Project Joint Guardian deploys its third team to Ukraine

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Project Joint Guardian's CEO, Isaac Siegel, shared new images from two main sites in Ukraine as the non-profit deployed its third team to the war-torn region.

"The team in Ukraine has been busy, they are the only NGO (non-government organization) allowed into Izyum, in the recently liberated area NE (northeast) of Kharkiv," Siegel wrote via text.

The international non-profit is made up of firefighters dedicated to helping people in need around the world. This particular crew includes more than a dozen specially trained firefighters from in and around Santa Barbara County.

Images from the group's work during this particular deployment are heart-wrenching; black body bags filled with victims unearthed from mass graves in a wooded area of Izyum, which was recently liberated. In Kharkiv proper, Project Joint Guardian members are assisting Ukrainian emergency crews and other firefighters clearing debris in bomb-out residential areas.

Santa Barbara-based Direct Relief has been instrumental in getting aid supplies and critical search and rescue gear to the crews.

"Most of it is specialized rescue gear including the jaws of life and shoring for collapsed structures."

Isaac said the team just received approval to share this latest batch of images with News Channel viewers.