Fundraiser for Frontliner reporters’ first aid kits: protect a life, preserve the story

Our reporters are constantly working in dangerous, life-threatening locations on the front line and in nearby areas. We want to help keep them safe so they can continue telling the stories of Russia’s war against Ukraine. That’s why, together with UA First Aid, we are developing the Frontliner IFAK — an individual first aid kit designed to be practical, accessible, and truly useful for journalists on the ground.

We are doing everything possible to ensure our reporters can continue telling the stories that matter. That is why, together with the Frontliner community and the charitable organisation UA First Aid, we have launched the Behind Every Story project.

The initiative has two key stages:

developing an individual first aid kit that contains essential life-saving supplies and is practical to use on the ground;
raising funds to equip the Frontliner team with 30 individual first aid kits.

“Every reporter should have a first aid kit. But the reality is that many leave it in the car. The nature of our work means we need something as light as possible — a kit you can wear on your body armour. A standard IFAK simply isn’t practical for journalists. We wanted to change that and create something reporters would grab automatically for every assignment,” says Andriy Dubchak, photojournalist and founder of Frontliner.

To make sure the kit truly meets the realities of frontline reporting, we gathered detailed input from our reporters and shared it with UA First Aid specialists. Since 2022, they have been providing high-quality first aid kits to both military personnel and civilians across Ukraine. Based on these needs, they designed and produced compact pouches that can be worn comfortably during assignments. They also tested different configurations and assembled a final set of components focused on rapid response to severe bleeding, one of the most critical risks in high-risk environments.

This is what a Frontliner reporter's first aid kit looks like

Fundraiser for Frontliner reporters’ first aid kits: protect a life, preserve the story — This is what a Frontliner reporter's first aid kit looks like

To bring the project to life, Frontliner is raising funds for 30 individual first aid kits, one for each member of our team. Once our reporters are fully equipped, we plan to expand the initiative to support other media outlets and newsrooms facing similar risks.

“The expertise of the UA First Aid team has been invaluable to our initiative. We want to update the kits we already have, because even the best equipment has an expiry date — unlike human life. We hope for the community’s support, as it will help us continue working safely and telling the stories that matter for as long as the war goes on,” says Yelyzaveta Kovtun, CEO Frontliner.

Each first aid kit will include:

a tourniquet;
an Israeli bandage;
wound-packing gauze;
a standard gauze bandage;
an emergency thermal blanket;
an occlusive chest seal;
an injury record and permanent marker;
trauma shears;
duct tape;
alcohol wipes;
two pairs of protective gloves;
a quick-use guide.

Each kit will also include two drip coffee sachets from Svit Kavy, a Lviv-based coffee roastery supporting the project, and a Frontliner patch.

The project is powered by the Frontliner community — people who believe in the importance of independent frontline reporting. From January through March 2026, all community contributions and one-time donations will go directly towards assembling individual first aid kits for the Frontliner team. Every donation will be transformed into life-saving equipment whether a tourniquet, an emergency thermal blanket or a pair of trauma shears.

“Through their work on the ground, Frontliner reporters have tested a range of first aid kit formats. They approached us with a clear request to develop a lightweight, practical kit they could carry with them at all times in the field. In response, we designed a compact pouch and tailored the kit’s contents to their needs, while maintaining the NATO standards applied to individual first aid kits (IFAKs). The kit’s primary purpose is to stop severe bleeding,” says Oles Yakymchuk, head of the UA First Aid charity.

There are several ways to support the campaign:

sign up for monthly support on Patreon
join the monthly community support on Monobase
make a one-time donation via Monobank donation jar

The campaign will run until 31 March 2026. Once it concludes, the Frontliner team plans to expand the initiative so that reporters from other media organisations can also receive individual first aid kits free of charge.

Frontliner