After the start of a full-scale war, not everyone understood that the main thing is people and their lives. After all, instead of comfortable apartments, some were trapped by the Russian occupation and were forced to live in inhumane conditions. 

Many people tried to evacuate from hot spots on their own, but the Russian military shot them at close range. Even the inscriptions on the Dita cars did not help. In addition, many people simply did not have their own transport. 

Vladyslav Samoilenko ‘s team could not stand aside and leave people in such conditions. The man decided to organize an evacuation. 

You just do what you can do at a specific moment and help others, – explains Vladyslav. 

Understanding how the front line moves and which cities are in danger, how Russian troops move and how they can be bypassed even with blown-up bridges, his team managed to save more than a thousand people from Irpen, Buchi and Chernihiv. 

How people were evacuated

The team’s strategy was simple: medicines, generators, and food were taken to the cities, and people were taken back. 

The team never set conditions for evacuation, they took out absolutely everyone: women, children, men of all ages. No money was taken for evacuation. 

The only obstacle and difficulty was gathering all those who wanted to evacuate in one city, because the chance that they would be able to get there alive was not very high. 

People from Buchi walked in columns through the forest, because it was impossible to pass. 

The boys studied the schedule of hostilities, calculating the safest route, because people’s lives were at stake. 

According to Vladyslav, the ideal time for work was from eight in the morning until two or four in the afternoon. During these hours, there was an opportunity for volunteers to come in and pull people out from under the basements for further evacuation.   

However, not everything can always be predicted. One day the evacuation could end tragically. 

At that time, Russian armored vehicles cut off the road from Stoyanka and had to turn sharply, because there was information that two cars in front had been shot. 

In such conditions, you become not only a driver, but also a medic, because you have to provide first aid. 

I advise everyone to take basic first aid courses to know how to save, stop bleeding, etc. 

Evacuation was even more difficult in Chernihiv. After the bridges were blown up there, the team negotiated with the soldiers of the Armed Forces, for whom they carried bulletproof vests. They organized everything in such a way that the Armed Forces of Ukraine would stop by a certain street on the way and pick up people who would be evacuated later. 

Not all people were ready to evacuate, they even set conditions, so negotiations had to be held to help take the first step. 

Vladyslav’s team lost more than one car, because where there was heavy shelling, they had to act in a loose manner. But the most important thing is that the volunteers managed to deliver everyone alive. Not a single person died. 

Now the team does not stop its work and takes people from the eastern regions of the country. 

We know why we are doing it: there is a war for survival, in which we must win.