In the days leading up to New Year’s Eve we can increasingly hear heavy fireworks exploding in The Netherlands.

Not very dissimilar to what you hear in many parts of Ukraine, with the important distinction that there it concerns not fireworks but the sounds of exploding rockets, artillery shells, Shahed drones, air defense weapons, and aviation bombs.

The people in Eastern Ukraine have become experts in determining the type of ordinance, the distance, and whether it is incoming or outgoing fire, just by the sound of the explosion. In a city like Kherson you can hear these explosions every ten minutes. In the small town of Bilipolya in Sumy, 8 kilometers away from the Russian border they suffer between 10 and 40 attacks per day.

Let’s share a thought for our European brothers and sisters in Ukraine with every fire cracker that we hear exploding in Holland.

Try to imagine for a minute with every fireworks bang and blast that is an enemy attack threatening the lives of your loved ones. This will give you an idea of the daily and nightly threats under which Ukrainians live for over 22 months already.

In Kherson, close to the front-line, LifeLine Ukraine.org is building 7 bomb shelters and points of unbreakability. We plan to build many more, as shelters are life savers. Especially close to the Russian border or the front line.

Have a great New Year’s Celebration with some beautiful fireworks💥! But please, also spare a thought for those people who suffer from a lethal form of fireworks.

If you buy one “Roman candle” or “Sparkler” or “Fountain” less this year, and donate it to LifeLine Ukraine.org (https://lnkd.in/e5tehJBA), then we can continue to build shelters and bring some form of safety to Ukraine!

As from day 1 of LifeLine Ukraine.org, every euro donated is spent in Ukraine!

#happynewyear!
#ukraine
with Wouter Hollander and Krasko Olga
Jeroen Ketting