Dear Members and Friends,
One could fill entire pages with condemnations of the Kremlin’s criminal enterprise against the Ukrainian people, but at this stage it would be of little use. More significant is the protest against this belligerence by tens of thousands of Russians in Russia itself. More significant also is the accumulation of evidence of war crimes committed by the army under the orders of Vladimir Putin, evidence that should be used to investigate this monstrosity before an International Tribunal.
This page is dedicated to the emergencies of the day, following the news we published on our website on February, 24th.
Our partners and friends in Ukraine :
- Zhytomyr, in the West of the country: the Ukrainian army is resisting Russian assaults to take the city. The work of the association Avenir is interrupted. Olga has fled abroad with her child while her husband and father have stayed behind to defend the town.
- Kharkiv, in the East: the work has stopped. Bogdan and Gennady are still there and tell us about the deadly and devastating effect of bombs falling from the sky and missiles hitting purely civilian targets. Gennady’s flat was hit. He and his son find refuge in the corridors of the metro like thousands of other inhabitants of the city. Solidarity within this besieged population is total, each one acting as a rescuer with what he/she has to share. Food supplies are becoming more and more precarious every day.
- It is now impossible to send financial aid to Ukraine by legal means.
Refugee relief actions :
- In Poland: a Ukrainian refugee, a long-standing and reliable friend of Vivere, is ready to implement urgent assistance in 3 refugee camps with the money that Vivere is sending her today and has just acknowledged.
- In Moldova, our partner association in Moldova, Compasiune, can do the same for the 18 refugees it has hosted in its own premises.
- In Transnistria, our partner association Women’s Initiatives can do the same for refugees that the local government admitted before closing its borders.
For the above purposes we have transferred today a total of CHF 6,973 via Western Union to the three countries concerned, drawing on Vivere’s reserve, as so far CHF 2,830 in spontaneous donations have been received for this cause.
Our transfers are of course clearly insufficient compared to the needs on the ground. We would therefore like to thank all those who are able to support this work by making a payment:
CCP: 17 – 709 738 – 6
IBAN BCV: CH82 0076 7000 Z099 5652 9
mention UKRAINE
In kind donations for refugees:
Vivere does not have the logistical capacity to collect and forward donations in kind. The following are some possible options in French-speaking Switzerland for those who would like to entrust goods in kind:
Thank you for your attention,
The Vivere Committee