Voices: Rescued Ukrainian widow still needs help

Two months ago, I wrote about Nadezda Panasyk, a Ukrainian widow who was the last civilian living at the apartment building used at the time by pro-Russian separatists battling government forces at the Donetsk airport.

Panasyk, 75, stayed in an area that was being shelled daily. She had no heat, food or a pension, because she had no children. she had nowhere to go, and she didn't want to part with her cat, Pushok (Fluffy). With help from people in local churches, I found her a shelter where she would be taken care of, but her cat had to stay with an official in the rebel defense ministry in Donetsk.

Many of you readers were touched by her story. You called and wrote asking for a way to help Panasyk, and wanting to reunite her with Pushok, her only companion.

Through my colleague Tatyana Goryachova in Berdyansk, Ukraine, who helped arrange for Panasyk's evacuation, I now have news.

Panasyk, who became one of more than 514,000 Ukrainians displaced by the conflict, according to the United Nations, is living with a roommate at the Bethel Protestant Church in Vasilkovskoe, a town in Ukrainian-held territory in the Dnepropetrovsk region. She is in better condition than when I found her, but still in difficult straits.

According to Pastor Aleksei Barkalov, her pension has yet to be restored and her needs are many. Panasyk fled the war zone with only a few documents and the clothing she was wearing the day I met her.

Barkalov traveled recently to Dnepropetrovsk for a meeting with government officials about Panasyk and other displaced seniors who are in similar plights, "alone with no help," Goryachova said.

"It was a long talk, and at the end no decision was made, which was frustrating to him," she said.

Panasyk lives in a former church school dormitory. She has only the food provided by the shelter. She has no medical supplies, no extra clothing, no winter coat and no furniture or belongings of her own. Barkalov wants to move her to a retirement home, but he needs to pay someone to travel to rebel-held Donetsk to gather her documents from the regional administration building so that the necessary arrangements can be made.

Panasyk also has some health issues, including memory loss that appears partially connected to trauma she experienced while living in the conflict zone under constant shelling.

American donors can help speed the process and improve her situation, Barkalov said. He estimates Panasyk needs about $400 for warm clothes, $200 for medications and snack foods and $600 for transportation to obtain documents and administrative assistance.

To obtain the money, Goryachova located a ministry with a benefactor in the Detroit area that will direct any donations to Panasyk's benefit.

I spoke to Pastor Peter Chojnacki of Polish Harvest Full Gospel Church, whose Ukraine Project has raised $30,000 so far to purchase clothing and other goods in Poland that are sent by truck to internal refugees in Ukraine. Chojnacki said he would make sure funds earmarked for Panasyk are directed to her.

Donations can be made to Polish Christian Ministries for the care of Ukraine Project/Nadezda Panasyk. P.O. Box 99617, Troy, MI 48099-9617.

When I told Goryachova that our readers were very concerned about reuniting Panasyk with her pet, she smiled sadly.

"The No. 1 thing," she said, "is to provide help for her."

Dorell is Paste BN's diplomatic reporter based in McLean, Va.