Kyiv, August 2026 – Turning up for your volunteering shift in Kyiv takes on a whole new dimension when the warehouse next door to yours has just taken a direct hit from a Russian ballistic missile, and is a pile of rubble.
Or does it?
Dodging ballistic missiles has been an added dimension to daily life for the residents of Kyiv for over four years, and volunteering is no exception. The warning sirens, the disruption, finding somewhere safe to sleep. If a dangerous night is expected, people don’t go home; they sleep in tube stations and underground shopping malls. Or they go further out of the city, or they go and sit in a football pitch.
The property photographed is next to our warehouse in Kyiv, where our donated devices are stored. Local volunteers come here to sort and ship them out to schools elsewhere in the country, at very real risk to their own lives as Russia continues to hammer every aspect of Ukraine’s logistics infrastructure. The shockwave from the bomb that destroyed this warehouse blew out all the windows in our shared warehouse and several people were injured by shattered glass. Thankfully no-one was killed and our volunteers were not on site at the time.
It doesn’t stop the incredibly brave local volunteers, but ReusingIT has temporarily suspended shipments until a larger and, if possible, safer warehouse has been found for volunteers to operate from – ideally one with a bomb shelter.
We will update shortly on changes we’re making to our logistics operations in the light of the Russian focus on destroying logistics and warehousing facilities.
