Russia’s war against Ukraine

What we do – chronology

This section gives a chronological overview of what we have been doing since 24 February 2022: our interventions in the media, our participation in the demonstrations against the Russian military occupation, sending aid to Ukraine for refugees, accompanying refugee families.

– Mid to late January 2024

Production of trench candles by the children of Berezhany. The paraffin for the candles was bought by our association in Ukraine. Once made, the candles were delivered at the end of January to the soldiers at the front. In the trenches, they are used to heat food, warm cold hands, provide some light, dry small items of clothing, etc. 


3 and 17 February 2024: on 3 February, a wheelchair, a walking frame, a table that can be hung next to the patient’s bed, linen, blankets and medicines were sent from Luxembourg to the centre for internal refugees in Dnipro. This aid arrived on the 17th of the month.


5 January 2024: Oleksadr P., a doctor at the front near Bahmut, received a bullet-proof waistcoat and protective belt from our association. As early as 18 January, when he went out to help the wounded, he was only slightly wounded in the hand and was operated on at Poltava hospital. He stayed alive thanks to the protection he had received a few days earlier.His wife wrote us a letter of thanks: “You saved the father of our children. While Oleksandr was in hospital, his third child, a daughter, was born”.


– 5 January 2024: the internal refugees at the Dnipro refugee centre received our help: bed linen and winter clothes sent from Luxembourg on 23 December.


– 30 December 2023: our association Ad Pacem has financed a surgical operation for the young student Maria S. A tumour was removed from her left leg. It was an abnormal form of varicosis. Maria and her mother Inga would like to thank all Ad Pacem members for their help. In her letter, Inga writes: “We are internal refugees from Kramatorsk and are currently living in a hostel in Kropivnyckij (central Ukraine). We lost our house in Kramatorsk (due to the war). My daughter is now studying distance learning at the University of Odesa. In the summer of 2023, a tumour formed on her left leg below the knee and varicose veins were discovered during an examination. The doctor recommended removing them surgically. But the cost of the operation was too high for me as I am bringing up my daughter alone. Thanks to the help of Ad pacem, this necessary operation was possible. And my daughter will be healthy again”.


– On 18 and 25 November and 2 December 2024, several consignments of toys and gifts were sent from Luxembourg to the refugee centres in Dnipro and Berzhany. Our packages arrived in Dnipro on 22 and 29 November and in Berezhany on 5 December, just in time for St Nicholas’ Day and Christmas.


The team of doctors at the field hospital who received our helmets and bullet-proof waistcoats at the beginning of April 2023 also included Oleg, a first-aid nurse. On 6 December 2023, Oleg sent us a text message and photos of himself in hospital. 
In his message he wrote: “At the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I, like many of my school colleagues, changed classes and went to the front as a first-aid nurse to help our soldiers liberate our country from the Russian invaders. On 1 December 2023, we were carrying wounded soldiers off the battlefield when we came under fire. I was hit by projectiles, but saved thanks to God’s help and the bullet-proof waistcoat and helmet that you bought for me. Please accept my sincere thanks on the occasion of today, the Feast of St Nicholas, and I wish you all a long life!”


Sent on 18 and received on 29 November 2023: our aid for internal refugees in Dnipro: bed linen, blankets and cushions, warm clothing, various medicines


Sent from Luxembourg on 25 Nov. and received on 6 Dec. 2023 in Kharkiv: dressings, painkillers, disinfectants, orthoses for knees, hands and feet, enteral feeding, crutches.


14 November 2023. On 30 October 2023, the Vorzel psychiatric hospital in Ukraine received the medicines purchased thanks to donations received following our appeal in Newsletter 27. The hospital obtained antidepressants, neuroleptics, anticonvulsants, hynoptics and anxiolytics.


Sent from Luxembourg on 23 September and received on 10 October 2023: clothes, shoes, blankets and underwear for the refugee centre in Dnipro, which we have been supporting since the start of the war.


The bandages, painkillers and antiseptics, knee and arm orthoses, bed sheets, nappies for bedridden people, surgical jackets and masks were sent from Luxembourg on 23 September and received at the Kharkiv hospital on 5 October 2023.


1 September 2023: The psychiatric hospital in Vorzel (Kyiv region) has received medicines for the treatment of war victims. These medicines were purchased with the money that our Ad Pacem association received in August in Italy, during the two benefit concerts at Serra Sant’Abbondio and Pergola and the appeal for donations at the Franciscan convent of Ostra Vetere.


3 July 2023: The psychiatric hospital in Vorzel (north of Kyiv), where most of the patients suffer from severe trauma caused by the war, receives the necessary medicines for €1,000.


2 juillet 2023: Valerij Nedosekin, former prisoner in torture prison of the DNR (People’s Republic of Donetsk), receives necessary medication for his medical treatment from Ad Pacem.


26 June 2023:  Vasyli S., from a village in central Ukraine, receives the wheelchair donated by a member of Ad Pacem.


31 May 2023: Our Kharkiv hospital coordinator Susanna Aksenkova receives the phonendoscope that Ad Pacem financed for her.


13 May dispatch from Luxembourg and 19 May 2023 reception at Kharkiv Hospital, intensive therapy, of disposable pads, sanitary towels and pampers for bedridden people.


Since March 2023, Ad Pacem has been supporting the Misto Dobra (City of Goodness) children’s home in Chernivtsi (Western Ukraine), where the centre accommodates 400 war refugees, including 150 children from orphanages. They are children from birth to 7 years old. Since the beginning of the war, mothers with children from the war zones have also been taken in. In addition, three children’s homes from Odessa and Mykolaiv were evacuated there. 
Until mid-May 2023, 10 children’s beds, 10 children’s commodes with changing tables, 5 air purifiers and a Kärcher steam cleaner were financed.


8 April sending and 14 April 2023 receiving our aid in the Refugee Centre in Dnipro:hygiene products and equipment for babies; linen, clothes and shoes for babies and children.


5 April 2023: The doctors we support are currently with the movible field hospital near Kramatorsk. They have received three bullet-proof waistcoats with 6th generation (better quality) protection plates,three helmets with ear protection and three pairs of boots


17 March 2023: at the hospital in Kharkiv, those in charge receive the eight boxes with the bags containing tube feedingsent on 11 March from Luxembourg.


11 March 2023: shipment from Luxembourg: 2 wheelchairs, 5 walkers, bed parts for bedridden people, toilet chairs, orthoses, crutches bed, orthoses, crutches, canes, bandages, antiseptics, painkillers, disposable syringes of various sizes, catheters and various medicines.


23 February 2023: reception in the hospital in Kramatorsk of the medicines (painkillers, for vascular diseases and heart failure, haemostatic drugs, blood pressure regulation, brain regulation and others) bought in Ukraine with the money sent by our association.


11 February 2023: Sending warm clothes, shoes, blankets, lingerie, baby hygiene products; All this was received on 16 February in Dnipro, at the Reception Centre for Refugees and Displaced Persons.


28 January 2023: Receipt in Kharkiv hospital of our aid consisting of antibiotics, painkillers and postoperative catheters.


15 January 2023: In the field hospital behind the front line, doctors receive the medicines that were sent from Luxembourg at the end of December 2022.


23 December 2022: Children of refugee families in the Greek Catholic parish of Dnipro receive as Christmas presents the sweets we sent them.


18 December 2022: arrival at the field hospital behind the front line 9 sleeping bags (-15°) and two bulletproof vests


11 December 2022: The Advent charity concert, organised by the Franciscan Sisters of Mercy of Belair (L), was this year for the benefit of the association “Ad Pacem servandam”. Before the concert, the vice-president presented the activities and projects of the association. After the concert the sisters donated the proceeds to our association to support the team of volunteer doctors in the field hospital near the front in the Kharkiv region.

 


Early December 2022: photo of emergency operation in the field hospitalbehind the Ukrainian front and thank-you video of the doctors receiving our help


27 November 2022: four large boxes are sent from Luxembourg to the field hospital near the Ukrainian front  with bandages,disinfectant material and eight sleeping bags (-15°).Everything arrived at the hospital on 3 December.


19 and 28 November 2022: shipment from Luxemburg and receipt at Kharkiv hospital: dressing material, catheters, various medicines and disinfectants for the care of the wounded; two air mattresses, gloves and surgical masks and thermal underwear for the doctors in the field hospital near the war front


17 Nov. 2022: Reception in Dnipro, in a refugee centre, of donations sent on 12 Nov. from Luxembourg.
People received warm clothes and blankets for the winter. 


3 November 2022: Arrival of our aid in Kharkiv for the doctors of the ambulance services (bandages, disinfectants, painkillers, Covid masks, medical gowns for doctors, disposable syringes)  sent away from Luxembourg on 25 October


20 October 2022: six families receive food and hygiene products, warm clothes, bed linen and blankets.


13 October 2022: Susanna Aksenkova, a medical student who has been a scholarship holder of the Ad Pacem association since 2017, is interviewed on the eve of her return to Kharkiv by the journalist Thierry Georges of Radio Jéricho Metz.


10 October 2022: aid is sent to refugees in Pidgorodne (near Dnipro) from the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine occupied by the Russian army.


9 September 2022: The “Refugee Reception Centre” in the city of Pidgorodne (near Dnipro) is currently hosting more than three thousand refugees. The number is constantly increasing due to the arrival of refugees from the south of Ukraine occupied by the Russian army. With the money sent by our association Ad Pacem were bought: a water heater with a pump to send hot water to the different bathrooms, a microwave oven and a fridge (300 l) with a freezer part.The money came from the appeal for donations during the month of July in the municipality of Differdange (L) and from a solidarity concert organisedon 24 August 2022 in the small town of Serra Sant Abbondio (Marche region) in Italy.


24 August 2022 : A “solidarity concert” was organised by “Ad Pacem servandam” in the parish church of Serra Santa Abbondio (Italy) in favour of the refugees in Dnipro. Laura and Daniel Pantaleoni presented a repertoire of classical and romantic music, and the mayor Ludovico Caverni supported the work of Ad Pacem for the victims of war in his introductory words. During the break, the president and vice-president explained the aims of the peace initiative and how war victims are helped. At the end of the concert, everyone took part in a friendly drink.


8 August 2022 : The doctors in Kharkiv receive five protective waistcoats and four devices to help them communicate better with each other during the fighting near the front line.


30 July 2022: Material aid for the hospital in Kharkiv. Dispatch of dressing material, Israeli bandages, breathing tubes and twelve sleeping bags for the doctors in Kharkiv who provide medical aid on the front line. They received our shipment on 5 August 2022.


30 July 2022: Material aid for the territorial defence in Kramatorsk. Delivery of medicines, various dressing materials, emergency blankets and disinfectants to Kramatorsk for Territorial Defence units. Everything was donated by SIVEC – Recycling Centre Schifflingen and received in Kramatorsk on 4 August 2022.


23 July 2022 : Relief supplies for families from the Donbass. Dispatch of various relief supplies (blankets, shoes, laundry, hygiene items) for families fleeing the Donbass and the south of Ukraine occupied by the Russian army. These relief items arrived in Dnipro on 27 July.


3 July 2022: Fair in Serrouville. The leaders of the St Martin association (Patrice Picard and Jacky Bourcier) invited the Ukrainian refugee families that Ad Pacem looks after and accompanies to eat together at the annual fair in Serrouville.


1 July 2022: Appeal for donations for aid to Ukraine. This was put in the mailboxes of the inhabitants of the commune of Differdange (L) by the responsible body of the commune.


22 June 2022: Radio programme on Radio Jericho (18/19) by Thierry Georges with Ms Galia Ackerman on the Putin regime and the war in Ukraine.


18 June 2022: A conference with Ms Galia ACKERMAN, journalist, historian and specialist on Russia and the post-Soviet countries, had the theme “Understanding Putin’s Russia and the war in Ukraine”. Read the article by journalist Quiqueret Jérôme in the tageblatt of 22 and 23 June.


6 June 2022: Delivery of materials to the hospital in Stryj. With the donations received after our appeal in the Steinsel community, a cooker with integrated oven and water heater as well as all the linen for the 90 beds for orphans from Zaporijia and for the sick of the hospital were bought and installed in the hospital in Stryj (Western Ukraine).


25-28 May 2022: Delivery of relief supplies to Zaporijia. Thanks to our appeals for donations from 2 to 8 March 2022 (Newsletter No. 15 and 16), two minibuses can distribute relief supplies to war victims near Zaporijia. The photos also show houses destroyed by the war.


20 May 2022: Medical aid for Kharkiv hospital. Doctor Oleksiy U. and his nurse receive our medical supplies at Kharkiv hospital.


13 May 2022: Third broadcast at Radio Jericho Metz with refugees accompanied by Ad Pacem.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

10 May 2022: The hospital in Kharkiv receives the six boxes of medicines sent by our organisation; they contain disinfectants, bandages and emergency blankets.


5 May 2022: Second broadcast on Radio Jericho Metz with refugees accompanied by Ad Pacem.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

5 May 2022: Broadcast on Radio ARA by students Amir, Noah and Edvin from Lycée de Garçons Esch (L) interviewing a Ukrainian war refugee about the war in her country.


28 April 2022: First broadcast on Radio Jericho Metz with refugees accompanied by Ad Pacem.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

28 April 2022: Letter of thanks to all donors for the €16,942 received following our appeals for donations on 2 and 8 March.


21 April 2022: With the money sent to Rostyslav Muhovskyj, a van loaded with food sets off for the city of Zaporiya.


20 April 2022: Food is bought with the money from the appeal and sent to Kharkiv and Zaporizia.


20 April 2022: The medicines we sent arrived at the Kharkiv and Zaporizia Territorial Defence Hospital.


19 April 2022: Lycée de Garçons d’Esch-sur-Alzette (L): the bake sale for Ukrainian refugees brought us 1200€.


10 to 18 April 2022: Appeal for donations in the municipality of Steinsel (L).


1 to 15 April 2022: Distribution of sent food near Lviv to Ukrainian war refugees from bombed-out cities in the east of the country.


10 April 2022: Medicines, hygiene items and three collapsible beds sent to Ukraine and received by Fr Rostyslav Muhovskyj on 11 April.


Week of 4 to 8 April 2022: Introductory course in French for Ukrainian refugees offered by Christian Welter, Secretary of Ad Pacem


2 April 2022: Arrival of the refugee family Bovniuk (3 persons)


27 March 2022: Arrival and reception of the refugee families Lykova (2 persons) and Mihajlenko (4 persons)


17 March 2022: Arrival of the refugee family Ankudinova (5 persons)


15 March 2022: Arrival of the young war refugee Vladislav.


14, 15 and 16 March 2022: Three articles appear in the ” tageblatt ” (L) about a refugee family taken in by Ad Pacem.


From 14 March 2022 until the Easter holidays: Bake sale at LGE (L) in aid of war victims in Ukraine.


13 March 2022 : Arrival of the bus with our relief goods at the Ukrainian border crossing Shehyni; the collection is received.


11 March 2022 : Arrival of the Aksenkova family.


7 to 10 March 2022: collection of medicines, food, blankets, bedding, clothes, etc.; the Vandivinit company provides a small bus to take everything to Ukraine


8 March 2022: Arrival of two mothers with their four children (Sutkova and Satornik family)


8 March 2022 : RCF Radio Jerico Moselle – Interview by Thierry Georges in 18/19 with Natalya and Claude Pantaleoni


8 March 2022 : Newsletter n. 16 – Call for help

Ces derniers jours la situation de guerre s’est dramatiquement empirée en Ukraine. Des millions d’Ukrainiens sont sur les routes et beaucoup d’autres se préparent à fuir les bombardements russes sur les centres habités et sur les populations civiles.

Vous pouvez aider des deux manières suivantes :

  1. Beaucoup de réfugiés arrivent chez nous avec toute leur famille, parfois avec leur chat ou leur chien.

Nous cherchons des familles ou des personnes qui sont prêtes à accueillir chez elles ou dans une de leurs maisons/appartements libres des familles composées :

  • d’une mère avec deux ou trois enfants, ou bien
  • d’un couple avec leurs deux ou trois enfants, ou bien
  • une famille avec une personne âgée.

Veuillez nous écrire sur [email protected] si vous voulez et avez une possibilité d’accueillir une telle famille.

  1. Nous organisons aussi en ce moment l’aide en Ukraine avec un prêtre grec-catholique et sa communauté. Lui-même reçoit de la part de médecins qui travaillent dans les hôpitaux une liste des médicaments indispensables pour soigner les malades et les blessés.
    Nous lui envoyons l’argent nécessaire via WesternUnion pour qu’il achète ces médicaments dans les pharmacies. Une partie de l’argent est destinée à acheter les vivres pour les réfugiés internes dans les magasins.

Notre compte IBAN LU28 0099 7800 0064 0276
est à la Caisse Rurale Raiffeisen (CCRALULL) au Luxembourg.

Un grand merci pour votre aide aux réfugiés et blessés de la guerre en Ukraine.

Claude Pantaleoni
Président


6 March 2022 : Arrival of the Kuznetzova family (4 people with cat).


6 March 2022: Collection for Ukraine relief thanks to Nicolas.


5 March 2022: Arrival of the Semianystyi family (6 people with dog and cat) in Differdange (L).


4 March 2022: SIVEC leaders in Schifflange (L) donate material for humanitarian aid.


2 March 2022: Newsletter 15 – Appeal to all Ad Pacem members to support war refugees in western Ukraine

En tant qu’association Ad Pacem nous organisons en ce moment une aide humanitaire pour les (réfugiés) Ukrainiens qui se trouvent dans l’ouest du pays.
Vous pouvez aider concrètement des deux manières suivantes:

  1. La guerre fait que du matériel et des médicaments de première nécessité manquent. Si vous avez du matériel et/ou des médicaments, des pansements et des instruments de la liste ci-jointe, vous pouvez les déposer ce jeudi ou ce vendredi de 16h00 à 19h30 à ces trois adresses:
  • 16 route d’Errouville, 54680 Crusnes (France)
  • 76 rue Henri Bessemer, 4516 Differdange (Luxembourg)
  • 21 rue Henri Luck, 3737 Rumelange (Luxembourg)
  1. Vous pouvez faire un don sur notre compte avec mention « don vivres et médicaments ». L’argent sera envoyé à nos partenaires sur place pour acheter des vivres et des médicaments aux marchés et dans les magasins en Ukraine de l’ouest. Certains médicaments qui ne seraient pas disponibles là-bas seront achetés ici.
    Ces médicaments et ces vivres sont destinés aux réfugiés qui arrivent des grandes villes exposées à des bombardements russes intenses.


IBAN: LU28 0099 7800 0064 0276
BIC : CCRALULL (Banque Raiffeisen Luxembourg)

Nous vous remercions d’avance pour votre aide et générosité !
N’hésitez pas à partager cette newsletter avec vos amis !

Claude Pantaleoni
Président

File Name: NL-15-Liste.pdf


27 February 2022: Demonstration for Ukraine in Metz.

Natasha speaks in front of the city hall


27 February 2022: Humanitarian aid is organised. Our first packages of humanitarian aid

The day after the Russian army invaded Ukraine, we appealed to friends to send sheets, pillows and covers, as well as quilts and covers for four beds.

The whole thing went on Sunday 27 February from Luxembourg City as a humanitarian consignment towards western Ukraine to a house where refugees had arrived from the towns attacked and bombed by the Russian army.


26 February 2022: Interview to “Républicain Lorrain” (F)

File Name: repu_lor.pdf


26 February 2022: Participation of Ad Pacem in the demonstration for Ukraine in Luxembourg City.


26 February 2022: Interview to the newspaper “tageblatt” (L)

File Name: TGB-Ukraine.pdf

Russia’s war against Ukraine, Support actions for Ukraine

5 January 2024: Oleksadr P., a doctor at the front near Bahmut, received a bullet-proof waistcoat and protective belt from our association. As early as 18 January, when he went out to help the wounded, he was only slightly wounded in the hand and was operated on at Poltava hospital. He stayed alive thanks to the protection he had received a few days earlier.His wife wrote us a letter of thanks: “You saved the father of our children. While Oleksandr was in hospital, his third child, a daughter, was born”.

Russia’s war against Ukraine, Support actions for Ukraine

30 December 2023: our association Ad Pacem has financed a surgical operation for the young student Maria S. A tumour was removed from her left leg. It was an abnormal form of varicosis. Maria and her mother Inga would like to thank all Ad Pacem members for their help. In her letter, Inga writes: “We are internal refugees from Kramatorsk and are currently living in a hostel in Kropivnyckij (central Ukraine). We lost our house in Kramatorsk (due to the war). My daughter is now studying distance learning at the University of Odesa. In the summer of 2023, a tumour formed on her left leg below the knee and varicose veins were discovered during an examination. The doctor recommended removing them surgically. But the cost of the operation was too high for me as I am bringing up my daughter alone. Thanks to the help of Ad pacem, this necessary operation was possible. And my daughter will be healthy again”.

Support actions for Ukraine

Interview with Ms Tetyana PONOMARENKO, Medical director of the psychiatric clinic in VORZEL (Kyiv region), conducted on 2 July 2023 by Ms. Natalya PANTALEONI, Vice-President of “Ad Pacem servandam – For Peace & Against War”

Ms. Ponomarenko, what were the tasks and the types of treatments conducted in the psychiatric hospital before the full-scale invasion that started on 24 February 2022? 

Since its foundation, the psychiatric hospital №2 in Vorzel has had the task of meeting the needs of the population from Kyiv and Kyiv region in terms of psychiatric treatment and care. The hospital has eight departments, the most important of which are: for children and adolescents, people with Down’s syndrome, autistic people, people with psycho-behavioural disorders and those with delays in mental development. One unit is dedicated to helping people who are addicted to alcohol.  

How many people from war zones traumatised by the war are being treated in this clinic at the moment? How have these tasks changed since the beginning of the war? How many employees and volunteers work there?

Since 2017, the hospital has specialised in offering help to veterans who have suffered psychological damage from the military actions in the Donbas region. The majority of patients suffer from traumas caused by the Russian military aggression. They are soldiers who fought at the front and who could not cope with the terrible reality of war: they had to kill people or experience the death of friends without being able to prevent it. Among the patients, there are soldiers who feel forced by society to go to war, while others are spared the war at the front. Some soldiers have experienced imprisonment and torture, and others whose family members have been victims of sexual violence. Finally, there are patients who, due to their inability to cope with trauma themselves, plunge into drug and alcohol addictions. These people mainly suffer from deep depression, and anxiety and have psychosomatic complaints.

The hospital can accommodate a maximum of 300 patients and about 45 to 50 should be able to be treated as outpatients, i.e. they come during the day and spend the night at home. The hospital currently has 16 doctors, 34 nurses and 16 employees (secretaries, cooks, ambulance drivers, workers, cleaning service). Nowadays, the staff is overworked and the hospital is clearly understaffed, as it accommodates more patients than the infrastructure can provide for. When the Russian full-scale invasion started in February 2022, the hospital admitted 62 patients from the Kharkiv Psychiatric Hospital. They had to be evacuated from Kharkiv. As the Kharkiv Psychiatric Hospital has not reopened after the Russian attack on the city, all patients remain in Vorzel for the time being. For the weekend, only one psychiatrist is on duty for all 300 patients. 

However, volunteers come to the hospital to offer their help. They are mostly psychology and medical students who are not allowed to take responsibility for treatment, and the opportunities for deployment are therefore limited. There was a children’s ward in the hospital until the beginning of the full-scale invasion. It is now closed. 

There are no children in the hospital at the moment, as parents prefer to keep their children with the family, or they come by as outpatients.

The members of a dog club from Kyiv come regularly with their dogs to provide canistherapy for the patients.

What are the main illnesses and mental disorders of the civilian patients and the soldiers who come here from the front?

We, executive workers, are prohibited by law from publishing the exact statistical data of our patients. But it is a fact that our hospital has specialised in the treatment of war veterans since 2015. 

With what expectations did these people sign up for the war? Are these hopes false given what awaits the soldiers there? 

Each person’s personal story is different. Many patriots signed up for the war to defend their country. Only, the reality that awaits the soldiers at the front is much crueller than they could have imagined. 

Were these men and women prepared for war?

No, in general, you can say that people were not prepared for war at all. Until the day of the Russian full-scale invasion, no one really believed that such a thing was possible. The shock among the Ukrainians was all the greater.

Does this clinic have enough trained staff to treat all the patients?

There is a lack of staff, especially staff trained in the field of war trauma. Some of the counsellors suffer from burnout themselves. There is also a lack of medicines; the government-guaranteed quotas have been reduced, although the hospital needs many more medicines during the time of war. 

What do these men and women do after therapy?

The civilian patients return to civilian society after treatment. Unfortunately, the number of relapses is high. This has to do with the fact that war continues and there are loud air raid alarms almost every day. Tragic news reaches people every day. After their treatment, most soldiers return to the front. 

 What material and personnel challenges does the clinic face today? What is lacking above all?

Above all, there is a lack of medicines and the necessary medical and material equipment. During the Russian occupation, all computers and medical equipment were either stolen or destroyed. The heating system was severely damaged. Even ladles and cutlery from the kitchen were stolen. The medical encyclopaedias in the director’s office were burnt. Several departments of the hospital are in dire need of renovation. Many rooms where windows and doors were ripped out during the occupation have had snow and rain falling inside, so the floors are damaged and mould has grown in many places. These need to be replaced urgently. The small greenhouse where the patients grew vegetables, which is also part of the treatment, was destroyed.

Does the clinic receive aid from abroad? How much of the clinic’s needs are covered by this aid?

First, Ukrainian citizens helped after the liberation of Vorzel and the return of the inmates to the hospital. Some farmers from the region bring dairy products and food. Sports clubs from Kyiv helped to clean and, as far as possible, repair the buildings after the occupation. 

A German organisation made a donation to buy medicines. These should last until the end of 2023. But the real needs have increased so rapidly that these aid packages were used up in the course of only 3 months.

When Ms. Pantaleoni asked if “Ad Pacem” could help right away with a donation for the purchase of medicines, tears came to the director’s eyes. She confessed that at the moment, in many areas, the clinic only had medicines available until the end of the current week. She gratefully accepted the offer for the immediate purchase of a €1000 aid package (to be seen on the website under the heading “Russia’s war on Ukraine”, 3 July 2023).

Mrs Tetyana Ponomarenko with Natalya Pantaleoni and our representative in Ucraine Anatoly Kmetko.

Russia’s war against Ukraine, Support actions for Ukraine

1 September 2023: The psychiatric hospital in Vorzel (Kyiv region) has received medicines for the treatment of war victims. These medicines were purchased with the money that our Ad Pacem association received in August in Italy, during the two benefit concerts at Serra Sant’Abbondio and Pergola and the appeal for donations at the Franciscan convent of Ostra Vetere.

Russia’s war against Ukraine, Support actions for Ukraine

Since March 2023, Ad Pacem has been supporting the Misto Dobra (City of Goodness) children’s home in Chernivtsi (Western Ukraine), where the centre accommodates 400 war refugees, including 150 children from orphanages. They are children from birth to 7 years old. Since the beginning of the war, mothers with children from the war zones have also been taken in. In addition, three children’s homes from Odessa and Mykolaiv were evacuated there. Until mid-May 2023, 10 children’s beds, 10 children’s commodes with changing tables, 5 air purifiers and a Kärcher steam cleaner were financed.