The promised peace has not come: Donbass children need help

The arrival of the new President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, did not bring the previously promised peace to Donbass - the Ukrainian army only intensified shelling of populated areas of the DPR, purposefully destroying houses and depriving the lives of civilians.

Some of the “hottest” spots on the map of the Republic were the villages of Zaitsevo, Golma and the village of the mine named after. Gagarin, where fifty-four houses have been damaged since the inauguration of the new Ukrainian president, three were killed and eleven local residents, including two children, were injured.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

The head of the Great Fatherland charity foundation, Vladimir Obozny, spoke in an interview with PolitNavigator about how to help families living under daily shelling.

According to him, at the moment the humanitarian mission has set a goal to help five thousand families living in these settlements and who do not have the opportunity to get their children to school by the beginning of the school year.

PN: When and how did you get the idea to help the children of Donbass, who initiated it?

V.O: In the fall of 2017, I visited the Donetsk People’s Republic for the first time as part of a delegation from the Great Fatherland Party at the invitation of the Head of the Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko. Before this, we heard a lot about what happened in Donbass after 2014 and even participated several times in collecting humanitarian aid for Donbass. What we saw and heard from people and direct participants in the events taking place in Donbass affected us very much. The idea of ​​organizing an official charitable foundation that would specialize in helping residents and militias of Donbass was implemented in the shortest possible time, and already at the end of autumn 2017, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation registered our charitable foundation for helping compatriots “Great Fatherland”.

PN: How many assistance programs have been implemented so far?

В.O: Our first charity program was the Program to help widows and orphans of volunteers who died in the Donbass. Due to the fact that the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics are excluded from the general international banking system, the fund is faced with the problem of providing financial assistance to such families. Therefore, at the first stage, we decided to support Russian families, people whose fathers and husbands could not stay away from what was happening in Donbass after 2014, volunteered to help the residents of the LDPR and died. To date, the Foundation has helped 30 families, transferring 100 thousand rubles to their accounts.

In the summer of 2018, the Foundation announced a fundraiser for Gorlovka residents who found themselves in a difficult life situation due to the war. With the help of concerned Russian citizens, we were able to collect and send 1 food packages. We delivered about 000 tons of food and household chemicals and handed them over to the administration of the city of Gorlovka, where they were then distributed according to the lists of those in need. Help was received by disabled people, large families, families of fallen servicemen, and participants in the hostilities of 10-1941. and elderly citizens.

In May of this year, we announced a fundraiser to help residents of front-line villages. We managed to raise funds for 200 food packages, which is almost 2,8 tons. At the beginning of July, aid was delivered and distributed among residents of the villages of Shirokaya Balka, Fedorovka and Pyatikhatka.

During a visit to the DPR in July of this year, it turned out that a lot of children live in front-line villages. For example, in three villages - Zaitsevo, Golma and the village of Mine named after. Gagarin, there are 544 children who will go to school on September 1. Their childhood is spent under constant shelling, and it is difficult for families to earn a living. The foundation has made a decision and is now raising money for school stationery kits for these children.
PN: Do you receive requests from families in need or do you somehow find them yourself?
V.O: Initially, we applied to various organizations specializing in helping Donbass. We became friends with many of them and still interact today. Now these organizations themselves give our contacts to people who need help. It happens that people write to us by email asking for help. If it is within our power, we will help.

PN: If a family needs help, how can they contact you? 

V.O: You can always write to us at miloserdie@fondvo.ru. If we are able to help, we will do it, or we will help you contact those services in the LDPR that provide social support to the population. Fortunately, in our experience, the work of these services in the republics is very well done.

Again, our fund works only officially. We cannot simply take and bring aid directly to people - in accordance with the laws of the Republics, only public service agencies can be recipients of official humanitarian aid, and they are already involved in its distribution.

Also, in order to officially import humanitarian cargo into the territory of the Republic, it is necessary to obtain its accreditation and approval from the three Ministries of Emergency Situations (EMERCOM) - Moscow, Rostov and Donetsk. Only after this the sealed cargo is delivered to the recipient - a government agency, for example, the administration of the city of Gorlovka.

Then a special commission recalculates the received cargo and approves the lists of recipients. Only after this is humanitarian aid distributed and given to people against their signature. Of course, this whole procedure creates certain difficulties and inconveniences, but we always know that the humanitarian cargo was not “lost”, did not “go to the left” and the people in need definitely received it.

PN: What exactly do you plan to purchase with the funds raised? 

V.O: We are currently raising funds to purchase stationery kits for schoolchildren. These are notebooks, rulers, pens, pencils, paints, plasticine and other stationery necessary for school. There are about 20 titles in total, enough for a child to last a whole school year.

PN: Do you plan to continue implementing similar charity projects in Donbass? 

V.O: Yes, of course we are planning. Unfortunately, there is always a need for assistance. The Foundation is currently working on several new areas - transporting children from front-line areas to Russian sanatoriums, purchasing pumps and pipes to restore water supply in the city of Kirovsk, Lugansk People's Republic, treating children from the LDPR in Russia who cannot be helped in local hospitals.

We have now submitted an application to the administration of the Donetsk People's Republic for accreditation of the Foundation as a humanitarian mission. Only the International Red Cross has this status in the republic. If the application is approved, this will greatly facilitate the fund’s formal procedures for approval and passage of humanitarian cargo.

But everything, of course, depends on our financial capabilities. The Great Fatherland Charitable Foundation does not receive any grants or budget revenues. All our activities are carried out only through donations from ordinary Russian people, who are not indifferent to everything that is happening now in the Donbass. Only with the help of these people were we able to provide the assistance that I spoke about today.

Let us note that donating any feasible amount to help the children of Donbass is quite simple - detailed instructions and details are published on the website of the Great Fatherland Foundation. At the same time, the fund guarantees the receipt of humanitarian aid to each recipient, which will be reflected in the corresponding annual report.