Stories from Ukraine
Kyselivka Village
Shortly after the Russian army retreated from Mykolaiv Oblast in 2022, our team of volunteers was on the ground assessing the needs of liberated villages. When our convoy entered the destroyed village of Kyselivka, there was no one on the streets. We parked our vehicles in the central square and began to survey the damage.
Villagers began to emerge from their tattered homes, telling us that we were the first aid workers they had seen since the Russian retreat. We met with the village administrator and his family and formulated a plan. The very next day, we returned with food, blankets, clothing and other supplies. We continued to support the village as the residents rebuilt their homes, shops and community center.
When we started our demining program, we returned and conducted drone surveys of the agricultural fields surrounding the village and assisted in the clearance of mines. Once the threat from UXO (unexploded ordnance) was contained, we donated bicycles to the village children.
Today, life has returned to the village, the fields have been planted and harvested, and the process of rebuilding continues.
X-ray Machine Repair
In the autumn of 2022, Sunflower Project volunteers were on a mission to resupply a front-line hospital in Pokrovsk, a logistics hub in the Donetsk region. After unloading our trucks, a young doctor approached us and asked if we could follow him into the hospital. Inside, he showed us a Micro-X Rover portable x-ray machine that was no longer working. It was the hospital’s only x-ray machine. We logged into the machine and took pictures of the error codes and promised to find a solution.
We contacted Micro-X, and it just so happened that the company has an office in Seattle (the Sunflower Project’s home town). The manager agreed to give us the parts necessary for repairing the machine. We flew home for a fundraiser, visited Micro-X and picked up the parts as well as a copy of the service manual. Within a week, we were back in Pokrovsk to deliver the parts.
However, there was no one on the hospital staff qualified to repair the machine. Kevin, having a background in computer hardware, proceeded to read the manual, disassemble the machine and replace the faulty circuit boards. The repair was a success, and within 5 minutes of booting up the machine, a wounded soldier was wheeled into the x-ray room.
Individual First Aid Kits (IFAK)
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, medical supplies have been scarce. We have focused on sourcing and delivering medical supplies throughout the life of our project, having resupplied hospitals and medical evacuation points from Kherson to Pokrovsk.
Of particular importance to people working and living near the front lines is the Individual First Aid Kit, a portable pouch of supplies specifically designed for treating battlefield wounds. We have supplied hundreds of these kits to medics, sappers, and volunteers across Ukraine. Each kit can save a life.
Surveying the Minefields of Ukraine
As part of our landmine and unexploded ordnance disposal program, we perform aerial drone surveys of the liberated territories of Ukraine in search of UXO. We provide maps of the locations of UXO to the authorities responsible for clearing the land, as well as to local communities in an effort to minimize the danger to citizens.
As of December 2025, we have surveyed over 3000 hectares (7400 acres) of land in the Chernihiv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Kharkiv regions. With the help of visual recognition software specially designed for our purposes, we have located and documented over 9300 pieces of UXO.
Each explosive hazard that we map makes communities safer and helps to restore the economies of villages and towns throughout Ukraine.