понеділок, 25 січня 2016 р.

Ukrainians to know: Volunteers



You’ll notice these people on front line as often as soldiers. They always need help to help others. Who am I talking about? I’m talking about Ukrainian volunteers.
 I continue to write about Ukrainians worth knowing about. They do lots of invaluable stuff, but it’s a shame that they are not known abroad. These people are a great example for everyone. They make our life better. They are a foundation of future Ukraine.
  Ukrainian volunteering hasn’t been popular since the beginning of Ukraine’s Independence. It wasn’t so common. However, Euromaidan changed everything. Self-organisation and volunteering became a part of Euromaidan’s life. Thousands of people came in the centre of Kyiv to help and clean the streets, build the barricades, cook, maintain tents and so on. That was the beginning of volunteering in Ukraine. By the way, many people who were volunteers on Euromaidan then became volunteers who help army now.
 I’m sure to say that Ukraine has seen a great phenomenon since the Ukrainian-Russian war started. For 23 years our army wasn’t considered seriously. Ukrainian officials used the army to enrich their capitals. Little did we think that anyone is going to attack us or invade our country. Therefore, our army was unequipped for battles and military actions. Ukrainian soldiers at the beginning of the war mostly didn’t have bulletproof vests.Can’t believe it? But yes, unfortunately, this is true.
 Everyone realized that situation was really bad. But what do Ukrainians do when the situation is bad and it takes months for officials to change it? They do everything themselves! The problem was that when men became soldiers, everything the got from the country were AK-47 assault rifles and uniform made from synthetic fabrics (it inflames in less than a second).Ukrainian military equipment standards haven’t changed since 70-th when Ukraine was in the USSR, who knew that there are uniforms with fabrics that don’t burn and thermal imagers. Unfortunately, the situation with military standards is still the same and our army has a bit of better stuff only owing to volunteers. Thousands of people started to collect money and buy bulletproof vests, military uniform, army boots, thermal imagers, binoculars, hemostatics and even cars and sent everything to soldiers, military brigades and battalions. Most of them literally drive to areas near the front line giving everything to troops in person. Ukrainian volunteers helped soldiers to have a better uniform, shoes and better equipment.That is what I mean when I talk about Ukrainian phenomenon. It’s all about people who help others because they feel it’s necessary to be done. And this is true, it’s needed to be done at that time. It’s like a reanimation: the situation was critical because of conflict intensification on Donbas and in the Crimea.
Speaking about the volunteers. I’ll tell you about the biggest volunteer organisations. But indeed, there are lots of them. Some are small and local, others are quite big and collect money from the whole country.
Vitaliy Deynega and team of “Back alive” fund  
Fund's logo. Sourse: savelife.in.ua

Before all events in Ukraine took place, Vitaliy Deynega has worked as an IT specialist. He told that he could live several years on his savings and not work. During Euromaidan, he was famous for carrying apples and offering people to take one. People say that it’s guaranteed that all apples will be gone if Vitaliy offers them. Then the war started. One day Vitaliy decided not to read the news anymore but do something. So he raised 10 000 hryvnias and decided to buy bulletproof vests. Deynega announced on Facebook that he is raising money on bulletproof vests and people started to send money. He also asked his friends for help and they also gave him money. Each bulletproof vest was signed with the name of a person who gave money for it, plus Vitaliy has drawn Tryzub and has written: “Come back alive”. That’s how the name of the group appeared.
Vitaliy showing first bulletproof vests. Sourse: theinsider.ua, life.pravda.com

Now “Back alive” is one of the biggest volunteer organisation that helps Ukrainian army. “Back alive” specializes in military optics, such as thermal imagers, artillery rangefinders, and communications tools. They have chosen to buy optics because it saves lives even better than the bulletproof vest. Vitaliy always repeats that even if you wear a bulletproof vest and don't have a thermal camera, enemies have one. It means that they'll see you earlier that our soldiers, and ,in this case, bulletproof vest is less advantageous that the thermal camera.

To realise how valuable is Fund’s work, look at these photos. Here you can see military optics on the overall sum of 3 000 000 hryvnias.They have already been given in ATO sectors and to the brigades. On the photos, there are 20 thermal cameras, 3 long-range thermal imagers, artillery range finder, meteorological  station, and much other stuff that isn't in the photo. Moreover, Back Alive fund provides the army with geographic information system “Arta”, that helps artillery to get better results.

What's more, Back Alive fund prints calendars with the portraits of Donetsk Airport heroes.

Here how the calendars look like at the printing office
Photo taken from Back Alive's facebook page

By the way, you can contact the volunteers, perhaps they have some left. The money you pay for the 2016 calendars goes to the sum of thermal cameras for the newly formed 14th brigade.
The facebook page of the fund:https://www.facebook.com/backandalive/timeline
Back Alive's website: http://www.savelife.in.ua/

Diana Makarova and her fund
Diana Makarova - the head of the F.U.N.D.

Diana’s  F.U.N.D ( an abbreviation of “ Fund of Operational National Help”, from Ukrainian “Фонд Оперативної Національної Допомоги”) is considered to be born on “Bloody Reunion Day” on Hrushevskogo str., where first victims were killed.

(On the “Bloody Reunion Day” 22 January 2014, Sergiy Nigoyan and Mikhailo Zhiznevskiy were shot by a sniper. On this day, Yuriy Verbitskiy and Roman Senyk were also killed.
If you want to know  more about Sergiy Nigoyan, read in my post on the link below:
Symbol of Freedom. Sergiy Nigoyan
http://theukrainiantelegraph.blogspot.com/2015/07/symbol-of-freedom-sergiy-nigoyan.html)

In the very beginning, there were long hours on Euromaidan and long posts in Livejournal. Diana worked as chief editor of Ukrainian segment of Russian Livejournal. But after Moscow had given a hint that, they say, except from Euromaidan there are other more important events in the world, Makarova quitted. Diana came to her friends on Maidan, but when it became clear that people may be shot, they said: “Please find at least one bulletproof vest for five people, at least, one”. Firstly Diana was indecisive about an announcement to collect money. But then Sergiy Nigoyan was killed ( they were friends) and she placed the first announcement to collect money on a bulletproof vest. Then Diana and girls in her fund made bulletproof vests themselves. After Euromaidan’s victory F.U.N.D. took care of wounded people, and when guys who got help went to the first battalion of National Guard, F.U.N.D. continued to help them. Finally, their telephone numbers were known by all soldiers on the front line on Donbass.
Diana and girls in her organisation don’t help brigades but help soldiers individually. Between the fund and soldiers, there is a feedback. People there know that, for example, this breech-sight is for Vasya because he is a sniper. Or, for example, this binoculars is for Petya because he is on security road block.
Next, the fund also helps civilians and orphan's home in the ATO zone. Diana and her team support them with Natalia Voronkova,ex-head of the fund called "Volonterskya sotnya". Now it doesn't exist, because it gave birth to three funds: Everybody Can, VS Ukraine-world and Volonterskya sotnya-Dobrovolya.
Natalia Voronkova(on the right). Photo from her facebook profile
Diana says that activists of her fund learnt not to cry, not burst into tears, not panic. Only sometimes there're only a few tears…
F.U.N.D.'s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fondDM/?fref=ts


George Tuka, Roman Sinicin and civil organisation “Narodniy Tyul”
Organisation's logo

Narodniy Tuyl ( see further - NT) translates from Russian as “People’s Rear”. It’s one of the biggest civil organisation that helps Ukrainian soldiers on Donbass. Founders of NT have started their activity since spring 2014 when the occupation of Crimea has started. They started to top up the accounts of Ukrainian militaries and gradually NT started to support militaries in Armed Forces of Ukraine and volunteer battalions.  At the moment, NT provides Ukrainian militaries with everything that’s needed: clothes, camouflage, stoves to keep blindages warm, military helmets, bulletproof vests, first-aid kits, optical sights, thermal cameras, cars and reanimobiles for militaries.  
the Organisation's office
NT is soo big that it has subdivisions:
Military first-aid kit packed by NT(Photo:life.pravda.com)

  • Medical Narodniy Tyul (This unit sends soldiers not only medicine for general purpose but also specialized individual first-aid kits made by NATO standards. About 5 000 of these first-aid kits were sent to ATO zone.)
  • Narodniy Tyul’s Wings ( The aim of the project is to furnish soldiers with air drones that help in reconnaissance)
  • Narondiy Tul’s Wheels ( People in this project fix cars and make them applicable for the front line. Apart from  cars, NT has also sent 5 ambulance cars in ATO zone.)
  • Nadodniy Tyul’s Tablets (NT installs on tablets software and books necessary for the  militaries and sends them to ATO zone)
  • The Art of Nadondiy Tyul (Charity auction of pictures of famous artists. All money gained in this way is used for financing other NT’s projects.)
Popular volunteers at NT are George Tuka and Roman Sinicin, they are creators of the project.


But it doesn’t mean that organisation is restricted by these two people. Like “Back alive fund”, Narodniy Tyul has a big team - 30-40 people. Everyone can join them if one wants.

P.S. George Tuka is now head of Lugansk military administration. Roman Sinicyn helps in the process of re-attestation of police officers. Hope they’ll do their best!

Army SOS
Photo: life.pravda.com

Army SOS focuses on providing direct assistance to soldiers on the front line. Apart from this, people in Army SOS are engaged in manufacturing air drones, helping with air reconnaissance on the front line, fixing and sending cars in the ATO zone, developing a software that helps in artillery fire correction as well as  cartographic and navigation software.
Army SOS has also become popular because of girls who are also volunteers and help the army. It's all because they like to post nice photos and selfies :)


Army SOS Volunteers Maryna Komarova and Alina Michajlova holding certificates that verify their medical training
  Army SOS’s ace is their software and e-maps. Volunteers created an “artillery officer’s tablet”. They have replaced old soviet maps. Have time to make a comparison: before that, all artillery crews were made “in the manual mode” - with a ruler and a pencil. After Army SOS gave their tablets to troops, this was counted automatically. Soldier simply identifies the location of the aim.
 Nobody has done something like this before the volunteers. They get help from Ukrainians in the country, as well as from lots of Ukrainian emigrants from all over the world.
 Apart from creating the software for tablets, Army SOS creates pilotless aircraft and drones. Guys make UAV with their own efforts and the help of an amateur equipment.They fill bodies of the UAVs with needed electronics right in volunteer’s office. Their creations fly around enemy’s locations and show their fire locations.
Plane bodies at the office. Photo: life.pravda.com.ua
The organisation’s innovations (in the state scope) became extremely valuable for soldiers. Once as soon as volunteers arrived at the troop’s positions, soldiers grabbed the tablets and started planning artillery fire immediately.
There are lots of such volunteer funds all over Ukraine. There are many people who help people solo. All their efforts are united with one aim: help Ukraine to win and the army to flourish.

четвер, 21 січня 2016 р.

Stop everything and see this news website

Hello, I'm back again!
    A few months passed since I've posted last time. It was a responsible time for me. Well, firstly, I entered the university! Yes, I need to withstand my freshmen year and so I spent this time working hard. Of course, it was a bit sad that I couldn't post. But I'm not gonna leave my blog! I was really impressed that my blog still has views though I posted nothing new here, and didn't advertise it somehow. Guys, thank you for you reading my blog!!!XOXOXOXO
Some time ago I posted about top 10 websites that have news about Ukraine in English. By the way, I have found a couple more, so I hope I'll add some. If you haven't seen this yet, have a look:
http://theukrainiantelegraph.blogspot.com/2015/07/top-10-ukrainian-news-websites-in.html

Recently I've visited one of the websites from that list. And guess what? It had a TOTAL REDESIGN! I was so surprised that I want to show it to you.

This website is Ukrinform News. Here is the address: http://www.ukrinform.net/



This is a super-multilingual website. It's worth sharing with people who want to know what's happening in Ukraine now. Here you can read articles in Russian, Ukrainian, English, Spanish, German and even Chinese!!!
I'll tell about English version.


Firstly you'll see top news and the latest news. I can say that this front page has such a delightful design! Aesthetics will find it really great, I guess. Next, there are sections that lead to the political, economical, social, cultural, and military news. Apart from this, sports highlights, crime news and news about the latest accidents are included. 

One of the website's units is dedicated to interviews. You'll find written conversations with people whose experience or activity influences Ukraine. In many ways. 



What I'd recommend you is to read the interview with Vitaliy Kasko, Ukraine's Deputy Prosecutor General. He can tell what's really happening in Ukrainian prosecutor system. 


There's also a photo bank and video section, where you'll find some videos about what happened in Ukraine. 
Apart from articles and news, Ukrinform has another kid in its family: a multimedia platform UA TV. 

You can watch the news in Russian, Ukrainian and read them in English. As news are being told in Ukrainian, they're  been translated in English. Though the text doesn't contain all details, but you'll get the overall meaning. The don't only have the news there. You'll find some informational programs, music videos and so on. Here how it looks like:



The only disadvantage that I have found out is that stuff like analytics, videos and interviews don't seem to refresh often. Some videos are quite old-fashioned and there aren't a lot of fresh ones. This is sad a bit :( 

What's good is that this website is really aesthetic and beautiful. It's light. It's multilingual. It has its own multilingual platform. So I can tell he consists of many little projects, all united by the work of one team :) 
Hope this information inspired you ^^

If you have what to say about this post, comment, comment, comment!


пʼятниця, 21 серпня 2015 р.

"Warrior's Music": soul of the militaries

  I want to show you one amazing project. It’s called “Warrior’s Music”. This project is aimed to show that Ukrainian army has soul. Musicians-warriors play different musical instruments. They play popular Ukrainian songs.

DUC soldiers plays popular Ukrainin song on sopilka

 Actually,you just should watch all these videos. They DO have soul. One warrior plays on sopilka, another plays on kobza. In every video there is something that you won’t feel when you listen to these composition on other chanels. All songs are played be real Ukrainian soldiers. This is really amazing.
  These videos unite opposites inside. Military people, who are usually considered as violent, severe and fierce, play lovely, charming and alluring songs. By the way, musical instruments have always been part of our revolutionary life( and not only). Of course, it doesn’t mean that we don’t like music in normal life, but the times now are not so quiet, you see. Piano is one of Euromaidan’s symbol. Piano on Euromaidan was also called “Revolutionary Piano”. In fact, piano on Euromaidan was aimed to create revolution in souls of Berkut. When Hrushevskogo street was blocked by them, people put the piano in the street and played classical music. People wanted to show Berkut that we are peaceful and remind them that they should support people’s rights. And guess what? From Berkut’s side they turned on cheap-made russian songs that russian criminals listened on the 1990th to deafen classical music! Here’s the proof:


Even now you’ll see revolutionary piano near the square of Independence in Kyiv. The original revolutionary piano is blue and yellow and it’s now in the museum named by Pavlo Tychina. But original was replaced by cute red and black version. It’s still there and everyone can play it if he/she wants to do so. If you can, you can also play it, when you’re in Kyiv)))
 
original piano


New piano


Returning to “Warrior’s music” project, I put all links here so you’ll find it and have fun watching it.


Facebook page of “Warrior’s Music” project:


Member of the Right Sector plays violin and dedicated it to her lover who fights in DUC:


Soldier plays on bandura:


Moonlight Sonata played by soldier of “Donbass” battalion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSN7kz_GlR4


Finally, National Ukrainian Anthem played on cello by Ukrainian warrior:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fuyoaHjafM

Feel pleasure! Write your impressions in comments!

середа, 5 серпня 2015 р.

Ukrainians whom you should know: Ukrainian army

When people say that in Ukraine noone wants to fight corruption, they should be more attentive. When people say that they think Ukrainian music is just kobza and trembita, they should look around. When they say that only the authority helps Ukrainian army, they’re damn wrong. What’s more, they’re also wrong when say Ukrainian army doesn’t have intelligent commanding officers. And I bet some Ukrainian designers can be given a head start, because they’re sooo wonderful. So in some future posts I want to present you some awesome Ukrainians. I’m proud of the fact that they live in my country. I feel a bit sad that I don’t know them in person(except for one), but they do a lot of work that all of us can see, hear and sometimes even feel. Just in case you meet one of them somewhere, you’ll be lucky. I wish I could meet them and help them in doing their stuff as often as possible. That’s my dream and I hope it’ll come true :) . Now I’m starting to write a series of posts “Ukrainians whom you should know”. I’ll write there about people who do captivating, awesome and useful stuff. I guess it’d be great if you knew these names. They have played a vital role in new Ukraine’s history.


Soon I’ll also write about volunteers who help the army and people who try to break corruption and make bad guys feel horrible. I’ll also write about angels on the Earth. Yes,they exist and they are doctors of Mechnickov Dnipropetrovsk regional clinical hospital. This post is dedicated to Ukrainian army and people who fight in Donbass.  Now, enjoy!


  1. Ukrainian troops



   Yes, they’re the best. Every fifth defender of Ukraine’s freedom is volunteer. They decided to be in army far before they had heard of conscription. They share philosophical thoughts with you, and these ideas will definitely make you to deep in thoughts. They defend us. They defend the country. In ordinary cities we can easily take a stroll, sit in a cafe nearby, talk there with friends whereas they spend time in entrenchments. Every single day they withstand cannonades and bombardments. They come from Donbass with their deep eyes. It seems that all horror of the war has left imprint in them. Their moral values usually change a lot after they come from Donbass.
After the beginning of Ukrainian-Russian war Ukrainians(including me) feel proud to say :”We have brave Ukrainian soldiers”. And this is true!
Personally, I look up to them. Their smile is sooo sincere. Their eyes say so much… Their actions speak A LOT louder that their words. And Ukrainian soldiers are just so cute,really! So, I can really call them “OUR DEFENDERS”. Because they DO defend Ukraine from terroRussia. Lots of them paid with their lives… But we’ll remember them. And we’ll certainly NEVER forget them after out victory in this war. Many of soldiers have Facebook pages. If you want, you can have a look at them :)
Here are some:
  • Ievgen Shevchenko from battalion “Donbass”
  • Attilla Szelei-Dovzhenko
  • Denys Alekhin who is also from “Donbass”
  • Mykola Voronin (often writes in English)

  1. Ukrainian Commanding Officers


  • Semen Semenchenko
Semen Semenchenko (on the right) and Yegor Firsov (on the left) - both are deputies from Donetsk in Ukrainian parlaiment


  He was born in Simferopol, Crimea. He studied in The Admiral Nakhimov Naval Academy and also got financial education, worked as a chief editor of two newspapers and as a leader of a charity fund. Little did we know about him, when the war happened.
At that time Semen with his family lived in Donetsk. The quantity of separatists increased. So Semenchenko and citizens of Donetska oblast’ created a batalion called “Donbass”. It succeeded in many military operations, made separatists to run away from lots of Ukrainian cities in Donbass. Now Semen is a deputy of Ukrainian parliament  (in Ukraine when you become a debuty, you should leave your job so he’s not a commanding officer now). But he’s still in touch with his batalion. He helps Ukrainian troops to have everything they need. Semen also helps to create laws that will protect soldiers in their social environment (now the situation with it is a bit bad).
Semenchenko’s point of view is highly regarded,really. The regiment “Donbass” (it used to be a battalion, now it’s bigger) is considered as one of the most disciplined in Ukraine. And I can say that I always listen to his point of view. He is a moderate person, who never says anything emotionally. Moreover, you’ll always know a detailed look on events happening in the war area.

Semen Semenchenko with battalion "Donbass". Photo made in Shirokino, Donetska oblast'

  • Andriy Biletsky

Photo: Inforesist.com

  In Ukraine people who are leaders of battalions that fight in Anti-Terrorists Operation are mostly highly respected. That is because they are people who are stick to the truth,who play a huge role in defending our country and creating new Ukrainian army.
Andriy Biletsky is also a commanding officer, but his biography is different from the biography of Semen Semenchenko. What both have in common is occupation. Both of them used to be commanding officers of regiments, now both of them are deputies of Ukrainian parliament and both of them still support their regiments, helping them with everything needed. However, lots of stuff had happened before Andiy Biletsky became the commanding officer.
Biletskiy was born in Kharkiv. ( I won’t deep into his education, everything is fine here). He’s been a nationalist since university times. In 1999 he created civil organisation called “Patriot of Ukraine”. Although english Wikipedia writes that this organisation has racist and neo-Nazi beliefs, it’s not true. At that times the situation with crime and law in Kharkiv wasn’t good. In short, law enforcement system was a friend to lots of criminal guys. So “Patriot of Ukraine” wanted to cope with that themselves. Biletskiy personally coordinated, planned and participated in all organisation’s activities. Together activists identified points of drug traffic, detention of illegal immigrants,etc. On the 26th of November 2013, during Euromaidan, members of “Patriot of Ukraine” took part in creating “The Right Sector”.  Biletskiy  was a political prisoner during Yanukovich regime. I guess I'll write more about it, but not now.
On the 5th of May 2014 Biletskiy became founder of "Azov" battalion and most of its members were also a part of "The Patriot of Ukraine". "Azov" took part in lots of operations in the Anti-Terrorist operation. Andriy led his detachment to successful liberation of Mariupol from the Russian separatists. Now he's the deputy of Ukrainian parliament. But indeed he is seen on Donbass more often that in the parliament. He remained loyal to his national obligations. This is more important, I guess.


  • Dmytro Yarosh

Photo: ru.tsn.ua

It was the middle of January 2014. After waiting for one month and a half for a respond from ex-Ukrainian president Viktor Yanuckovych we realized that nothing will happen. Yanuckovych simply ignored people. We started to realize that it was in vain that we protested. At that time on the Euromaidan there were some people who wanted everything to change. They wanted to move forwards, to face changes. Of course,they were a bit more radical that others. People like them wanted to come to the President’s Administration to ask the question:”Why do you ignore us? Why can’t you punish those who are guilty in violent police crackdown on Euromaidan?”
(If you forgot how was it, here are videos:
It’s in Ukrainian, but you can at least have a glance of what was it like:


And Wikipedia article:


But the criminal regime didn’t want to listen. Protestants went to Hrushevskogo street and saw it had been blocked. When they saw they cannot speak their mind as people who live in democratic country, they said they are fed up. Many people like them soon created “The Right Sector”. Soon, after start of “events’ that happened on Hrushevskogo street, leaders of “The Right Sector” said that they are responsible for this. That’s how Ukrainians got acquainted with Dmytro Yarosh.
He is from Dnipropetrovska oblast’. Before creating Praviy Sector, Yarosh was a member of different nationalistic organisations and movements. Then he became leader of Praviy Sector. During Euromaidan this organisation played its role. All this thanks to Dmitro Yarosh.
What’s more when Ukrainian-Russian war started, he created DUC (From Ukrainian “Dobrovolchiy Ukrainskiy Korpus” - Ukrainian Volunteer Corpus). DUC is a paramilitary voluntary assosiation of citizens of Ukraine established in 2014 at the initiative of Praviy Sector and Yarosh. People in DUC are really brave, they fight in the hottest battles in Donbas. They fight shoulder to shoulder with soldiers of Ukrainian vountary battalions like “Donbas” and “Azov” and with soldiers from Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian military journalist once said that DUC went directly into the hottest points of war zone. That’s all about our guys from DUC. They’re also Ukrainian troops! They’re our brave men!
Dmitro Yarosh has also written 4 books and says he’s a follower of Stepan Bandera.
Another intresting fact is that in Russia a case was brought against Yarosh. He’s accused of extremism. (One of the most popular accusation in Russia which is used in order to throw in prison oppositionists and true Russian patriots. Moreover, you can be accused of this if you posted anything (on Russian social network "Vkontakte", for instance)  which Russian authority doesn’t like.) But that’s a popular action that is done by Russia against Ukrainian patriots. Perhaps, they are jealous that patriots can freely walk around everywhere and patriots in Russia are all in prison? Who knows, but that’s a true fact about Yarosh. :) Actually, Yarosh’s name is used as a Boogy Man for Russians. Most of then truly belive that he is the leader of Ukrainian fashism. We always smile when we hear this lie :)


As you see, these people play a huge role in creating a real proffesional army. There are lots of names that I didn’t mention. I hope I’ll have time and I’ll tell you about them. What about these names? When I hear them, I feel great pride. These people started a whole new page in Ukrainian history. I feel so proud that I am now witnessing it. When I get older, I’ll certainly tell about them to my children. Let they also feel pride of Ukrainian army. Because it’s the best. Our Ukrainian troops and commanding officers are modern hetmans and cossacks. They’re the bravest people I’ve ever heard of. Ukraine loves them. Let they all return alive home from the war and help us to build new country. If this opportunity appears, I’ll try my best to help them!


Soon I’ll write about Ukrainian volunteers, who help army. They do it even more effectively that the authority does. So wait for news for The Ukrainian Telegraph!

Have remarks,suggestions, responses and impressions? Leave them in comments!