In November, snow arrived in Ukraine to accompany the second winter of war for the country hit by the Russian invasion. In Lviv, temperatures went below freezing and there was no shortage of difficulties for the Med Care for Ukraine project.

Fortunately, our medical teams are able to operate indoors in the 12 formal and informal reception sites for war refugees in the city - except for the days of basic medical assistance and drug administration dedicated to the homeless in Striskj Park, one of the places where Mediterranea Saving Humans has been operating for a few months. There the visits take place on board our mobile medical clinic which takes care of the city's poorest.

Air raid warnings announcing the arrival of Russian missiles or a drone attack have become less frequent, but characterized by a very long duration, in some cases up to 4 hours. A time in which our activists, together with the medical and health teams, are forced into underground shelters.

After the November humanitarian aid supply mission from Naples, which was created with the collaboration of the land crews from Barcelona, Taranto and Turin, the arrival of the next mission is expected in January - originating in Bologna and organized by the Emilia Romagna land crew.

On the 1st of December, the Ukrainian government introduced a new law on the provision of humanitarian aid which involves a long and cumbersome bureaucratic process, as well as a series of customs operations which risk penalizing even international organizations that deal with assistance to refugees such as Mediterranea Saving Humans.

A factual obstacle that goes hand in hand with the insufficiency of state funds allocated by the government, now completely broke and at the mercy of international aid for the reception and healthcare of war refugees from the East as well as for refugees in Western regions such as Lviv.

We will see in the next few weeks how the new regulation impacts the functionality of the Med Care for Ukraine project.

For the time being, Mediterranea Saving Humans is where it belongs, alongside the civilian population affected by the war.