Photos: Inside Ukraine’s Desperate Humanitarian Crisis

The story of the first three weeks of the war in Ukraine is a story of desperation. For those in the country, that desperation may look like a store with no food, a pharmacy with no medicine, or a hospital without the basic equipment it needs to stay functional. For those who have fled Ukraine, it looks like a crowded train station, a cot in a shelter, or a bus to a city you have never heard of.

Project HOPE’s teams are on the ground in Poland, Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine helping rush essential medicines and medical supplies to help Ukrainians. But even if the war were to end immediately, the amount of devastation it has caused is incalculable. The number of lives it has upended is excruciating. And the level of need continues to grow exponentially.

In Krakow, more than 150 miles from the border, people crowd in a central train station awaiting further transit across the country. Some try to sleep on the floor; others scan bulletin boards or make phone calls for help. A team of volunteers in yellow vests hands out bread, fruit, and toothbrushes. Outside, Krakow residents drop off sandwiches and homemade soup — small comforts amid a moment of intense chaos.

Being a refugee is especially hard for those who rely on medical care at home. At the University Children’s Hospital in Krakow, families from Ukraine immediately began arriving with children in need of care, including pediatric oncology patients. Mothers like Nadiya described how the war forced them to take their children to chemotherapy appointments amid bombings and air raid sirens — an untenable reality that led to the grueling decision to leave.

The hospital is bracing for an influx of refugees that may strain its staff and supplies. Project HOPE first began supporting University Children’s Hospital nearly 50 years ago and helped construct the hospital’s medical research facility, rehabilitation center, ambulatory care center, center for newborn care, and ICU for premature infants. It is our longest ongoing relationship with any hospital in the world, and our team in Poland is working with the staff to assess their greatest needs.

Inside Ukraine, the threats to health and safety are both large and small. In Lviv, daily air raid sirens are a reminder that no one in the country is truly removed from the war — a fact that became all too real after airstrikes struck on March 13 near Yavoriv, just 30 miles away. The horror of the war looms over everyone. But inside Lviv’s hospitals, there are other threats.

Because of the war, one of Lviv’s main hospitals has sent much of its medical supplies east to help hospitals in Kyiv. That has left it dangerously low on the essential things it needs to function: antibiotics, anesthesia, even sutures for surgery.

Project HOPE’s team recently spent the night at the hospital, bringing a small shipment of medical supplies in advance of a larger truck that arrived days later. Air raid sirens at 4 a.m. sent the entire hospital into the shelter. Hours later, doctors performed a heart transplant with sutures our team brought with them. “I can’t believe this is our reality,” one of them said.