History of XTRAVERSE

XTRAVERSE is a Kharkiv-based NGO helping people and animals in the frontline communities of Kharkiv Oblast. We evacuate people from under shelling, provide medical care and food, rebuild homes and build shelters - in places others don't reach. We have been working since March 2022 on funds from donors and partners, with no government funding.

Public Organization "X-TRAVERSE" (EDRPOU code 44700264) was registered in Kharkiv in spring 2022. Founder and head: Ruslan Omarov. The team is 12 permanent volunteers plus specialists we bring in: a psychologist, cooks, drivers, medics, veterinarians and builders. Volunteers are not paid from donations; part of the team works on long-term projects funded by international donors.

On 24 February 2022, when the war began, I took my dogs and drove from Kupiansk to Kharkiv - and it became clear that the war had really begun.

The exodus from the city peaked in the first days of March: people were leaving by car and by train. But some stayed, and we saw how lost these people were. I decided to organize help for those who needed it and to bring together those who could help at that moment.

I created a Telegram group from all the contacts in my phone, with a request: if you can help with something, write what; if you need something, write what you need too.

Over time we began to structure this work and split it into directions. People kept writing, and the volume of requests grew every day like a huge wave. Directions took shape: evacuation, medicine, humanitarian and hygiene kits, hot meals, animal welfare. Each direction got its own people in charge, and I oversaw the whole organization, at first and later on as well.

Once the work was set up and running smoothly, we met with international donors and partners, and our work took on a clearer shape. In some directions projects became more long-term, tangible and stable. In active combat zones, though, we always worked spontaneously, based on what was needed most there.

By the order in which directions appeared: humanitarian aid came first - hygiene and food kits - together with evacuation. About a week later came medicine, which later grew into a mobile clinic. Humanitarian aid and food grew into bread over time: we set up a bakery and started delivering hot bread where there was none. The animal welfare direction grew into a rehabilitation center, where we brought giant-breed dogs evacuated from the front line.

In 2023–2024 we came under artillery fire and drone attacks - there were all kinds of situations. Twice we hit mines: in October 2025 and in March 2026. Both were magnetic mines, both times on evacuation vehicles I was driving myself. It was an evacuation from the left bank of the Kupiansk community - the hardest route. The car carried evacuees: seven people the first time, five people and animals the second. Both times everyone's life was saved: no one was physically hurt, there were minor concussions - but everyone is alive, and both evacuations were completed.

Any one of these stories would have to be told from the very beginning - it is not a short story, and it can't be explained in a couple of words.