How one man helped 1,200 Ukrainian refugees (and raised €250k)

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, Daveed Walzer Panadero was distraught.

But Ukraine in particular is very dear to him. An American who lives in Barcelona, his two-year-old daughter Daisy was born in the now-ravaged city of Kharkiv via surrogacy.  

“I was matched with a woman that wanted to help me start a family in Ukraine. Her name is Julia. She is a member of my family. She is the birth mother of my child,” Walzer Panadero told Catalan News. His daughter’s origin is no secret - he considers her half-Ukrainian - and Julia and her son Daniel are brought up frequently in their household. 

Walzer Panadero offered to help them get out of the country before the war broke out, he explained, but she chose to stay put. “They sleep in their bathroom because that’s the most interior room,” he said. 

Devising a plan

“I was crying and in a mess and then after about a day of that I just decided that it would be better to be working than feeling sad.”

Despite not speaking a word of Ukrainian, Russian, or Polish, Walzer Panadero decided to travel to Poland, where so many refugees from neighboring Ukraine were arriving, to see what he could do. As soon as he got there, he rented an apartment and a car and drove down to the Krakow train station. 

“The first night was like ‘I have room for five people’ and then they walked me over to this family that was getting ready to sleep on the floor for the night,” he said. “It was three sisters, a great-grandmother who was 80 and had walked across the border with them and they had a little child named Kiril.”

A few days later he was joined by his partner Ariadna Oliver and a trusted group of friends. Although Walzer Panadero and Oliver have since returned to Barcelona, they are still renting out five apartments in Krakow to house refugees. Walzer Panadero coordinates efforts with his friends who have remained in Poland as well as some who are in Sweden to help Ukrainians upon their arrival. 

1,200 Ukrainians and €250k

Walzer Panadero estimates he’s been able to help around 1,200 people fleeing their home country. In a month’s time, he’s managed to raise a staggering quarter of a million euros and he continues to raise more as the war rages on and the tide of refugees shows no signs of letting up. His efforts have even caught the attention of Anderson Cooper - who has fathered his own children through surrogacy - and was interviewed by the CNN news anchor.

When asked whether he might help bring people to Catalonia or other parts of Spain, Walzer Panadero says it is more difficult logistically as it is much farther away than other countries, some of which have better asylum systems. Walzer Panadero and Oliver haven’t ruled it out entirely, however, and say they would like to find towns where they are certain that Ukrainian refugees will be able to feel at ease and participate in society.