VitaUkr is a civil society organization delivering humanitarian aid, cultural diplomacy, and community recovery work across Ukraine and Italy — founded in August 2021, intensified since February 2022.
In order to help and provide support to other people, you yourself need to stand firmly on your own two feet. That is how our core of like-minded people was formed and the Social Organization VitaUkr was founded — Vita means life in Italian, so the name itself is about life in Ukraine.
The defining moment came around the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, together with our Italian partners. Through that period we held numerous events in Italy, and throughout 2020 hosted events in Ukraine as well. Everything we organize and host is shared on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
Each area runs with dedicated Italian and Ukrainian partners. The numbers below are cumulative — what has been delivered since the organization was founded in 2021 or since the full-scale invasion began.
Field-clinic packs, medical supplies, food and hygiene kits — delivered from Italy to Ukraine. Over 130 boxes (30 of medicine & hygiene) in 2021 alone, and more than 380 tonnes cumulative.
Exhibitions of Ukrainian artists in Italy and Kyiv — Milano Exhibition, View of Dante, Art Against Violence, Ukrainian Art in Italy. Plus 2 murals in Kyiv.
MOM program — Mothers of Mariupol: safe space for knowledge, emotional recovery, and community purpose. Youth support for psychoemotional and professional stability.
Over the first 100 days of the war, our Italian partners housed and assisted more than 100 Ukrainian refugees — with documents for Italian residency.
Events across Italy and Ukraine — concerts, gatherings, fundraising — keeping the diaspora community rooted and supporting frontline work.
Non-lethal support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces: bulletproof vest sets, vehicles, and fuel for generators — delivered via individual requests from military bases.
Since 2021, VitaUkr has delivered concrete outcomes across humanitarian, military non-lethal, cultural, and community work. These are the raw numbers behind the work — not proportions, not estimates.
Delivered since 2021 via EU logistics to Ukraine.
In 2021 alone — including 30 boxes of medicine & hygiene.
In Italy within the first 100 days of the war, with residency documents.
People reached by ongoing aid and community support.
Food and medicine for pets — frontline shelters and families.
Non-lethal protection for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Transport support for military bases — individual requests.
Petrol and diesel delivered to the Armed Forces.
Milano · View of Dante · Art Against Violence · Ukrainian Art in Italy.
Public art collaborations, 2021.
Held in Italy and Ukraine — diaspora gatherings and cultural days.
Organized to support frontline work and ongoing operations.
Two arcs of work — peacetime cultural and humanitarian projects through early 2022, and the wartime response since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Click any project to preview its full image set.
Wartime response: humanitarian convoys from Italy, medical and family aid to frontline regions, refugee resettlement and documentation in Italy, children’s psychosocial support, and community recovery in Irpin.
MOM program's goal is to make sure that every participant has their own safe space so that they can:
War leaves people lost and demoralized. Today we are creating our history, our future, our values — a world where our children shall live. We should unite and support one another and our country.
We work alongside Italian and Ukrainian institutions, foundations, and civic networks. Over the first 100 days of the war, our Italian partners housed and supported more than 100 Ukrainian refugees and assisted with documentation for Italian residency.
It's a fight for freedom between democratic and totalitarian regimes. Ukraine today is an open frontline defending democracy. And we are all aware that should the Russian dictator be allowed to succeed, democracy that is a foundation of successful Europe will cease to exist.
VitaUkr calls on everyone to provide help to the most socially vulnerable people in Ukraine.
Monthly operating costs, as shared by Helen Yampolska — illustrative of what sustained support covers. Every request in city renovation is reviewed individually.
Office operations — petrol, paper, equipment maintenance, postal services, internet, rent, logistics, travel.
Exhibition organization — artwork transportation, organizational and event expenses.
Logistics for delivering aid from EU countries (Italy, Poland, etc.) to Ukraine.
Individual non-lethal requests from military bases — vests, vehicles, fuel.
The situation in Ukraine continues. Contributions go directly to the programs and convoys above. Bank transfer is fully tax-deductible in most EU jurisdictions; PayPal is fastest.
