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Our projects
Our current projects are focused on first aid and evacuation of war casualties in Ukraine. As Ukraine bravely fights Russia’s brutal unprovoked invasion, our team around the world works 24/7 to help save as many lives in Ukraine as possible. We are the largest charity solely focused on supporting frontline medics in Ukraine.
Since 24 February 2022, we have raised over $12 million in donations from individuals, businesses and non-profits all over the world and turned them into life-saving supplies and equipment.
We’ve processed over 6,000 requests from frontline medics, and our network now includes 3,000+ field medics who are actively serving on the front lines, saving lives daily.
Medic backpacks and other tactical first aid supplies
Leleka's core activity is equipping frontline medics with the tools they need to save lives:
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Fully equipped medic backpacks of various modifications;
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High-quality combat tourniquets and chest seals;
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Various types of litters for swift evacuation;
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Advanced first-aid supplies such as junctional tourniquets, intraosseous devices, suppraglotic airways and more.
Medic backpacks are a vital resource for field medics, offering immediate care to injured soldiers and civilians. Each kit is designed to treat up to 10 people, depending on the nature of the injuries.
Medical evacuation vehicles and anti-drone protection
Swift medical evacuation is key to survival of the wounded soldiers. Still, a regular ambulance is unusable in combat zones because of road conditions and heavy fighting.
Within our medevac for Ukraine project, we purchase ambulances and off-road vehicles in Europe, refurbish and equip them to combat medical evacuation needs and transfer to the units located in the hottest spots in Eastern and Southern Ukraine.
Safety of evacuation teams is another utmost important issue. Hostile drones constantly and specifically target medical vehicles, often killing evacuees, medics and/or destructing the vehicle itself. Hence, Leleka started procuring anti-drone protection devices for evacuation teams to enable them carry their tasks.
Past projects
Leleka Foundation has been involved in supplying first-aid kits to Ukrainian soldiers since early days of the war in 2014.
In February 2022, we have scaled-up individual first-aid kits stream and supplied over 18,000 kits to Ukraine's defenders during 2022.
Since 2023, we put individual first-aid kits stream on pause, fully focusing available resources on the needs of field medics to support them in savings as many lives as possible.
Hospital equipment
Given the scale and brutality of Russian attacks, Ukrainian hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties and heavily lack modern equipment and supplies to treat severe bombing and shelling wounds.
In 2022 - early 2023 our dedicated team worked directly with hospitals to identify their needs and purchase critical devices, either on our own or jointly with partners.
As a result, we provided much needed equipment to hospitals in Kharkiv, Sumy, Odesa, Vinnytsya, Khmelnytsky, Zaporizhya, Bila Tserkva, Kyiv and other cities. That included VAC devices, portable ultrasound and X-ray machines, surgical supplies and many more.
Current this project is not actively pursued, but please contact us should you wish to specifically support hospitals in Ukraine and we will direct you to verified organizations.
Backpack of Life - partnership with EPAM Ukraine
Leleka Foundation is proud to have implemented the "Backpacks of Life" project, made possible by the generous financial and organizational support of EPAM Ukraine. In 2024, the company allocated $300,000 to purchase and equip 300 fully-stocked medical backpacks for Ukrainian front-line medics. This initiative is expected to help save the lives of approximately 3,000 wounded individuals.
Our cooperation also included an information campaign aimed at educating the civilian population about the vital role of medics in the war and the importance of first aid.
Maria Nazarova, Anastasia Podobailo, Mykola Yasinenko, Anton Storchak, and other esteemed medical professionals and instructors have become the project's ambassadors and the heroes featured in media and social network publications.
Generators for healthcare facilities
In late 2022 we ran a joint project with our long-term partners at YellowBlue Force Foundation to supply electrical power generators to hospitals in Ukrainian cities.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the russians have been targeting the Ukrainian power grid. This has resulted in intermittent power outages. Towards the winter of 2022-2023 the aggressors embarked on an explicit strategy of freezing the Ukrainian population to death. Ukraine’s power generation capacity continues to be systematically targeted and destroyed.
This project aimed at providing autonomous power generation capacity to local hospitals and clinics, on which most Ukrainian civilians depend on for their healthcare, including outpatient facilities, urgent and emergency care.
As a result, our partners supplied power generators to several hospitals in Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolayiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Novomoskovsk and Kryvyy Rih, enabling undisrupted patient care.
Critical equipment for hospitals in Ukraine - IME partnership
In 2022, we partnered with The Institute for Emergency Medicine (Poland) and Ukraine Medical Consortium to deliver critical equipment to the hospitals in Ukraine.
As a result, a power generator and negative pressure wound therapy devices along with consumables have been supplied to the hospitals in Truskavets and Kyiv.
Medical evacuation vehicles
It is widely considered that a critical injury casualty has better chances of survival if they get to the surgery within an hour (known as Golden Hour rule). Therefore, swift medical evacuation is key to survival of the wounded soldiers. Still, a regular ambulance is not able to support evacuation from remote locations because of road conditions and heavy fighting.
Within our medevac for Ukraine project, we purchase ambulances and off-road vehicles in Europe, refurbish and equip them to combat medical evacuation needs and transfer to the units located in the hottest spots in Eastern and Southern Ukraine.
Contact us
We are currently receiving an enormous volume of messages, emails and phone calls. We are reviewing all of them, but it may take us longer than usual to respond.
Thank you for your patience!
Leleka Foundation, 380 Hamilton Ave #291, Palo Alto, CA 94302, United States