is to help war orphans in the Donbass regions. The Donbass, this region in the very east of the country, on the border with Russia, has been experiencing very regular, but hitherto isolated, conflicts since 2014 between Ukrainian soldiers and pro-Russian separatists. Since this Thursday morning and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the humanitarian organization is working on an emergency basis.
this is the case in Chernigov, in northern Ukraine, 150 kilometers from the capital Kiev and about a hundred kilometers from the Russian border, in this children’s hospital.
After the air alarm sounded, citizens feared an attack from the air. It was then that Sergey, one of the regional coordinators of “Smile for Ukraine” decided to organize a refuge in the anti-aircraft basement of the hospital for children for young patients and their families, but also for all the inhabitants who wish it.
the number of people on site is difficult to estimateaccording to Nicolas Tacusel, but “they are at least twenty individuals“.
This Thursday evening,Everything is fine with Sergey and the children in Chernigov“, according to Nîmes Nicolas Tacusel, who regularly takes news. _They’re exhausted, most of them are sleeping, it’s very quiet_.“Volunteers take turns every two hours to come out of the shelter to charge phones and check in.
This first day of offensive was described as a “success” by the Russian Defense Ministry. In a few hours, several dozen people were killed, both soldiers and civilians.
Video credit: Smile For Ukraine/Evum
Translation: Lina Kanizaj