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.