KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Friday marked one-year since Russia invaded Ukraine. However, the fight for freedom isn’t just happening on the war’s front lines.
In Lenexa, the fight continues in the form of medical aid. Heart to Heart International, a nonprofit, is sending out a large shipment of medicine and medical supplies to Ukraine next week.
“One of the things we’ve been able to do is send clinics. It’s a 20-foot container that’s been converted to a clinic on the inside,” said Dan Neal with the nonprofit.
The clinics are in places previously occupied by Russian forces. Similar to an ER, each one is equipped to handle the most extreme situations.
“One of our clinics was used to do an emergency amputation on someone’s leg who just stepped on a landmine,” he said.
Two people with the nonprofit are in Kyiv right now assessing the situation, seeing what supplies are needed, and meeting with the Minister of Health. The help has been the nonprofit’s largest response in its 31-year history. Even if the war were to end soon, Heart to Heart would continue to respond to Ukraine for months, if not years, to come.
“There’s just that level of devastation that’s happened there,” Neal said.
Meanwhile, a newer nonprofit is also helping Ukrainian citizens. Stand With Ukraine KC held an event Friday to commemorate the one-year mark and to acknowledge what’s happened.
“I’m very proud of what Ukraine has accomplished in the war and on the field,” said Volodymyr Polishchuk, the nonprofit’s president.
Stand With Ukraine KC formed one-year ago in right after the war broke out.
“I’m Ukrainian, and if you know anything about Ukrainian people we have a warrior spirit, so we are always going to resist,” Polishchuk said.
Many people at the event, which was held at the National World War One Museum and Memorial, represented Kansas City’s Ukrainian community by sharing their culture’s music, art, and drinks.
Matthew Naylor, the President and CEO of the National WWI Museum & Memorial said “What better place to gather than in the shadows of the memorial, the place that memorializes those who stood for the values of freedom and democracy?”
To enter the event, you had to purchase a ticket. Money from sales will go to those in Ukraine as well as refugees in the Kansas City metro.
