Leleka Foundation

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Leleka Foundation

Leleka Foundation is a US- and Ukraine-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with 10 years of experience.

Leleka Foundation specializes in delivering high-quality emergency medical supplies to field medics on the frontlines. Leleka Foundation is a US-based charity registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. We have been helping Ukraine with essential medical supplies since 2014. Leleka Foundation focuses on helping save as many lives of war casualties in Ukraine as efficiently and

as quickly as possible. It`s a team of Ukrainians living in the USA, Europe, and Ukraine. Our Ukrainian 12-person team is organized as a charity Leleka Ukraine headed by Iryna Guk. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, we have scaled up programs to support Ukrainian medics working on the frontline and treating war casualties, both civilians and troops. Since that time, we have received 6,000+ applications and successfully processed 5,000+. We’ve built an extensive network consisting of 4,000+ medics, serving at the front, and saving lives every day. We have raised over $12 million, which has paid for 10,000+ medic backpacks, 50+ medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) vehicles, 120+ drone-protection systems for such vehicles, and sophisticated and essential equipment for hospitals. You can read more about Leleka Foundation at https://www.leleka.care/.

06/05/2026

Usually, our Ukrainian colleagues in Kyiv snap a quick photo of an incoming shipment — backpacks, stretchers, tourniquets — and within a day, it's all gone. Straight from the warehouse into the hands of medics. Straight into the fight to keep someone alive.

That's the rhythm of this work.

This time, the rhythm broke.

The photos of the shipment exist. The office where they were taken does not. 💔

In the photo: 326 tourniquets, made possible by our dear friends Jessica Berlin and Ukraine-Hilfe Berlin e.V. through TQ4UA (Tourniquets for Ukraine) — a months-long international fundraising initiative led by German political analyst Jessica Berlin together with Ukraine-Hilfe Berlin and Leleka Foundation.

Four years into this war, a tourniquet is still one of the simplest things we send — and one of the most powerful. 🩹

A strip of fabric and a windlass. Seconds between life and loss.

Our medics ask for them more than almost anything else. Because they use them. Because they work.

Below — photos from when our Kyiv office was still whole, and of these tourniquets already where they belong: in the hands of the people saving lives. 🇺🇦

Thank you, Jessica. Thank you, Ukraine-Hilfe Berlin. Thank you to every person who chipped in to TQ4UA — you are saving lives on the front lines today.

06/03/2026

Meet Andriy Chuvatkin, 36, a senior field medic originally from Luhansk.

When the full-scale invasion began, Andriy was living in Germany with his wife, working for the local bureau of a Ukrainian media outlet. The couple made the decision together: they were going home.

In February 2023, Andriy was mobilized. At first, tactical medicine had nothing to do with his role. But he found himself in a good unit — with one problem: the medic position was held by someone with no motivation and no drive.

So Andriy took matters into his own hands. He started studying the material himself, then invited foreign volunteer medics to run training sessions for his unit.

"That's how I got my first real knowledge — and a genuine interest," he recalls.

Theory became practice the day his fellow soldier was wounded.

"A small fragment damaged a vein in his leg. I applied tamponade, called for evacuation, and the guys got him to the stabilization point. His leg is fine — we still serve together. That moment made me want to be even more prepared. For the next wound. For something heavier."

Today, Andriy serves as a frontline medic. His brigade is operating in Donetsk region. He works with a Leleka backpack.

After the war, he dreams of developing video games. His wife also serves. And back home, five cats are waiting for both of them. 🐱💛💙

06/01/2026

💛💙 "You Are Fighting Our Fight"

Meet Peter Mark — historian, mountain climber, and former university professor from Connecticut, now living in Strasbourg, France. And one of Leleka's most thoughtful supporters.

Peter has three reasons for supporting Ukrainian frontline medics. He states them with the precision of a scholar.

First: democracy. Ukraine is not just fighting for itself — it is fighting for the model of free society the rest of the world depends on. "You are fighting our fight. We have an obligation to support you in any way we can."

Second: Europe. Peter chose to live here for its cultures, languages, and history. He hikes past Louis XIV's earthworks and Hitler's Siegfried Line in the same afternoon. That proximity to history, he says, is "a medication against arrogance." Ukraine's sacrifice, he believes, is made on behalf of all of Europe.

Third: family. Four of Peter's eight great-grandparents came from what is now Ukraine. His father's side left from Lviv. His mother's side left from outside Kyiv. They all emigrated in the 1880s. "I feel I have a dog in this fight." He has promised himself that when peace comes, he will visit Ukraine for the first time.

Peter found Leleka through the Kyiv Independent. He cannot give $90 billion. But what he can give, he says, is an honor to give.

Peter, thank you for your support!

We are truly honored to have you by our side.

05/29/2026

After our Kyiv office was severely damaged, our Ukrainian team started receiving outstanding support from so many people. Messages started pouring in — from donors, from supporters, and from the very medics we've equipped on the frontline.

We are deeply moved by all of it. As always — words from the medics mean the most.

Leleka is doing everything we can to get back to full operations as fast as possible — because the mission doesn't pause. Our teams were, are, and will remain side by side with military medics, no matter what comes our way.

If you want to support us right now — support them.

05/27/2026

Knowledge. Skills. The right equipment. All three are essential to saving a life on the battlefield.

Over 100 field medics from the 3rd Assault Brigade and other units have now completed CMS TCCC-level training at the Tactical Medicine Training Center of the 3rd Assault Brigade.

After earning the knowledge and skills, every medic needs the tools — fully equipped, high-quality tactical medical backpacks.

Leleka helps newly trained medics to get them.

The war continues. The work continues.

Help us deliver more. 💛💙

05/25/2026

Almost $60,000in life-saving aid — May shipment from Nova Ukraine has arrived to our Ukrainian team 💛💙

This delivery brings critical supplies for field medics:
🩹 Active thermal blankets
🫁 Occlusive chest seals
🩸 Standard and junctional tourniquets
✂️ Atraumatic scissors
🚑 Soft stretchers and drag litters
🦴 Pelvic splints

And something we want to highlight separately — the training equipment included in this shipment is invaluable.

Airway management trainers. Critical bleeding control simulators. Wound simulators.

These are not just supplies. They are the tools that turn a medic into someone who can save a life under fire — before they ever reach the front line.

Every piece of equipment in this shipment will be put to use. Every item matters.

Thank you, Nova Ukraine, for your constant partnership and unwavering support.

Together — we can do more. 🤝🇺🇦

05/24/2026

Today, Kyiv was hit again. Following today’s massive Russian attack, Leleka’s office in Kyiv was damaged.

There are no windows, no doors, a wall blown out, the kitchen destroyed, most of our equipment lost. Two more walls are barely holding.

Our Ukrainian team is alive. And that is what matters most.

We won’t ask you to help us rebuild walls. Walls can wait.

What cannot wait are the medics on the front lines—the ones running toward the wounded while the smoke is still rising, the ones who show up every single day to do what has to be done. They are the reason we exist. They are the reason we will keep going, from wherever we need to go.

If this is echoing with you—please put it toward them.

Support our mission.

Thank you for standing with us.

05/23/2026

Think about the medic who will open this backpack.

They won't know your name. They won't know where the money came from or who gave it.

They will be exhausted. Under pressure. Possibly under fire. Their hands will be moving fast. Someone in front of them needs help right now.

And they will reach in — and find exactly what they need. A tourniquet. A chest seal. A bandage. The right tool, in the right place, at the right moment.

That is what your donation does. It doesn't sit in an office. It doesn't wait in a warehouse. It goes to the front — in the hands of someone who will use it to save a life.

One backpack. Up to ten lives.

We have 7 days to reach the goal of our spring campaign: 300 more tactical medical backpacks for Ukrainian frontline medics.

Every hour counts. Every dollar counts. Every share counts.

Don't let this moment pass.

Find the details in the comments. 💛💙

05/20/2026

Ukrainian frontline medic Aryna, became the guest for the new media project Lelea launched in partnership with the Prolonged Field Care Podcast. Its goal is to create a platform for Ukrainian frontline medics to share firsthand field trauma-care experience with American counterparts.

Aryna has been working in tactical medicine for four years. She started as an instructor in 2022, joined a medical evacuation battalion, and is now serving in the regular Ukrainian army doing medevac work on the front line. In a recent episode of the Prolonged Field Care Podcast, she gave one of the most detailed firsthand accounts of how frontline medicine in Ukraine has transformed since the full-scale invasion began.

The War Changes Every Six Months

"Everything changes in several months," Aryna told host Dennis. "That's why we need to change education, gear, and approach — very, very quickly. You need to be adaptive, and that's a huge amount of work."

Drones Changed Everything

Drone resupply has become a lifeline. Medical packages — including blood transfusion kits — are now delivered by drone directly to forward positions. Every soldier going to the front carries a small personal medical package to help share the load from frontline medics. Evacuation drones with armored capsules are increasingly used to extract casualties without risking additional personnel.
At the same time, evacuation vehicles have become armored fortresses — equipped with oxygen concentrators, ventilators, monitors, suction, drone jammers, steel mesh anti-drone netting, and dedicated personnel assigned to shooting down enemy drones. A person is now also specifically responsible for drone detection.

Blood Transfusion: A Hard-Won Victory

One of the most significant shifts has been the legalization and normalization of battlefield blood transfusion — a change that came slowly, against resistance, and at real cost.

At the start of the war, pre-hospital blood transfusion was not officially permitted and not widely practiced. Resources were limited, understanding of its importance was incomplete, and institutional resistance was significant. The turning point came when a unit performed the first-ever blood transfusion directly in the trenches — and saved a life.

"When they proved it was possible, it changed a lot of minds. I always use it as proof that it can save lives."

05/18/2026

Ukrainian playwright and veteran Alina Sarnatska has wrapped a two-week U.S. tour hosted by Leleka Foundation — raising funds for medical supplies and bringing American audiences closer to the realities our field medics face every day.

The tour wove together academic, theatrical, diplomatic, and community programming.

In Washington, D.C., Sarnatska met with staff members of the Ukrainian Caucus in Congress and donated her book to the Library of Congress.

At Yale University, the Ukrainian Studies program — led by Olha Tytarenko — hosted a reading of Sarnatska's play Balance and a roundtable bringing together women from across continents to discuss how cataclysmic events reshape their lives, and what it takes to find balance amid war.

In San Francisco and Los Angeles, audiences encountered her plays through staged readings and conversations. In Los Angeles, Warriors for Peace Theatre, alongside U.S. veteran Christopher Loverro, organized a reading in which American former service members performed Sarnatska's plays — a quiet but powerful exchange between veterans of different wars. At Spooky Action Theater in Washington, D.C., Elizabeth Dinkova and Natasha Diaz brought one of her works to the stage before joining a follow-up gathering at the Ukrainian House.

Across every stop, the mission remained constant: more tactical medical backpacks in the hands of Ukrainian frontline medics, and a clearer picture for American audiences of what those medics carry — and what they cannot.

💙 Leleka Foundation extends deep gratitude to the partners who made this tour possible:

Alina Sarnatska herself, whom we consider an ambassador of Leleka, for her years of unwavering support for military medics; the Yale Ukrainian Program and Olha Tytarenko; Katya Bliostka and Bohdan Andrukh, Consulate General of Ukraine in San Francisco, C Ukraine in San Francisco; Igor and Elena Yasno, Warriors for Peace Theatre and its founder Christopher Loverro, and Stand With Ukraine Foundation in Los Angeles; Spooky Action Theater Elizabeth Dinkova, and Natasha Diaz; the Ukraine House in Washington, D.C., where Sarnatska left a copy of her new book; the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States and Kateryna Smagliy, Counselor for Political Affairs and Public Diplomacy, who welcomed Alina and Leleka in the Embassy and helped open the doors of Congress;; and Razom for Ukraine, who covered Sarnatska's plane tickets to the U.S. and welcomed her into their own programming.

Together, we are stronger. 🇺🇦

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https://leleka.care/

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