“I am proud I can help”

“We left almost everything in Lysychansk and moved to another place,” shares Illia Ruban, an Internally Displaced Person from the Luhansk region.

“At first, it was difficult. I spent several nights in the car. When the situation became clearer, I realized I could not sit still. I was lucky to be alive and well. The family is more or less safe. We were able to leave, while many of my friends do not have such an opportunity.”

“I started to evacuate people from the Luhansk region on my own. Under shelling, I took people from basements and persuaded them to leave. I managed to evacuate many people.”

Having lost business, Illia offered his services as a driver to ADRA Ukraine.

“I’m familiar with the activities of ADRA Ukraine in the Lugansk region, where the organization assisted the civilian population. I wanted to join a friendly team of philanthropists long ago. Now, I continue with the evacuation of the civilian population, mainly from the Donetsk region. I hear and see the consequences of hostilities, became a witness to human grief… It is impossible to get used to it. But the thought that I am doing a useful and important thing makes me happy. I am proud that I can help people.”

Illia is currently evacuating people and providing access to vital services within the framework of the project on social transportation in cooperation with the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund. He makes daily evacuation trips from villages and towns of the Donetsk region. He helps to “unload” the social hub in Zaporizhzhia. After all, residents of Kherson and other cities of southern Ukraine are arriving there every day.