Kharkiv volunteers deliver aid to elderly and disabled
STORY: In the besieged Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, so far one of the hardest hit by Russia's invasion of the country, volunteers Maksim and Sergey are helping residents survive by distributing humanitarian aid.
Walking through the Eastern neighborhood of Horizont, they hand out food and medicine to those who remain.
"People lost their homes, their flats. Many were hit by bombs, by rockets. There is almost no life in the district."
"We are here to make sure that not a single person is hungry or dies of starvation. This would be horrible. Apart from this, we help with medicines, as much as we can, whatever we can order plus we help the elderly and the bedridden, we deliver personal hygiene products. There are quite a few children and babies in the district, we deliver baby food for them."
Grass-roots and self-funded charities have delivered food, medicine and personal hygiene products to residents who are unable to get humanitarian aid because of old age, disability or their neighborhood being under regular shelling.
Volunteers also man humanitarian aid distribution points for those able to leave their residence, a lifeline for those left without water, gas or heating.
Vitaly is one of Kharkiv's residents reliant on the help of volunteers.
"I used to help blind people, I organized cultural trips to Kyiv, to theaters so that people who are blind could widen their knowledge. Now I am very grateful for Sergey and his team's help. They help us, the disabled a lot, they bring whatever you ask for, they bring water."
