HelpingUkraine has received an update from Nita Hanson, of God’s Hidden Treasures, from her Ukrainian staff on the ground in the Kherson and Mickolayiv Regions.
“The news continues to come in of more and more tragedies from the flood. The ones that have been the hardest for me personally are the stories coming in of people trying to rescue their friends and relatives who are stranded by the floods, and being shot and killed by Russian snipers. One was a 32-year-old woman who was pregnant. She was trying to rescue her grandparents when she was shot and killed by a Russian sniper.
Russia is not rescuing people stranded in the territories they occupy, but shooting anyone who tries to rescue them. This has to be evil at its worst. For what possible gain? Is a young pregnant woman a threat to them? Or unarmed rescuers? Following are some of the news reports we have received:
‘At last, help came for Vitalii Shpalin. From a distance, he spotted the small Ukrainian rescue boat traversing floodwaters that had submerged the 60-year-old’s entire neighborhood after a catastrophic dam collapse in the country’s embattled south. He and others boarded with sighs of relief — interrupted suddenly by the crackle of bullets. Shpalin ducked, and a bullet scraped his back. He felt one pierce his arm, then his leg. The boar’s rescue worker cried into the radio for reinforcements. “Our boat is leaking,” Shpalin heard him say. An elderly man died before his eyes, his lips turning blue. Their vessel, taking civilians to safety in Kherson city across the river, had been shot by Russian soldiers positioned in a nearby house, according to Ukrainian officials and witnesses on the boat.
They (Russians) let boats through — those coming to rescue people,” Shpalin said. “But when the boars were full of people, they started shooting.” ‘
“The Russian Federation provided nothing in the areas they occupy — no aid, no evacuation. They abandoned people alone to deal with the disaster,” said Yulia Valhe, evacuated from the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky. “I have my friends who stayed there, people I know who need help. At the moment I can’t do anything except to say to them “Hold on.” ‘
This is what we are having to deal with in addition to the massive flooding. Please pray for God to stop those snipers and to allow rescuers to come to the territories they occupy.
Now that the waters are receding, the number of dead are being found and there are many. And already disease is breaking out. We are so thankful for the relationships we have made with some of the clinics we helped. Doctor Pavel in the Mickolayiv Region has identified 8 villages in his area alone that have absolutely no clean water. We sent him a box of approximately 10,000 water pills which he will distribute to them.
Dr. Pavel also gave us a list of 5 medicines we are buying for each family to help treat Cholera, dysentery and other disease associated with contaminated water (List of medicines for flooded areas: Antimicrobial agents used in intestinal infections, Antibiotic for intestinal diseases, Pills for pancreas, Sorbent, antidot, and probiotic.)
We sat down this week and came up with the best possible food, hygiene and medical packages we can send to Kherson and Mickolayiv Regions. Together, these 3 packages are designed to keep a family alive for 1 month. In addition to these we will be sending 5 liter bottles of water with each van. These packages also contain enough water purification pills for a family for a month and a bottle of Clorox for a disinfectant. Just those things alone have tripled the cost to supply 1 family.
We are now redirecting all our efforts to the flooded areas – somewhere around 98 villages have been flooded, plus the city of Kherson. We are expanding our outreach so that we are now sending out 500 of those packages to those areas each month.
We thank all of you who have so faithfully supported our efforts – your continued giving is enabling us to not only continue, but expand our efforts to keep people alive until more help can come. Your prayers encourage and help us continue our efforts. Forgive my lack of words to express our deep thankfulness and gratitude.”
