History

    • 1918, the First Congress of the Red Cross Society of Ukraine took place in Kyiv on April 18. This date is the beginning of the Ukrainian Red Cross as an independent national society.
    • In the 1920s, the Society organized thousands of free canteens for the poor and provided millions of food rations to the population.
    • In the 1930s, the Red Cross of Ukraine owned 119 medical, 206 preventive and children’s institutions, a quarter of all TB dispensaries, 36 health facilities, 800 baths, 300 medical and obstetric points, 400 pharmacies and sanatoriums.
    • 1941-1945, during the Second World War, the Society trained and sent to the front more than 100,000 nurses, health instructors and nuns. At this time, the Red Cross is also initiating free donations. The feat of 17 Ukrainian Sisters of Charity, participants in hostilities was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal - the highest award of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Today in Ukraine 23 nurses are crowned with this most prestigious world award for exceptional mercy during war and peaceful times.
    • 1961, establishment of the Patronage Service of the Society for Medical and Social Support of the Protected Areas.
    • 1986, more than 10,000 activists, members of health posts and Red Cross wives took part in the evacuation and resettlement of victims of the Chernobyl disaster, provided them with medical, social, psychological and material assistance. 7,000 tons of food, 105 tons of milk powder, multivitamins, levothyroxine were distributed.
    • 1990, at the initiative of the Red Cross of Ukraine, a comprehensive Chornobyl program was launched. Mobile diagnostic teams of the Red Cross conducted surveys of the affected population, conducted educational work among the population of the affected regions. The Red Cross raised more than $ 35 million to support humanitarian programs for the Chernobyl-affected population.
    • 1992, the President of Ukraine issued a “Decree on the Red Cross Society of Ukraine”, according to which it is recognized as the only national Red Cross Society of Ukraine in our country, authorized to assist public authorities in their humanitarian activities. Same year, according to the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Search Service of the Red Cross Society of Ukraine was established. The main task of the Search Service is to take measures to search for and restore family ties lost as a result of World War II, other armed conflicts, natural disasters, emergencies and migration.
    • 1993, the Society was officially recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva and became a full member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
    • 1999, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the Law “On the Symbols of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Ukraine”, which defines the procedure and conditions for the use and protection of Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems in Ukraine.
    • 2002, a law “About the Red Cross Society of Ukraine” is passed, which regulates activities of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, determines it’s legal status and a legal basis for activity.
    • 2009, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratified the Third Additional Protocol to the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the Red Crystal.
    • 2013-2016, the Company operates in a special mode. Rapid response teams have been set up to provide assistance to victims of public unrest, especially in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Vinnytsia and Vinnytsia region. The Society focuses on providing assistance to victims and displaced persons from the armed conflict zone and the Crimea, and continues to help vulnerable groups. The activity of the Society for Psychosocial Assistance is developing.