Andy Munns
When the Russians invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Maksym Maslennikov was an IT entrepreneur living with his young family in Dnipro.
Now, he works round the clock with a team of volunteers, supporting internally displaced people.
They fled the fighting but lacked the capacity to leave the country altogether.
The charity he co-founded, Reconstruction Ukraine, currently manages shelters for more than 2500 people in the Dnipro area. Many of these people are elderly with disabilities.
Most of them are there for the long term.
The team has helped more than 200,000 people by providing food, hygiene packs, water purification systems, fuel and generators.
As well as providing immediate shelter for new arrivals, volunteers assist with more permanent housing, re-skilling, training and job opportunities, and support to integrate into new communities.
Children also need schooling and psycho-social support. Across Ukraine, some 25,000 volunteers need help sustaining their well-being as burnout is increasingly common. The team is working on this, too!
Max is in the UK to meet with government representatives, think tanks, commercial organisations and donors.
He will be representing Reconstruction Ukraine and JCI Ukraine (Junior Chamber International), of which he was Ukrainian President in 2022.
In Ukraine, he collaborates with regional government departments and NGOs in the Dnipro area.
Max will speak about volunteers’ work in Ukraine at the Medieval Hall, Salisbury, at 7 pm on Friday, 24th November.
He will be joined for a Q&A session by General Sir Richard Shirreff, who has recently visited Kyiv and has written extensively on the threat posed by Russia; Lord Oxford and Asquith, who is a member of the All Parliamentary Party Working Group on Ukraine; and Tim Anstee from the Ukraine Freedom Company – a group set up by former UK military personnel who regularly take supplies out to Ukraine.
Max is in Salisbury at the invitation of the team that set up the Salisbury Community Hub for Ukraine to support people who have come to Salisbury under the UK Government’s Homes for Ukraine schemes.
Jane Ebel comments: “We know that many people in Salisbury want to continue to support the people of Ukraine as war grinds on and as we become numb to the sheer numbers affected by current conflicts.
“We are planning to adopt a village close to the front line, where remaining residents are in desperate need of help. We want them to know they are not forgotten. And we shall continue to help Max and his team to do this in any way we can.”
Places at the event are limited. Anyone wishing to attend should contact Jane on musecic@gmail.com to reserve a seat.
Tickets are £15 (to include a glass of wine).
