WASHINGTON — Thursday marks one month since the Russian military invaded Ukraine. Since then, more than 3.6 million people have fled the country and about 6.5 people are displaced within the country, according to the United Nations.
You may wonder what you can do to help those families in Ukraine.
Nadia McConnell is the president and founder of the U.S. Ukraine Foundation, an organization supporting the people of Ukraine in their quest for freedom, democracy, a free-market economy and human rights.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Ukraine Foundation has been working on the ground in Ukraine since 1991.
As the invasion endures, McConnell said there is a big need for medical supplies and a way to transport them there.
"What is missing is getting it from here to there and because it’s such an emergency situation, we have to airlift. Not only are people dying from the war, but now people are dying because they can’t get access to their normal medications either," McConnell said.
The U.S. Ukraine Foundation recently hosted an event to help raise money to help send medical supplies to Ukraine's front lines.
"Ukraine AirLIFT is a program to deliver medical supplies to all parts of Ukraine, and it has been funding the flying of medical supplies to Poland for forward trucking to Ukraine. Initial shipments have been delivered to the Military Hospital in Kyiv," the organization shared on the website Washington Stands with the Ukrainian People.
Oksana Sukhina, the program director for the U.S. Ukraine Foundation, said she first moved to Washington, D.C., two years ago.
"My son was turning 21 and I had the right to immigrate to the United States and I wanted a better future for my children. I wanted to give them a better education so I took a risk and came here," Sukhina said.
When the Russia invasion started, Sukhina said her son decided to return to Ukraine to help defend his country.
"My son is in cybersecurity so he has a job here but he took a leave and he went back to Ukraine to help. He was helping deliver food and medicine to people who needed it around Kyiv. Today he was going to take refugees and take them closer to the western border to bring people to the border and to pick up stuff there and come back," Sukhina said.
Sukhina helped organize a fundraiser to raise money to send medical supplies to the people in Ukraine.
"Logistics take time now and every shipment that can be delivered immediately, it can save lives. The need is enormous, it’s a huge. huge need and any donation, anyway, to expedite this process is critical. It is such a humanitarian crisis," Sukhina said.
The founder of U.S. Ukraine foundation sees parallels between what's happening in Ukraine and WWII.
"My family and I are refugees from World War II and we were welcomed to America. We were able to benefit from all of the benefits of being an American citizen and to some extent have lived the American dream. When I look at some of the images coming from Ukraine and the leveled cities, I have to compare it to what we see from World War II. Just a total devastation," McConnell said.
McConnell said the needs of the Ukrainian people will change but right now the focus remains on medical supplies and finding a way to get them there.
"Now it seems there is an opportunity for me and others to help this next wave of refugees that will be coming from Ukraine," McConnell said.
"I think the rebuilding and helping Ukraine to rebuild is going to be a decades-long process, so we are building a coalition of people and organizations and we are trying to respond to the needs of today and tomorrow and plan for what will be needed tomorrow," McConnell said.
"We know that Ukraine will not be in the front pages always, we’ve seen that happen in the past, so we feel it’s a part of our mission is to keep a focus on the needs," she said.
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