LOUISVILLE, Ky. — This week officially marks one month since Russian forces invaded Ukraine.
WHAS11 spoke with Natasha Reimer and her relief organization last month to learn more about what her team was seeing and expecting.
Reimer is a Ukrainian woman who calls Louisville home. She is also the executive director for Mulberry International Resources, a Ukrainian relief organization.
She leads a team of relief workers in Ukraine that drives vans around packed with food, blankets, water and whatever else people need.
“Our friends were telling us from the ground, they were telling us that people had to boil snow, collect rainwater, and just find whatever else to eat," said Reimer.
Today, she said the situation continues to worsen, but that Ukrainians refuse to back down, even though the heartache.
“Unfortunately, we lost a few team members in Mariupol. And it is very heartbreaking to know that they were young and full of life," said Reimer. “They were delivering humanitarian aid to people hunkering down in basements and their car was shelled.”
Reimer said millions of displaced Ukrainians have been evacuated. Many went to neighboring countries or to the west of Ukraine, but some were left trapped in the path of war.
“They actually drive buses full of humanitarian aid to those cities in central Ukraine that experience very similar situations, not quite the same atrocities as Mariupol was experiencing, but still, you know, shortage of food and destruction and homelessness," said Reimer.
She said the images her teammates send to her are nothing short of apocalyptic.
“I just listened to a video put together by one of our friends of the ministry, and he was just telling how they would be driving through the city delivering water food and they would just see dead bodies left and right for days," said Reimer. "Obviously no ambulance, no EMS, none of the services were working so all the dead bodies were just lying on the ground."
She said she often calls for updates and to find what else is needed from her. One person told her today that most cities experiencing humanitarian disasters are around Kyiv or around central Ukraine.
They are working to make sure no one is forgotten she said.
“He says there's a lot of people that are there that are handicapped, you know, wheelchairs, elderly, the ones that cannot be transported," said Reimer.
There was a rally scheduled for downtown Louisville hosted by Mayor Greg Fischer Friday. Reimer was also scheduled to attend.
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