Cornwall-based charity helping people in Ukraine survive sub-zero winter
ShelterBox are beginning the next phase of their response
Last updated 21st Nov 2022
International disaster relief and Cornwall-based charity ShelterBox has essential aid in Ukraine designed to help people survive a long and harsh winter.
Millions of people are bracing for temperatures as low as -15 degrees centigrade as they continue to live in damaged homes, with limited or no heating.
Almost nine months after the start of the war, an estimated 15.7 million Ukrainians – that’s more than a quarter of the UK population - are still in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, according to UNHCR.
ShelterBox say it's becoming increasingly difficult for people who have continued to live in damaged homes, or returned to them, to keep warm with electricity and gas supplies badly affected by the ongoing war.
The charity will be helping thousands of people in Ukraine protect themselves and their families from the cold.
They will be giving people thermal blankets, clothing, and emergency repair kits – including tarpaulins and timber – to help them fix damaged roofs, seal windows and doors, keep the heat in, and make homes watertight.
The most vulnerable households will also be given solid fuel stoves, and a supply of firewood that will last the average family through the winter, to help them prepare for the bitterly cold season. This type of stove is regularly used to heat homes in rural areas of the country and is desperately needed to help people survive the cold.
ShelterBox’s Programme Manager for Ukraine, Rachel Harvey, is in Kyiv as the next phase of the charity’s response gets underway:
"With the passage of time, whilst the number of people leaving the country has reduced, many thousands of people still living in Ukraine are struggling to survive in damaged homes.
"We know from our work in Syria that heating one room can make a huge difference to a whole family.
"It’s regularly sub-zero in parts of Ukraine and with gas and oil supplies badly hit, people are facing temperatures inside their homes that are potentially life threatening. That’s why we are focusing on keeping people and their houses as warm as possible."
ShelterBox has already supported thousands of families affected by the crisis in Ukraine since March – refugees on the move in Moldova, as well as people internally displaced at collective centres, or living in damaged homes.
As its attention now turns to helping people survive the winter months in Ukraine – supporting thousands more people who are living in ravaged homes – ShelterBox is renewing its urgent appeal to help fund its responses around the world.
Supporting the charity with its winter appeal is long-term supporter and friend of ShelterBox, Stephen Fry. He provides the introduction for a new film based on a poem about home by Ukrainian poet Serhy Zhadan, and voiced by Ukranian actor Ivantiy Novak, to help raise awareness of ShelterBox’s lifesaving work.
ShelterBox has worked with thousands of people – both in Ukraine and neighbouring countries – who have faced the impossible question of ‘What would you take?’. This film is for them, the 100 million people who are forced from their homes by disaster and conflict every year.
ShelterBox is working in Ukraine in partnership with Relief Aid and Green Chernobyl.