Ben Dusing is a lawyer and co-founder of World Aid Runners, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit in the USA, based in Kherson, Ukraine.   World Aid Runners is the only foreign humanitarian organisation resident in Kherson, the most serious humanitarian “theatre” of the war and the most dangerous place for civilians, who were occupied by the Russians for the first 9 months of the war and who, upon liberation, have been shelled day and night.  

 

Prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ben was a prominent lawyer in Kentucky and Ohio.  A former federal prosecutor in both jurisdictions, Ben subsequently was a partner in a large, international law firm before ultimately starting his own firm approximately a decade ago.  When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ben “followed the voice in his heart and his head” drawing him to the humanitarian effort for the people of Ukraine.  A Russian-language speaker — Ben had minored in Russian in college and lived and worked for a year in Moscow, Russia before attending law school nearly 25 years prior — Ben traveled to the Polish-Ukrainian border only weeks after the war broke out to help the refugees there and immediately was thrust into the middle of things.  As it turned out, his unique background and skill set put him in a unique position to help.  Thus began a humanitarian journey for Ben that still hasn’t ended. Since Russia’s full scale invasion, Ben has dedicated his life to helping the humanitarian effort for the people of Ukraine, having discovered this to be “his purpose and passion.” His conversion from lawyer to humanitarian now fully complete, Ben splits his time between his old home, in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky (a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio), and his new home, Kherson.  

 

Ben is also the proud father of four remarkable children, Hannan, Jack, Caroline, and Liliana.