Ukrainian playwright and veteran Alina Sarnatska has wrapped a two-week tour across the United States, hosted by Leleka Foundation to raise funds for tactical medical supplies and bring American audiences closer to the realities facing field medics on Ukraine’s frontline.

The tour wove together academic, theatrical, diplomatic, and community programming. In Washington, D.C., Sarnatska met with staff members of the Ukrainian Caucus in Congress and donated her book to the Library of Congress. At Yale University, the Ukrainian Studies program — led by Olha Tytarenko — hosted a reading of Sarnatska`s play Balance and roundtable discussion, bringing together women from across continents to discuss how cataclysmic events reshape their lives, and what it takes to find balance amid war.

In San Francisco and Los Angeles, audiences encountered Sarnatska’s plays through staged readings and conversations. In Los Angeles the Warriors for Peace Theatre, alongside U.S. veteran Christopher Lovero, organized a reading in which American former service members performed Sarnatska’s plays — a quiet but powerful exchange between veterans of different wars. At Spooky Action Theater in Washington, D.C., Elizabeth Dinkova and Natasha Diaz brought one of her works to the stage before joining a follow-up gathering at the Ukrainian House. 

Across every stop, the mission remained constant: more tactical medical backpacks in the hands of Ukrainian frontline medics, and a clearer picture for American audiences of what those medics carry — and what they cannot.

Leleka Foundation extends deep gratitude to the partners who made this tour possible: Alina Sarnatska herself, whom we consider an ambassador of Leleka, for her years of unwavering support for military medics; the Yale Ukrainian Studies program and Olha Tytarenko; Katya Bliostka and Bohdan Andrukh, Consulate General of Ukraine in San Francisco, C Ukraine in San Francisco; Igor and Elena Yasno, Warriors for Peace Theatre and its founder Christopher Loverro, and Stand with Ukraine in Los Angeles; the Spooky Action Theater, Elizabeth Dinkova, and Natasha Diaz; the Ukrainian House in Washington, D.C., where Sarnatska left a copy of her new book; the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States and Kateryna Smagliy, Counselor for Political Affairs and Public Diplomacy, who welcomed Alina and Leleka in the Embassy and  helped open the doors of Congress; and Razom for Ukraine, who covered Sarnatska’s plane tickets to the USA and welcomed her into their own programming.

Together, we are stronger. More announcements are coming soon.