“We Feel That We Are Needed”: Residents of Front-Line Torske Received Help From the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation

The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation has delivered food assistance packages to Torske, which is not far from Lyman in Donetsk region. This is a village in the front-line zone. All the houses here are damaged by shelling, and enemy positions are a couple of kilometres from here.

In the yards, several boxes with the basic-needs products are unloaded at a time. Then people will make sure to pass them on to others.

“I will be 85 years old in April. I live in a house that belongs to other people because my house was destroyed. We have nowhere to get a piece of bread. I am old, and my hands are not strong enough any more for me to be able to knead the dough. We need help, for sure,” says a local resident.

According to another woman, there is not a single store in the village. However, despite all the challenges, people do not want to leave, because “here is home, livestock, poultry, dogs, and cats”...

Another resident of Torske admitted that humanitarian support helps not only to subsist, but also to hold it out. 

“We feel that we are needed and that we live in Ukraine. We bow low to the people who have not forgotten about us. We have to think about each other. And never forget the good. Even when somebody just hugged you and said, “Thank you for being here.” That is very supportive,” she says.

The food assistance packages include some noodles, sugar, salt, flour, and cereals, as well as some canned beans, stewed meat, pate, cookies, and sunflower oil.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Foundation has handed over 317,000 food assistance packages to residents of Donetsk region and those IDPs who temporarily left the region. 

Since 2014, the Foundation has handed over 13 million food assistance packages to Ukrainians. Over this period, assistance from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, SCM businesses and Shakhtar Football Club reached more than 18 million people. The assistance is provided within the framework of the program Rinat Akhmetov – Saving Lives.

For questions about the delivery of food aid to territorial communities, contact the Foundation’s toll-free hotline 0 (800) 509 001, or write to the Foundation’s messenger https://m.me/AkhmetovFDU.