First, let me say I understand there is need everywhere. Lots of people are hurting around the world, and you may fairly ask, why Ukraine? People tend to help the people they know. That is how I got here.
Each year about this time I work with a young woman who lives in Kyiv. Her name is Karolina. For four years now she has helped me get ready for a special project in Europe — schedules, appointments, the hundred small things that make the work go. She started with me six months after the war began. She has been there every year since.
Understand what “there” means. Karolina works in a capital city that has lived under an air raid siren for four years. Kyiv’s own municipal safety department, through the city’s Kyiv Digital app, has logged 2,204 air raid alerts in the capital since Feb. 24, 2022 — more than 2,600 hours spent under the signal. And it is getting worse, not better: BBC Verify’s analysis of those city figures found Kyiv is now enduring more daily alerts than at any point since the invasion began — 76 in a single week beginning Aug. 27, an average of roughly ten a day, as many as 13 on the worst days. Countrywide, Russia fired at least 1,858 missiles at Ukraine between Jan. 1 and Aug. 27 of this year, according to a Kyiv Independent tally, and Ukraine’s air force logged 54,538 long-range drones launched at the country during 2025 alone, better than four times the 2024 total. On the night of Sept. 7, after a brief pause in the strikes, Russia sent 166 attack drones and 32 cruise missiles, along with ballistic missiles, over Kyiv. Five people in the city were killed.
Those are numbers. Here is a person. I reached out to Karolina last week to ask what I could do for her. She turned the question around, which tells you most of what you need to know about her:
“There are so many people here who have lost their homes or loved ones, or have suffered life-changing injuries because of the war. I found two trusted humanitarian organizations for people who need the help much more than I do, that I would feel comfortable recommending:
Nova Ukraine — a US-based nonprofit providing humanitarian assistance across Ukraine. Their work includes medical and emergency aid, support for displaced families, first responders, rehabilitation, and rebuilding communities affected by the war.
Razom for Ukraine — another US-based nonprofit supporting Ukraine through humanitarian and other assistance programs. Their website also provides several ways to donate.”
I looked both of them up, because that is the job. Both are U.S. 501(c)(3) charities, so a gift is tax-deductible. Nova Ukraine, based in Palo Alto and working in Ukraine since 2014, reports raising more than $180 million since 2022 and keeping operating expenses in the single digits as a percentage of that. Razom — the word means “together” in Ukrainian — runs frontline emergency response, medical training and supply, and community recovery programs, and reports delivering more than $15 million in medical supplies through 147 in-country distribution trips last year.
The scale of the need is not a matter of opinion. The United Nations estimates 10.8 million Ukrainians will require humanitarian assistance in 2026, with more than 3.7 million people displaced inside their own country as the war enters its fifth year. Relief agencies have money for about 4.1 million of them.
So, why Ukraine? Because a young woman I have worked with for four years answered my offer of help by pointing at her neighbors instead of herself. That is a hard thing to walk away from.
I’ve put a small public service announcement in the sidebar with links to both organizations, and there are donate buttons below. If you are so inclined, your gift, however small, helps. Share it if you’d like.
Ways to give
Donate — Nova UkraineDonate — Razom for UkraineSources: Kyiv City Department of Municipal Security via the Kyiv Digital app; BBC Verify, Sept. 7, 2026; Kyiv Independent, Sept. 3, 2026; Ukrainian Air Force; UN OCHA Ukraine Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2026.
