The 18th mission in Ukraine by Mediterranea Saving Humans’ Ground Crews from Emilia-Romagna, together with the volunteers from Music&Resilience, has been completed.

Thanks to the regional solidarity network, we managed to bring 2 tons of essential goods to refugee camps and reception facilities in the Lviv region, which for over three years have been hosting refugees from areas of the country under constant occupation and attacks by the Russian army.

Within the camps, with the help of Music&Resilience’ music therapy, we shared moving musical moments that created intense connections with people, thanks to the resonances that only music, made together, can offer.

Additionally, Mediterranea's health team continued its monitoring activities inside the camps, promoting health education and training.

During our stay in Ukraine, we witnessed the continuation of a dramatic reality: the war has exacerbated social inequalities, creating an increasingly deep divide between the population and breaking up families; the economic fabric is severely compromised, with constantly rising prices making essential goods and medications increasingly inaccessible.

But beyond the material emergency, we directly experienced the profound wear and tear and deterioration of mental health caused by the ongoing conflict, uncertainty about the future, and continuous attacks. The shared pain and anger threw us once again into a suspended space-time dimension, where we met newly adult veterans who are amputees, people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, elderly individuals who will never see their homes again, and little girls who can’t imagine a future without war.

We listened to the life stories of the people we met, who, with dignity, remind us that the only narrative possible to describe war is that of the civilian population who dies, suffers, and resists.

Now more than ever, the people in Ukraine are held hostage by the choices of the world’s most powerful governments and live with a sense of abandonment by the international community. While Europe rushes to rearm, instead of working to find a real diplomatic solution to end the invasion, and with the continuation of transoceanic negotiations for a truce—pushed by the United States and Russia solely to increase their profits and power rather than end the violence against the civilian population—people remind us that indifference and inaction make us complicit in a system that only fuels the war.

Mediterranea's decision to continue being present alongside the people lies in the desire to be a tool in the hands of the oppressed, able to demonstrate that an alternative to the rhetoric of power that fuels the conflict, the sending of weapons, and the power games of governments is possible.