Implants. Plates. Screws. External fixation devices. What you see in the photos is what medical protocols call "metal hardware," and what the team simply calls "spare parts." Without them, complex fractures and gunshot wounds don't heal — bones won't knit on their own.
Dozens of hospitals across Ukraine. Hundreds of wounded — both military and civilian. The need for these "spare parts" isn't a figure of speech. It's a literal, daily need.
Every implant you see in the images has already been installed in a patient. The programme is funded by the Ukrainian National Women's League of America (UNWLA) — the oldest and largest Ukrainian women's organisation in the United States, established in 1925. The partners transferred 25,000 US dollars to Initiative E+ earmarked for medical needs; more than two-thirds of that amount has already been invested — into specific operations, for specific people, in specific hospitals.
The workflow is built for speed and transparency. The Initiative E+ team never meets the patients in person — only the requests from doctors, the paperwork, the scans. A request comes in, is verified, the implant is purchased and delivered to the operating theatre. The time between the first message and surgery can be just a few days — because in trauma medicine, every day matters. If equipment arrives at a hospital overnight, surgeons can start using it by 6 a.m. the next morning.
The collaboration between Initiative E+ and UNWLA isn't new. The partnership began back in 2021, when the two organisations jointly purchased oxygen concentrators for COVID-19 patients.
After the full-scale invasion began, UNWLA kept supporting Ukraine. The organisation identified orthopaedic external fixators and Wound Vacs (Vacuum-Assisted Closure systems) as the highest-priority medical equipment, and continues to supply Ukrainian hospitals with IFAKs, blood transfusion kits and other essential consumables. This year's UNWLA Keep Ukraine Warm winter campaign directed 90,000 US dollars to medical aid and generators for hospitals in Ukraine.
Our joint implants programme is part of that broader effort.
Alongside the vehicle convoys and the support for families of fallen and missing defenders, this is another direction Initiative E+ has been building together with its partners over years.
Thank you to UNWLA and to everyone who contributes.
