Dear Friends,

During the Russian unlawful war against Ukraine Zaporizhzhia – a large city in the south-east of the country - has become an important city for evacuees from Mariupol and other places that have suffered significant damage from the Russian assault on the civilian population in the south of Ukraine. My cousin is a doctor at the Trauma and Infectious Disease Department of Zaporizhzhia City Clinical Hospital No. 9. His hospital department is responsible for medical treatment of wounded civilians. One of his patients, an injured man, is depicted on the cover-page of French newspaper Le Monde that you can see on the photo above.

Last time we spoke, my cousin told me that his department urgently needed several pieces of medical equipment that would facilitate critical medical treatment and procedures on the hospital’s patients. For this reason, I have decided to organize this fundraiser to assist in donating funds to the hospital; and I ask you to help provide help, to the extent that you are able, through financial contributions.

Your financial contributions will go towards purchasing essential medical equipment in the US that the hospital needs, in particular:

• Dermatome (Dermatomes are used for skin reconstitution in areas that are damaged by trauma or grade 3 burns);
• Wound Vac (Wound Vac facilitates wound closure);
• Ultrasonic debridement machine (Removes devitalized tissue, critical in promoting wound healing).

In case there are extra funds left after purchase of the above equipment, we will direct them to the purchase of essential medication for the department.

I have already been in contact with a reputable shipping company that currently ships from the US to Ukraine and confirmed that they will make delivery directly to my cousin’s department at the hospital in Zaporizhzhia.

This fundraiser is important to me personally because I was born in Zaporizhzhia and it is the place of my happy childhood memories. I also have a close affinity to Mariupol, a coastal city that I love. As a family we used to drive to the Azov Sea every summer, spending time in Mariupol. You all have seen from the international news the devastation that the Russian army has inflicted on Mariupol through weeks of bombardment. There are media reports of the Russian occupiers covering-up all trace of their genocide of the city’s population by burning the dead in makeshift crematoriums. One day we will discover the full scale of the horrors that have taken place in Mariupol at the hands of the Russian army. . All of this has been devastating for me to witness.

I hope that one day I will be able to go back to help re-build Ukraine, but right now I want to do everything in my power to help from the US, with the connections I have here.

I would appreciate it if you could make a financial contribution, of any size. Every dollar donated gets us closer to providing essential medical treatment.

Thank you and Slava Ukraini - Glory to Ukraine!