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Connecticut organization gathers medical supplies for Ukraine

Maidan United is readying boxes with surgical gloves, bandages and more to send to Ukraine.

SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. — Connecticut-based non-profit organization Maidan United is getting together medical supplies to send to Ukraine as the crisis rages on.

The group received a large donation from a surgical center and volunteers filled up a truck this weekend.

The organizers said they’ll be shipped from Connecticut to Poland, and from there, volunteers will drive them into war-torn villages where they’re needed most.

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Sister and brother team, Sofia and Ostap Dumansky, co-founded Maidan United. They still have family there.

"My godmother is there, my cousins live there," Ostap said. "What’s going on in Ukraine has been devastating. I wait for his call back every two to three hours, I don’t go to sleep until the sun rises in Kyiv."

"We’re connecting with smaller villages that need help too because they’re getting attacked as well," Sofia said. "It’s not even a war of military, he’s destroying people and homes."

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Sofia, president of Maidan United, said they’ll be shipping the items to
Poland and from there, they’ll go to Lviv, Ukraine where volunteers on the ground will drive them to where they’re needed most.

"These people are getting out into their cars and risking their lives," Sofia said.

The organization started in 2014 when the initial conflict began. Over the years, the group has sent medical supplies to hospitals, volunteers and to the frontlines. They purchased an ambulance, as well as ventilators for a children’s hospital.

The cause that’s close to the Dumansky’s hearts as both were born in Ukraine.

“We came into the United States in 1992 right at the fallout of the USSR,” Sofia said.

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She and her brother are saddened to see what is happening in their homeland.

"It’s just devastating to see on both lines that kids are dying," Ostap said.

Volunteers will put together another shipment on Tuesday. 

Maidan United is also accepting donations to purchase more supplies. 

They have an Amazon wish list for items like tourniquets and bandages. To view the wish list, click here.

Elisha Machado is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at emachado@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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