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.

I set up the volunteer effort on 25 February 2022 - since then it has worked as a full-fledged direction.

Albina has been on the team since 10 March 2022. At the time she was abroad and helped remotely, stepping in wherever help was needed.

Anton was in touch from the very beginning and started taking part in projects remotely around April 2022.

Maryna and Yulia work in the medical direction. Maryna joined in March 2022 and Yulia in April 2022, and both have worked steadily ever since.

Oleksandr Toraman, a veterinarian, has been in touch from the very beginning. He helped remotely with difficult animal cases and was always available. At one point he also distributed cash assistance in Chuhuiv when things were hard there: we transferred the funds, and he distributed them among the most vulnerable residents.

Oleg has been on the team since March 2022 - we met by chance. He has taken part in the team's work ever since.

Oleksandr Kobylko lived under occupation and joined the team after Kupiansk was liberated. He partly helped distribute cash assistance in Kupiansk from September–November 2022 and has been fully on the team since around January 2023. He worked in the housing reconstruction direction and on building the bunker.

Bohdan, Oleksandr Kobylko's son, almost always volunteered alongside his father. Our youngest volunteer, he now works in animal welfare and looks after the dogs.

Meggie has been with the team for a long time. Our first trip together was in 2023: after we met, I took her to Kupiansk to hand out food and hygiene kits on the left bank of the Kupiansk community. Evacuations were under way there at the time, and people were being given bread - by then they had lived for over a year without electricity or utilities. Since then Meggie has helped the team every time she came to Ukraine: as a volunteer, a partner and a donor.

Maria has been an animal welfare volunteer since 2024. Before that, from 2023, she helped organize events for children.