One Year: Ukraine. The Timeline.

February 24th, 2023, marks one year since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. This interactive timeline shares the story of that year through the experiences of IsraAID’s mostly-Ukrainian team members working across three countries to build resilience, together.

One Year: Warmth Mental Health Safe Water Medical Care Resilience Together

2022
FEBRUARY
Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. IsraAID deploys to Moldova and, within days, sets up essential services at the border for fleeing refugees. In the first three months in Moldova, we served 4,000 people directly at the border and in shelters across the country.

“It wasn’t my decision to come to Moldova. But after several days, we fell in love with the country and felt at home. That’s why we decided to stay. Here I can be helpful in aiding thousands of Ukrainians not only in Moldova but also in Romania and Ukraine.”

Olena Prysiazhniuk, IsraAID Moldova​

MARCH
Watch the video! Palanca: Where Ukrainians Become Refugees
MARCH
IsraAID opens the Tulcea Humanitarian Logistics Hub in Romania, working with local and international partners and Ukrainian volunteers. The hub establishes a supply chain for humanitarian aid directly into southern Ukraine, utilizing technology from Israeli company Monday.com to track aid deliveries without GPS. We expand to reach 30+ affected regions with more than 3000 tons of critical items, including over 5.6 million food rations.

 

 

MAY
As refugees in Moldova move from communal shelters to host families and rented apartments, IsraAID’s mental health work shifts to regular sessions in spaces like community centers and libraries. Some 670 children and mothers still attend weekly.
JUNE
After nearly four months on the borders with Moldova and Romania, IsraAID expands its operations into Ukraine itself. The team hits the ground running with mental health and psychosocial support training for psychologists and social workers in Irpin and Bucha, cities in Kyiv region that saw the large-scale loss of civilian life.
JULY
WATCH THE VIDEO: One Year: Ukraine. One Year: Together. Voices of IsraAID's Emergency Response
AUGUST
After months without safe water in the southern city of Mykolayiv, near the frontline of the conflict in the south, IsraAID partners with the local authorities to install and maintain reverse osmosis stations, bringing potable water back to residents after months without a safe drinking supply. So far, 600,000+ liters have been processed and dispensed for free to residents across the city.
AUGUST

“Mykolaiv doesn’t have fresh water around. It used to be supplied with fresh water from the Dnipro River. The pipeline was ruined by the [Russian army]. The city had no water supply whatsoever for over a month. The city authorities and pipeline managers admitted salt water from the Buh Estuary into the water supply system for technical purposes, but you cannot drink it. So we help. I do everything I can to help people with drinkable water.”

Pavlo Dydnyk, IsraAID Ukraine Water Engineer​​

SEPTEMBER
As part of the First Lady of Ukraine’s national mental health initiative and working together with a local NGO, Barrier-Free, we hire and train 60 psychologists and place them in hospitals across Kyiv, Dnipro, and Vinnytsia, providind support for civilians and frontline workers in hotspots. IsraAID’s protection specialists also train key staff at the Ministry of Health in burnout prevention, self-care, and Psychological First Aid.
NOVEMBER
IsraAID’s joint mobile medical clinic – operated with local partner FRIDA – reaches Kharkiv, where over 700 people receive medical attention. Through the mobile clinics and IsraAID’s direct distributions of medicines to hospitals and clinics across the country, we have reached more than 40,000 people with medical support.
NOVEMBER
When Kherson is liberated after nine months, IsraAID is among the first to arrive with over $2 million of medical supplies for the city’s three hospitals. IsraAID’s team provides urgent aid, including generators, hygiene kits, and humanitarian support to villages across the newly-liberated region.
DECEMBER
With Ukrainians facing a harsh and potentially deadly winter, IsraAID distributes blankets, generators, and thermal clothing - keeping over 17,500 vulnerable elderly people, children, and others warm. To ensure that supplies reach people as quickly as possible, IsraAID establishes the Odesa Humanitarian Logistics Hub, strengthening the supply chain from the Tulcea hub in Romania to cities across Ukraine.
DECEMBER

“It was the 28th of February, I moved to Moldova with my grandmother. We crossed the border on foot, and I thought it would be just for one or two weeks. I found work with IsraAID. I was busy all the time, which helped me a lot, because I wasn’t on my own and I wasn’t sitting at home just thinking about what is happening in my country. Now I feel much better because I realized that we had to leave. I’ve found friends in Moldova, in Chișinău, so I’m not alone here anymore.”

Veronika Kovalchuk, IsraAID Moldova

2023
JANUARY
Ukrainians are hit by two major civilian disasters. A Russian missile strike on a residential building in Dnipro on January 14 kills 46 people and injures 80. On January 18, a helicopter crashes by a kindergarten in Brovary, near Kyiv, killing 14 people, including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky. IsraAID’s psychologists, based in hospitals in Dnipro and Kyiv regions, provide urgent, free psychological support to affected families and first responders.
JANUARY

“After the war started, I just thought what can I do? I am a psychologist and I can do what I do best. Up to now, our medical system didn’t have psychologists in house. We are working to show that psychologists need to be in hospitals. Now because of Dnipro and because of Brovary – just look how important it is.”

Tymofii Druzhynin, IsraAID Ukraine Protection Coordinator

FEBRUARY
One year into the full-scale invasion. From the beginning, Ukrainian people came together – for their communities, families, and futures – and IsraAID has been there with them since day one. Since the launch of IsraAID’s emergency response, our teams in Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania have reached more than 330,000 people, together with a trusted network of 100+ partners. However, as we mark one year of conflict, 17.7 million Ukrainians still need humanitarian support. Long-term, IsraAID will work with Ukrainian communities across the country and the region to help people rebuild their homes and lives. Together.
FEBRUARY

“The humanitarian needs are extremely high in Ukraine. Ukraine is a very big country and the affected population is huge. For me, working in IsraAID is really an opportunity. I feel that I get more than I give. I have the opportunity to help people, and to help people to help people. This is not one-time assistance. It is making the community stronger. It’s much more than just providing food or providing medication, it’s giving a resource.

IsraAID’s team is just the hands of so many, many people who are supporting this initiative. All I want to say is just, thank you.”

Alena Druzhynina, IsraAID Ukraine Head of Mission