Ukraine War Updates – 2023
UKRAINE UPDATE: August 27th, 2022Ā Third Wave Volunteers are still working strong in Ukraine.We have been deep on the front lines of Kherson delivering food, solar panels and lights, tires, food and aid supplies to recaptured villages in those areas. We were 1/4 mile down the road from the Russians and artillery and rockets dropped around us daily. It’s been a dangerous and very fulfilling mission knowing that your donations are reaching the people in need. The local people are mainly elderly and cry in our arms daily.Ā We are being led to these villages by the mayor of 21 villages between Mykolaiv and Kherson- This mayor was captured and tortured by the Russians for 3 months and released in a prisoner swap.Ā Please continue to donate towards helping these villages.We have a trusted Ukraine team in place who help us make this happen weekly and they provide food receipts, videos and photos.Ā We buy in country as to support the local economy.Ā
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UKRAINE UPDATE: JUNE 13th-20th -2022.
Third Wave Volunteers have made it to small recaptured Ukraine villages (around Kherson). These villages have been bombed 24/7 for 4 months and were previously under Russian occupation. People were traumatized and so happy to see us and were thankful for the food aid and were crying in our arms.
Open these YOUTUBE links below to witness what we witnessed.
We have been using your latest donations on supplying food for these villages and work supporting the orphans back at the safe borders.
Dr. Alison getting food to the frontline recaptured villages. Lots of love food and hugs. |
Delivering food to front line recaptured villages. |
Dr. Alison getting food to the frontline recaptured villages. Lots of love food and hugs. |
People’s spirits are very low so we try and keep upbeat and happy and focus on the delivery of LOVE, HUGS and food aid.
We buy food locally in safer areas where supermarkets are open and pack it up to get out to the front lines.
See the link below.
We buy locally to help feed the economy and the local people.
This lady gave us fresh strawberries from her garden but she had no other food.
OPEN the link below.
Giving good vibes in Mykolaiv. |
The dogs are very hungry as their owners have either been killed or had to flee in the middle of the night- so we take food to help the animals as well. see the link below.
Our training of the territorial defense soldiers is ongoing teaching combat medics and how to save lives in the red zone. (TCCC/M.A.R.C.H)
These men are writers, fishermen, baby-food salesmen, farmers, and architects all stepping up to fight for their land in this civilian war.
We pray for this to be over soon so they can go back to their families.
We trained another 100 men this week who will head to the front lines in a few days.
We just got word that the last 100 men we trained in medics were hit by mortars and mines and some are in hospital.
We will never forget their faces.
Thank you to our special ops security for keeping us safe.
Each corner we turn we are on the look-out for lone Russians who were left behind.
So many details to share with you and the work goes on.
THANK YOU DONORS!! We really appreciate you – I’m trying to work out how to thank you all individually. WE LOVE YOU all.
UKRAINE UPDATE: May 30th-2022- Memorial day.
Today we honor all those who have sacrificed their lives for freedom.
We are back in Ukraine with a new medical team and will continue our training of civilian territorial defense soldiers in combat medics to help them save lives in the red zone and we are also training aid workers in medical triage in the underground bomb shelters as the Russians are targeting hospitals, schools and aid centers and nowhere is safe.
This trip we have brought back a very large donation of the number #1 need in Ukraine and that is the CAT tourniquets for the front lines- thankyou to Jim Keady and all your CBA school kids, Alumni, families and CBA COLTS and donors for raising 15K worth of tourniquets.
We are also working at a local ‘wounded warrior’ type rehab medical hospital which houses many wounded men and we continue our work in supporting the orphans at the Ukraine/Moldova border and help get more women, children and orphans out of recaptured cities to safety.
Third Wave Volunteers just donated 10K to finish a new orphanage at the Moldova/Ukraine border and that will house 30 orphans. We will also support the caretakers.
Third Wave are supporting the Grace church in Odessa who are feeding their congregation who are serving on the front lines,
We continue to support Mykolaiv hospital and its surrounding areas with water tanks and donations to replace windows on smaller hospitals in the area.
Third Wave Volunteers look for the gaps- and there are many.
“Everyone’s Needed!”
Love Dr. Alison – Founder -Third Wave Volunteers.
UKRAINE UPDATE: The civilian war- May 18th 2022
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Third Wave Volunteer teams have had an emotional four months training and watching local fishermen, farmers, baby food salesmen, lawyers, PHD students and IT specialists be given a uniform and a gun and sent to the front lines of the Ukraine war. Our team has been training 100 civilian men in combat triage (every 3 days) on how to save lives in the red zone.
Each soldier’s face is etched into our hearts as they head away from us to the nearby front lines. They all have families and many of these men wonāt return.
We also teach medical triage and CPR to the volunteer aid workers in the underground bomb shelters of Odessa. The training has now spread to other shelters and cities, in train the trainer programs.
We continue to help extract orphans, women and children to the safety of the borders. This month we cared for mothers and children escaping the terrifying Mariupol bombings. They came to stay in our Odessa apartments where we provided comfort and LOVE and helped them get to the safety of the borders. We slip the mothers some cash for their journey and exchange cell phone numbers.
One mother and her baby were in the Mariupol hospital when it was bombed and had to escape through Russian checkpoints where she was accused of kidnapping her own baby. Last week they made it to the safety of Romania. Another mother with ten children has been staying in our apartments and today they leave for a home in Germany. These little wins fill our hearts in service to others and in Ukraine we are reminded of your kindness in your donations in helping us be able to help them.
We are always on the look-out for the gaps and have been supporting the Nykolaev hospital with large tanks of fresh water as the Russians destroyed the water systems in all the surrounding towns. The hospital needs a large sustainable water filter system. Another smaller hospital nearby had all their windows shattered in a blast so we paid for glass and timber to help them get it back in action.
In a continued effort we are helping support orphanages and their caretakers at the border of Moldova/Ukraine and supporting and redirecting outside help to three aid distribution centers inside Ukraine, one in Moldova and two in Romania.
Although the Russians out-number the Ukraine fighters by 10-1 the spirit of the Ukraine people holds strong and they are feeling everyoneās love and support pouring in from all over the world.
Our largest gift we have to give the Ukraine people is LOVE.
We hug a lot of people and those moments, where a volunteer and refugee meet, no walls-one race- are the most pure form of unconditional love we have ever felt. Their hugs are for you donors as well.
Love Dr Alison Thompson- Founder- Third Wave Volunteers.
The flowers of Ukraine- |
unfair war- with civilians using their own cars as tanks. | Russian war crimes. |
Naomi loving the children. | This mum escaped Mariupol with her ten kids! what a super mum!! They are on their way to safety as I type. |
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Dr. Alison training volunteer aid workers in medical triage in the underground bomb shelters of Ukraine near the front lines. |
TCCC combat medic training territorial defense soldiers to help them save lives on the front lines. |
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Let there be solar light in Ukraine! |
Ukraine front lines receiving our aid donations. </TD width=33%> |
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UKRAINE UPDATE: May 12th 2022.
Listen to Third Wave Volunteers Naomi’s voice as she beams with light singing about LOVE on our way home in the van from an intense training in Ukraine.
UKRAINE UPDATE: MAY 2nd.
We spent quite an emotional week training 100 civilian troops on how to save lives just before they were sent off to the front lines. A great bunch of men whose faces are now etched into our hearts. The fisherman, the farmer, the author, the welder, the builders, the baby food salesman, the PHD student and the Architect. Our hearts are broken and we pray for their safety.
Very productive past ten days in helping women and children get to the safety of borders and time with rape victims we won’t mention here.
We have been getting very large water tanks to the Nykolaev hospital- they really need a large water filtration system as the Russians have destroyed the whole water system and the wells are filthy.
We were able to hand deliver 1000’s of tourniquets and IFAK kits to people heading to the front lines and everyone was so appreciative. It was like we were handing them a pot of gold.
We have had many families staying at our apt who have escaped Russian controlled Mariupol. One lady and her baby were at the Mariupol hospital when it was bombed and lost all their I’D’s etc. she had to escape through many Russian checkpoints and was harassed that she was kidnapping her own child and that they would come find her. Her other 15 and 18 year old sons are trapped in Russian territory with no way out.
There’s another lady here with ten kids and we have had fun loving on them and lighting up their night with the solar lights #titos had donated. The 10 kids will be going to Germany in a few weeks.
love Dr. Alison Thompson – Founder -Third Wave Volunteers.
Some of 100 Ukraine territorial defense civilian soldiers we trained in combat medics. |
Our solar lights are always a big hit with the kids waiting in long border or aid lines and also for where there is no electricity on the front lines. |
TCCC combat medic training. |
Naomi deep in thought heading home. |
Resilient Ukraine kids waiting long hours at borders. |
Naomi and Alison training civilian fighters in combat medics on how to save lives in the red zones of the front lines. |
UKRAINE UPDATE: April 24th 2022
Here is the innocent women and child who died in the bombings yesterday.
UKRAINE UPDATE: April 24th 2022
I apologize for not updating sooner it’s been very hard to get into this account on the ground and we are always tired by the time we get home to bed,
Yesterday missiles landed near our apt in Odessa wounding many and killing 8 people (one was a 3-month-old baby)
The innocent are being slaughtered and this cruel war takes a turn every 5 mins – yesterday while sheltering in a closed nightclub bomb shelter / my eyes focused in the dark and realized we were in a bondage den – laughter broke out which released the tension of the moment.
We are training civilians and military soldiers in TCCC and medical triage and we were able to deliver all your donations of top-grade tourniquets and medical to the front lines – the soldiers were thrilled and Thank you all for your donations – we hand deliver all our aid so it gets into the right hands and we care that you trust us with your donations. In the next few days we will spending your money on huge water tanks to deliver to Nykolaev as the Russians have taken out the water system and they are drinking from very dirty wells – please keep the donations coming so we can do our important work
love Dr Alison Thompson – Founder -Third Wave Volunteers.
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UKRAINE UPDATE: April 2, 2022
Thank you to all our DONORS!! YOU are our family!!
We have loud missiles flying over our heads in Odessa and it is not the 4th of July.
TOURNIQUETS ARE THE HIGHEST NEED-
The highest needs in Ukraine right now are tourniquets, hemostats, chest seals and IFAK kits. We have had many meetings with the Ukraine war commanders and medical directors of the military hospitals and mobile clinics and all are requesting tourniquets.
Donations are also being spent on medicines, orphans, orphan caretakers, finishing the building of an orphanage, rental home for two special needs cerebral palsy boys for the next 6 months, and their parents and many more desperate cases.
Today we donated 5000$ to Grace Church in Odessa Ukraine who have 400 in their congregation- the elderly, women and children have left to other countries and the congregation of men have been given a uniform and a gun and sent to fight on the front lines. They don’t know how to use a gun nor have any medical background so Third Wave Volunteers have been training military, coastguard, and civilians in TCCC and medical triage, tourniquet, wound care, CPR, decompression etc. (10k donated to Grace church to date).
We are still working with EXITUS on the extraction of the special needs orphans- itās been a hard journey and we cannot discuss details due to the high-security risk to our teams on the inside.
Another 14-year-old special needs girl orphan was extracted to the border a few days ago- we wonāt give up -no matter how long it takes to get them.
LOVE Dr. Alison Thompson – Founder- Third Wave Volunteers.
Teaching triage and medical skills such as CPR, wound care, tourniquets in underground bomb shelters. Long, long days and long hours in the bomb shelters. |
An Instagram artist drew one of our triage photos. |
Naomi fills everyone with love and high spirits- she even leads yoga for us with calm music while rockets fly over our heads. |
Delivering food to front line recaptured villages and receiving strawberries from locals. |
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Thank you Sam Medical for the Stop the bleed kits for Ukraine. |
UKRAINE UPDATE – March 30, 2022
Iām trying to find stalled time to sit down and write this letter -a letter to the world about what we see on the ground in Ukraine during this criminal invasion – Iāll start by talking about love and love in action and how if we can commit to truly loving other humans , the whole world becomes our country. Making our way to different cities we go through checkpoint upon checkpoint where military soldiers wonder if we are spies or helpers – most of them are every- day people from farmers to shop owners to businessmen who now have a uniform and a gun that theyāve never used before- Their check point faces are serious and stoic and we smile for a little bit longer till they grin and turn away to hide it.
– some of the cities we arrive in are not touched by Russian bombs and people are going about their life as best they can by walking their dog or making a trip to the Black Sea to see some beauty but by 8 pm everyoneās tucked inside their homes where we can hear loud artillery fire outside our safe walls – and we wonder if the Russians are close.
Weāve been helping extract orphans to safety and train civilians and military in TCCC and medical triage with simple methods from CPR and wound care and how to place a tourniquet around your arm in case itās blown off – they concentrate with all their being because they know that could be them tomorrow or the day after- another three hour nightās sleep we get up and we push on because we know thereās more people to reach and time is running out- City after city we see the innocent people -the innocent 90 year old woman shuffling through the street – the Childrenās laughter is gone and the ones remaining live like rats in the belly of the underground shelters praying to survive another night- we see evidence of the whole world helping with aid flowing through to many different cities and the people are so thankful they hug us and they tell us to tell the outside world that they see you helping.
If youāre not on the front lines of the world you are a volunteer and our motto has always been that everyone is needed and now I see it truly in action because everyone left in the country is a volunteer and everyone is needed.
Back home in America and Australia and all over the world school children are baking cookies to raise money for the war effort and that makes me cry good tears for humanity I know itās been so rough for so many with the Covid pandemic the past two years – we also lost 16 of our Young nurses to Covid and itās been shattering to feel all the hatred rising throughout the world but hang in there because humanity is strong and love wins in the end and hope is on the way!!!
Amen.
March 27, 2022
Dr. Alison Thompson- Founder- Third Wave Volunteers.
Amazing day in Ukraine teaching triage, CPR, tourniquet, wound care, decompression, and many more skills to Ukraine military, coastguard and civilians who have had no medical training at all – we also discussed a possible chemical attack over the next weeks.
UKRAINE WAR: MARCH 22, 2022 UPDATE:
Third Wave volunteers and our partners EXITUS
In-country: our Ukrainian ambulances are up and running and Adrian and our teams are evacuating and delivering of aid requests.
We are still working on our original list of orphans and are so very close to getting most of them out. Some of their orphanages are desperate and in one brave attempt, one of our teams will be headed to Kherson to bring aid and partially evacuate this orphanage. We honor the bravery, tenacity and sleepless work and ground coverage of Exitus, Third Wave and our many partners working together inside Ukraine.
Romania/Moldova:
We now have a childrenās make-shift home with 36 orphans. They have no one. We have two previous nannies from our Ukrainian MMUs that will be coming in to help manage this home. We have established an MMU running out of Stefan Voda to surrounding areas to provide medical aid and relief to the 300 orphans that we now have placed in host families. We are committed to taking care of this vulnerable population.
In Moldova we have established a distribution center for aid and have a running line of distribution into Odessa region and are supplying the border with massive aid efforts, including food and medical care, and being the go-to for unaccompanied minors.
30 miles from the Romanian border inside Ukraine Third Wave met with the governor and war commander in charge of aid and have established a route for our large pallets of medical aid (which also includes the top need of 100s of bleeding control kits , tourniquets and hemostat donated by @SAMMEDICAL ) to make its way to the front lines over the next few days.
Our Pediatric medical teams also worked the shelters at the Romanian and Moldova borders giving support to the endless lines of refugee women and children.
Inside Ukraine Third Wave have helped set up an underground movement in Kiev with our friends from New York / Texas/ Ukraine who are helping our teams and partner NGOās and friends to evacuate more women and children to safe houses while navigating through the Ukrainian barricades with up to date passwords and Intel.
Exitus have solidified partnerships with the Moldovan government and Romanian to help provide infrastructure and support to maintain communities while taking on such vulnerable peoples.
We are providing food, oxygen, fuel, transportation, medical care, housing, jobs, safety, orphan care, and infrastructure support. This is what it means to integrate into communities, see their needs, and meet them where they are at.
When Exitus and Third Wave show up- they show up.
Collectively with our ground teams, Salam, and local friends, we have evacuated 1,000ās of people. I will post the most up to date report today with numbers.
We are two weeks in.
We see you. We hear you. We came for you.
We miss our families- but we can always go home – they canāt
Thank you to all our donors we cannot do the work without your important partnership.
Love Dr. Alison Thompson ā Founder- Third Wave Volunteers.
UKRAINE WAR : MARCH 14th, 2022 UPDATE.
NOTE: Intel is not in real time and locations in Ukraine are left off to protect our teams on the ground from being intercepted by the Russians.
Things have begun to move faster as itās been hard to reach our special needs orphans trapped in bombed cities with now Russian occupation.
Six more orphans were just extracted and we are sending buses to get 350 kids out of (—–) as I type.
Yesterday we met with the Ukraine war commander at the main humanitarian aid station in Ukraine and have established a good route for our medicines to flow through to reach the wounded in the front lines.
Thank you all for your support and donations we really can-not do this without you – You are all LOVED and are part of this great Third Wave Volunteers team.
“Everyoneās Needed!”
Love Dr. Alison Thompson- Founder- Third wave Volunteers.
We are giving out these great solar lights to the women and children. Part of your donations go towards the lights which are 11$ each.
the border gate between war and freedom – a ukraine baby waits in the bitter cold for her freedom |
Working alongside local Romanian NGO- Fight for Freedom. |
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Dr. JOHN from California- everyoneās turning up to help! |
Mike Luem is in the background in a Ukraine aid hub that feeds aid to the front lines. He is an L.A sheriff and SAR rescue expert. |
Jack Osborne is also with us he has is a very hard working, humble and intelligent man- awe worked together in Haiti in 2010. Jack can be my wingman any day!! |
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freezing -1st first week of the war in Ukraine |
The face of Ukraine children being forced to flee the war and leave their homes behind.
We have met the Ukraine commander in charge of getting the humanitarian aid to the people and wounded in the front lines and have established a route for our medical aid to flow to the front lines.
LOVE Dr. Alison –
THE COMMANDER OF AID DISTRIBUTION SAID THEIR BIGGEST NEED IS STOP THE BLEED TOURNIQUETS.
Imagine saying goodbye to your dad knowing you may never see him again. I know many people reading this have been through this in the past.
UKRAINE UPDATE: FEB 20th 2022:
The whole world is coming together against PUTIN to say “NO you can’t just invade another country and that there are some basic rules of the world!!”
Third Wave Volunteer nurses have joined with Exitus (another very experienced US non-profit) who have been extracting and aiding vulnerable and exploited orphans from Ukraine since 2014 with a great track record and system in place.
There are over 1000 special needs orphans stuck in Ukraine who have adoptive US parents waiting for them to take them to local US hospitals. There are 23 orphans ready to exit now.
Most of the children are medically fragile experiencing withdrawal symptoms, trauma from physical, mental and sexual abuse- most have feeding tubes, need meds every 2 hours and need to be carried.
Please donate to help in this important journey for medications and nurse transport.
Key details have been left out to protect all our teams while they carry out these dangerous operations.
LOVE Dr. Alison Thompson – Founder- Third Wave Volunteers