During the most challenging times of full-scale war, the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities (VAG) provided operational assistance to communities, ensuring the logistics and transportation of powerful generators to critical infrastructure facilities.

With the help of the VAG, a total of 59 large industrial generators and 200 petrol generators were transported as part of the Cohesive Communities programme.

This assistance was crucial in supporting the livelihoods of communities during the de-occupation of the Kherson region, following the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and amid mass shelling and power outages in communities affected by the war, when the need for autonomous power sources became critical.

In particular, 200 petrol generators donated by the Olena Zelenska Foundation were transported in 2022.

They were delivered to Kherson in the first weeks after de-occupation of the city. The generators were used to set up invincibility points and bomb shelters, as well as to meet the needs of residents of the de-occupied communities of Kherson region — Novovorontsovka, Vysokopillia, Stanislav, Chornobaivka, Muzykivka, Bilozerka, Beryslav, and Tiahynka communities. Along with the generators, the communities received electric fireplaces to support residents during the cold season.

In addition, two large industrial generators were transferred from USAID for the needs of the Kherson Regional Clinical Hospital and the A. and O. Tropin Kherson City Clinical Hospital. Another nine generators were provided by MASHAW to the Kherson Municipal Utility Company Vodokanal, which helped to maintain the city’s water supply.

Two industrial generators provided by KUSTO AGRO LLC were transported from Kyiv to Novovolynsk for the Novovolynsk Central City Hospital, and two industrial mobile generators provided by the German-Ukrainian Forum NGO were delivered from Germany to Mykolaiv.

In 2023, VAG helped support frontline and relocated communities. A total of 36 generators were transported to communities in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions for critical infrastructure and social facilities, as well as for communities that had left the temporarily occupied territories. The generators were provided by the Howard Buffett Foundation with the coordination and assistance of the USAID DOBRE Programme.

Generators were also provided by Cherkasy Rotary Club, Ichnia community in Chernihiv region, and Mamalyha community in Chernivtsi region.

The All-Ukrainian Association of Communities emphasises that during the de-occupation of Kherson and neighbouring communities, the timely provision of electricity to critical infrastructure facilities became crucial. After the liberation of the city and other localities in Kherson region, a significant part of the energy networks was destroyed or damaged as a result of hostilities and targeted shelling.

The lack of a stable power supply paralysed the work of hospitals, water supply and sewage systems, social protection facilities, and public assistance centres. This is why transporting generators was such a critical task in the first days and weeks after de-occupation – they enabled basic life-saving services to be rapidly restored without having to wait for networks to be fully restored.

The problem was particularly acute with regard to water supply. Kherson and the surrounding communities were left without a centralised water supply, as pumping stations and water networks could not operate without electricity. The delivery of powerful industrial generators for the water network ensured the supply of drinking and technical water to the population, hospitals and invincibility points.

The situation became even more complicated when the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam was blown up. This large-scale man-made disaster caused flooding and the destruction of infrastructure, resulting in a sharp deterioration in access to water and electricity. Generators suddenly became the main source of power for evacuation centres, local authorities, hospitals, water intake facilities and humanitarian headquarters.

Providing generators to healthcare facilities was equally important. Hospitals in affected communities were under extreme pressure, providing emergency medical care, treating the wounded and supporting intensive care units, operating theatres, laboratories and storage systems for medicines and vaccines. Any prolonged power outage could have resulted in loss of life.