Inside Ukraine's wartime postal service which risks everything to take supplies to frontline towns

"If we don't do it, nobody else will."

That's the mantra of a group of Ukrainian postal workers who deliver letters, parcels and other basic necessities to people living in frontline communities.

"People do this because many of them are devoted to their profession," says Maksym Sutkovyi, a regional chief for Ukrposhta, Ukraine's national postal service.

"To say that the team is not afraid would be a lie."

Dating back to Soviet times, Ukrposhta is owned by the Ukrainian state, and has traditional post offices across the country.

It also operates mobile services from small vehicles that carry everything they need to function as a post office.

As the war has dragged on, workers have found themselves crucial carriers of everything from letters to pension payments.

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In safe areas of the country, there are standard procedures for how they operate - in regions close to the fighting they sometimes have to get creative.

"Nobody teaches you how to operate in frontline areas," Maksym tells Sky News. "Sometimes you rely on intuition, sometimes on experience."

In Kramatorsk, a pillar of Ukraine's "fortress belt", Ukrposhta operates mobile branches that are constantly under threat from drones, he says.

"But the vehicles go out every day and provide services."

Three basic services are provided:

• Postal services (letters, parcels)
• Retail (basic food, medicines and hybrid products)
• Financial services (because there are few banks)

In some settlements, the only way cash can reach people is via the postal service, Maksym says.

Not one to tell his employees to do something he wouldn't do himself, Maksym regularly takes a vehicle out to deliver vital supplies to people in frontline towns.

"There have been situations when they said 'we're not going'.

"We would sit down, and I would say that I would go, and they would reply, 'then we'll go too'."

But the risk is real.

In August this year, a sorting depot and a base for Ukrposhta were destroyed in a Russian attack in Pavlohrad. Two employees were killed.

Ukrposhta director-general Igor Smelyansky thanked rescue crews, and promised to compensate customers for everything that was destroyed.

He added: "The most painful part is that this attack claimed the lives of two employees: Olya and Olya.

"We express our condolences to their families, friends, and the entire Ukrposhta team, who are grieving this loss."

Maksym recalled when seven vehicles were lost in four days in the city of Nikopol. Fortunately, no workers were injured.

"Two weeks ago, in Kramatorsk, we lost a large delivery vehicle. Fortunately, the driver survived," he adds.

"As he was leaving the city, a drone struck the vehicle, which was carrying a large number of parcels, but the driver managed to get out of the car."

Because of scares like this, he says, Ukrposhta constantly changes its procedures and safety protocols to protect its people and customers.

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Before the full-scale invasion, Maksym served as deputy mayor of Bakhmut, a city now in Russian hands after a bloody siege left it in ruins.

"If I said that I do not miss the city at all, that would be a lie."

Everything Maksym and his team does is aimed at bringing Bakhmut back to Ukrainian hands, he adds.

"Simply feeling sad, and talking about how bad everything is, is not the way forward.

"We help the armed forces, and do everything we can to bring victory closer."

(c) Sky News 2026: Inside Ukraine's wartime postal service which risks everything to take supplies to frontline