Today, 24th February 2026, marks four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a conflict that continues to devastate families, communities, and healthcare systems. As we reflect on this sombre anniversary, we also want to recognise the generosity, compassion, and international solidarity that has helped Baby Lifeline supply vital, lifesaving support to healthcare professionals, women and newborns.
Baby Lifeline’s Ukraine Appeal: Four Years of Life-Saving Impact
Since launching our Ukraine Appeal in March 2022, Baby Lifeline has donated more than £5.6 million worth of vital aid to healthcare professionals working under extraordinary pressure across Ukraine. This support has included 184 out-of-hospital birth bags, as well as defibrillators, fetal monitors, PPE, incubators, baby warmers, stretchers, beds, and wheelchairs – equipment that helps healthcare professionals to provide mothers and babies with essential care even in the harshest and most dangerous conditions.
Our portable birth bags, developed with clinicians and adapted for the realities of conflict, have reached frontline teams in regions where hospitals have been damaged or destroyed. We have received feedback showing that our equipment plays a vital role in enabling safe births when medical facilities are inaccessible or disrupted, giving midwives and doctors – and even on one occasion the Ukrainian military – the tools they need to provide emergency care despite severe shortages and ongoing attacks.
“Last night a Baby Lifeline bag was used to help deliver a baby in Kyiv. The team on duty was amazed and delighted with how organised and thought-out the bag was. We can only imagine how essential and appreciated this equipment will be at the frontline hospital in Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Luhansk region and Donetsk region.” – Oksana Tkachenko, Head of the Obstetrics Department, Isida Clinic in Kyiv (April 2022)
This work has only been possible thanks to an incredible network of volunteers in both the UK and Ukraine, who help transport equipment into some of the hardest-hit areas, ensuring supplies reach the women and newborns who need them most.
A Visit from Lions Club International
Last week, the Baby Lifeline team was delighted to welcome representatives from Lions Club International to our offices in the West Midlands. Their visit was an opportunity to share more about our ongoing work in Ukraine, discuss how Baby Lifeline’s aid is being used on the ground, and explore ways we can collaborate in the future to strengthen and expand this vital support.
This visit was especially meaningful because the Balsall Common Lions Club played an important role in 2022, generously supporting the first major shipment of out-of-hospital birth bags delivered to Ukraine. Their early and proactive involvement helped ensure that essential kits reached frontline healthcare workers at an extremely critical moment in the humanitarian response.
We remain deeply grateful for their commitment to mothers and babies affected by the war, as well as the support we have received from members of the public, NHS organisations, and the Mother’s Union.
Our Commitment Continues
Four years on, the need for maternity and neonatal support in Ukraine is as urgent as ever. Hospitals remain under immense strain, supplies are limited, and thousands of women continue to give birth in unsafe conditions. Baby Lifeline will keep working alongside our partners and supporters to deliver equipment that supports healthcare professionals and protects the lives of mothers, pregnant women, birthing people, and newborns.
To everyone who has contributed – through donations, time, partnerships, or advocacy – thank you. Your support is making a profound difference.
You can find our more about our Ukraine Appeal here.
Donate today and stand with Ukraine’s mothers and babies.
Thanks to the incredible generosity of our supporters, partners, and donors, the total value of aid delivered to Ukraine now stands at £5,626,830.37.
