Alex Butnaru: front line civilian evacuations & humanitarian aid
The ninth in a series of ten posts about my recent short trip to Kyiv.
I am introduced to Alex by a Ukrainian woman from Odesa who was in Austria, and has since returned home. Her father died; she could not leave her mom to live alone. She missed her husband. The decision wasn’t easy, the nights are not calm, but it is what it is. She warmly invites me to visit Odesa, and I have to decline. I don’t have enough time this trip. She suggests I contact Alex Butnaru, a young volunteer in Kyiv who, together with a group of volunteers has been actively evacuating civilians from front line towns and villages as well as delivering humanitarian aid to those who refuse to leave. Alex and I trade Instagram DMs, and on Tuesday evening, my last in Kyiv, we agree a video call will be easiest. I rush back to my hotel room and set up my phone to video chat with Alex.
Here you can see Alex and his team in this CNN clip to give you a visual and an introduction. I didn’t take a screenshot of us, and he sent me many photos of his work, but none with him in them. I will include them and the very moving videos throughout this post.
Alex and a group of volunteers (mostly male, his friends) have been working since the war began to deliver humanitarian aid to the regions closest to the front lines and also to help evacuate civilians. They have travelled to hard-to-reach villages in the Donbas and Zaporozhye regions. When the dam burst in Kherson, they helped organise a boat which rescued animals together with other groups of volunteers. When the team heads into the war zone, they bring with them humanitarian aid. On the way back, they try and convince local residents to leave with them. As the months wear on, you are left with the impression that many stubbornly refuse to go anywhere. Alex explains that many people in places like Avdiivka or Siversk, Donestk region, plan to stay there. Alex tries to talk them out of it, but if they refuse to leave, he leaves them with humanitarian aid. “No one, thankfully, has died of hunger.”
Alex and team cooperate with local churches, which also serve as the first point of housing when they rescue residents of front line villages. Churches across Ukraine are helping with both initial housing arrangements and helping IDPs to find employment in their new, temporary homes. He mentions Zhytomyr and Cherkassy regions (east and south of Kyiv, respectively). He has also worked with an organisation which translates as “The Voices of Children” to help families with children with six months of rent support in Irpin. The hardest cases are those who need extra care, such as a blind 72 year old woman. There are some “homes” for those who cannot care for themselves, but this is the biggest challenge by far. Where do you take an elderly person with care needs who does not have living relatives?
I nod in understanding. Care cases are not adequately provided for here in Austria, either.
Alex explains with humanitarian evacuations, you have to then think also about future housing solutions. The team deliver not only humanitarian aid, but also some military if they have access to items in need. They have one bus which was donated to them by an American missionary organisation. Another German NGO is also helping them financially with a donation in the thousands of Euros every few months. These grants are targeted, meaning they must itemise everything which was spent and on what kind of humanitarian aid, etc. Gasoline for these trips across Ukraine is also a huge expense. And car repairs. Alex is part of a five-person team working full time as volunteers. The donations they receive are towards humanitarian aid; the U.S. and German funds do not contribute towards military aid. Alex explains the Ukrainian armed forces rely heavily on private donations from Ukrainians themselves.
Alex has been making trips to the Donbas for over a year. He is in good contact with the village administrations and receives requests from local doctors. For example, they bombed a hospital in Toretsk, and then the doctors asked Alex and team for help to repair their roof. Village administrators tell the team about elderly in need of help. At the beginning of the war, the government organised mass evacuations by bus, but as time has passed, there are fewer of these. Now those who want to leave dangerous, front line villages must rely primarily on private volunteers like Alex and team.
Alex tells me openly about families who hide their children in towns where there is a mandatory evacuation order. There is a law that you cannot stay in such villages if you have children at home. But some stay anyway, hiding their kids in cellars. Some people stay, Alex explains, because they have gotten used to a flow of humanitarian aid, so not having a job is not really a problem, they are somehow surviving. For now, of course. They have lost their fear after living next to constant shelling and the constant risk of death for so long. They have gotten used to living in a war zone.
Alex tells me about a village of Toretsk, where two girls died recently. He knew them. He had told the mom to leave. She had refused. The girls were 11 and 14 and went out for a bike ride. They were 3 kilometres from Russian positions. They were killed while riding their bikes. This all happened one week after Alex spoke with the mom. Another mother who had also hidden her children in that same village fled after that, after hearing the girls had died on their bikes. That was the last straw for her. The danger became real and tangible.
Alex expects the second winter will be hard, but some local residents are prepared. He talks about Avdiivka, where some residents have been living in cellars of 15 square meters for months on end. No electricity for one and a half years.
Some grannies and grandpas are thankful to be evacuated. Others yell at you, blame the volunteers. Alex says he still sees the concrete results of his efforts, he knows he is directly helping those people who really need help. The most difficult situations are bedridden elderly who cannot walk. Sometimes they are heavy and hard to move. Sometimes you just leave a sleeping bag.
Alex estimates they make bi-monthly trips to the front with humanitarian aid, and have delivered 2-3 tons (!) of humanitarian aid by bus so far. Often they also take aid to local churches were they prepare hot food for local residents and bake bread on site. Alex and his team regularly ask other organisations for donations of food and hygiene products. Donations in kind are the bulk of what they deliver; to buy it all would be too expensive. The gasoline for one trip is around 17,000 UAH (€425). Sometimes they take two buses. One with humanitarian aid, one with seats and spots for evacuated civilians and their belongings. Sometimes they cannot take those who cannot walk because they don’t have the set up like an ambulance or train so they can travel lying down. Sometimes they can’t reach all places by bus, and then they borrow a car from the local military guys. You cannot drive a normal civilian car in; the roads and conditions would kill it.
The young men usually leave Kyiv in the morning and by evening they reach Donetsk oblast. They normally sleep in churches in towns like Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk, Slavyansk. They work the whole next two days, and then drive back. So four intense days roundtrip. In winter, naturally, you have less daylight hours to work within.
I ask Alex what changed over the past year and a half?
Many people got used to the war. They now focus more on trying to evacuate people who refuse to go. “Macaroni isn’t going to save anyone,” he explains. It seems many people have gotten used to living without electricity nor being able to take regular baths. They don’t see a future. Many are old. They don’t want to leave their vegetable gardens behind.
Alex tells me about a family of five, mother, father, three kids, who he finally convinced to leave, and let themselves be evacuated from a village 1 kilometre (!) from the Russian positions. They are now in a village safer part of Ukraine, but are still upset.
They want the family cow to be evacuated too.
I ask Alex to repeat that. I cannot believe it.
Can you not just buy them a new cow?
“Well, Alex says, it is their family cow. I love animals. I understand. For now a neighbour is feeding it. Maybe with animal organisations we might find a way…”
Most of the IDPs Alex and team have rescued have remained in Ukraine. He too agrees that this is easier for most vulnerable people than coming to European countries. Many of the people of Donbas had never left Donetsk oblast in their entire lives! They were never in Kyiv or Lviv. The Donbas was all they ever knew. They are distrustful of places they don’t know or haven’t been to before. Despite everything.
I ask Alex gently about his own status as a young man in a country with an active draft. He is a Moldovan passport holder so as such is not at personal risk. But this also means he has chosen to be in Ukraine right now. He could have just as easily left. Two of his team members were once questioned at check points, but as they explained what they are doing, they were not handed draft orders. I was pleasantly relieved to hear this.
Alex admits openly their work would not be possible without financial aid from American and European donors. He has a buy me a coffee and a donation jar (Apple Pay or credit card).
I thank Alex for his time and his openness in sharing all his observations from his brave work over so many months. I walk out into my last evening in Kyiv. It is hot and the streets are busy. I hope we will be able to sleep through the night after two restless nights. My bus back to Vienna leaves at 8am the next morning...
And one last video, from Alex. A reminder to everyone what Ukraine is going through every day, and how much invaluable work is being done by young volunteers like Alex with no prior training for any of this. Truly remarkable. Huge respect.
Yes, much respect for Alex and his team. Thank you Tanja for bringing his story to us--this is just another example of the 100s of ordinary people dedicated to something bigger than themselves, all the while with grace and humility. There is hope for humanity.