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Iron Heart of Hope was founded by sisters who transformed personal loss into a community-driven initiative supporting families of missing Ukrainian servicemen.
Their work combines psychological expertise, lived experience, and civic action to create spaces of dignity, support, and resilience.
Tetiana Kushniruk
Co-founder of the Iron Heart of Hope initiative and a key representative of its work at the local level in Ukraine.
She works directly with families of missing servicemen and remains closely connected to the daily realities they face. Her role bridges the gap between community needs and institutional processes.
Tetiana actively engages with local authorities, participates in public meetings, and represents families in interactions with institutions. She is often physically present where decisions are made, ensuring that the voices of families are heard.
Her work is grounded in direct communication with families — identifying real challenges, supporting them in navigating complex situations, and bringing these issues forward for further action.
Tetiana’s role is not formal in title alone, but essential in practice. She represents the human side of the initiative — built on empathy, responsibility, and inner strength.
Iryna Zakharchuk
Co-founder and the lead coordinator of the Iron Heart of Hope initiative.
Her work is rooted in personal experience — her brother went missing while defending Ukraine. This reality became the foundation not only for personal advocacy, but for building a broader initiative to support other families facing the same uncertainty.
Iryna leads the strategic development of the initiative, coordinating its work both within Ukraine and internationally. She is responsible for advocacy efforts, institutional communication, and the development of structured responses to the challenges faced by families of missing servicemen.
With a professional background in psychology and education, Iryna combines emotional understanding with a structured and analytical approach. Her work focuses on creating practical, real-world solutions rather than formal responses.
She actively engages with local authorities, national institutions, and international partners — preparing formal submissions, analyzing decisions, and advocating for accountability and systemic change.
Based in the United Kingdom, Iryna also ensures the international visibility of the initiative, connecting local realities with global awareness.
Her role brings together personal experience, professional knowledge, and strategic thinking — ensuring that the initiative remains focused, evidence-based, and oriented toward real impact.
Her work reflects a core belief: that no family facing the uncertainty of a missing loved one should be left without support, recognition, or a path forward.
Edgaras Savickis
An international coordinator of Iron Heart of Hope and co-founder of Civic Oversight (United Kingdom), contributing to the initiative’s strategic development and international positioning.
He has been actively involved from the early stages, contributing to its strategic development and international positioning.
He is responsible for international coordination, strategic planning, and building relationships with partners outside Ukraine. His role ensures that local realities are effectively translated into a broader international context.
As a Lithuanian citizen based in the United Kingdom, he brings a cross-border perspective — connecting the realities of Ukraine with European approaches to governance, human rights, and institutional accountability.
With a strong analytical and systems-oriented mindset, Edgaras contributes to structuring complex challenges, shaping strategic direction, and supporting long-term development.
He is also the author of *“The Phoenix Protocol”*, a work exploring resilience, decision-making under uncertainty, and system-level responses in times of crisis. His thinking complements the practical work with a conceptual and strategic foundation.
His involvement combines professional expertise with a personal connection to the cause, reinforcing both its strategic and human dimensions.
Through his work, Edgaras supports the growth of Iron Heart of Hope not only as a local initiative, but as a model with potential for broader application.
Recognition
Recognition
Edgaras Savickis has received official recognition from the Embassy of Ukraine for his contribution, support, and active involvement in initiatives assisting Ukraine. This acknowledgment reflects the broader significance of the work carried out at an international level.
Edgaras Savickis has received official recognition from the Embassy of Ukraine for his contribution, support, and active involvement in initiatives assisting Ukraine. This acknowledgment reflects the broader significance of the work carried out at an international level.
A Shared Story
This initiative did not begin as an organization.
It began as a response.
A response to silence.
A response to uncertainty.
A response to the reality faced by families of the missing.
At the center of this story is a family.
When Maksym went missing during the war, his family entered a reality that cannot be clearly defined — a space between hope and loss, between waiting and not knowing.
What began as a personal search for answers gradually became something larger.
Through direct engagement with institutions, communities, and other families, it became clear that this was not an isolated case. Many families were facing the same uncertainty, often without clear support systems or guidance.
From this realization, the initiative “Iron Heart of Hope” was born.
Each person within the initiative brings a different perspective:
– lived experience
– professional expertise
– strategic and international perspective
Together, these perspectives form a unified approach — one that is grounded in reality, but oriented toward change.
This is not only a story about loss.
It is a story about responsibility.
It is about ensuring that families are not left alone in uncertainty.
It is about turning personal experience into structured action.
And it is about building something that can outlast the circumstances that created it.
This is a shared story —
not only of those who created the initiative,
but of every family still waiting.
Today, their work operates at the intersection of psychology, community action, and collective memory.
Iron Heart of Hope is being developed as a structured, scalable model designed to support families, strengthen communities, and respond to the long-term societal impact of war.
Contact & Collaboration
For partnerships, collaborations, or media inquiries, please contact us iron.heart.hope@gmail.com
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