In early February, the Order of Malta launched an emergency humanitarian aid operation to assist residents of Kyiv following the recent large-scale attacks by Russia on Ukraine\u2019s energy infrastructure. The strikes left more than 1,100 residential buildings in the capital without heating or electricity, as temperatures plunged to -25\u00b0C. Thousands of households \u2014 particularly those with children and elderly family members \u2014 have been exposed to life-threatening winter conditions. Many high-rise apartment buildings depend entirely on electric cookers, leaving families unable to prepare hot meals during prolonged power outages.<\/p>\n
Within 24 hours of an urgent appeal issued by the Embassy of the Sovereign Order of Malta in Poland, the Order\u2019s Polish and Ukrainian relief organisations (Fundacja Pomoc Malta\u0144ska \u2013 Malta\u0144ska S\u0142u\u017cba Medyczna and Malteser Relief Service in Ivano-Frankivsk) mobilised to assess immediate needs and develop a rapid response plan. Within days, initial supplies were secured and a full logistics chain organised \u2014 from procurement, loading and transport, to warehousing, sorting, repackaging and final distribution.<\/p>\n
To date, the Warmth for Ukraine<\/em> initiative has delivered 3,400 gas stoves, 107,000 gas cartridges, 2,500 hot water bottles, 14,400 chemical heaters, 200 cast-iron heating stoves and several hundred kilograms of warm clothing. In doing so, it has provided practical, life-sustaining assistance to an estimated 12,000+ of the most vulnerable residents of Kyiv \u2014 including many children and elderly persons \u2014 enabling them to access warm meals and basic thermal comfort during one of the most difficult winters of the war. The operation has so far involved five humanitarian transports \u2014 three from Warsaw and two from Rzesz\u00f3w (PL) \u2014 and one central logistics hub in Ivano-Frankivsk (UA), where the supplies were assembled into individual household aid kits and prepared for distribution.<\/p>\n The Warmth for Ukraine<\/em> initiative is ongoing and further humanitarian aid is expected to include additional deliveries of gas cartridges and other essential household goods, as well as the supply and installation of generators and other equipment to several vulnerable social care institutions in the Kyiv Oblast.<\/p>\n The Warmth for Ukraine<\/em> initiative has been made possible through the generous support of embassies\/representative offices, Order of Malta structures, and private donors from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Monaco, the Netherlands, Panama, Poland, Puerto Rico, Scandinavia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom, as well as the Order of Malta\u2019s Donors for Projects Foundation.<\/p>\n Since the outbreak of the war four years ago, the Order of Malta has been carrying out many emergency relief and long-term social and medical assistance projects across Ukraine, providing sustained support to vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n