How the World Can Help Ukrainians Now

4 min readMar 1, 2022

On February 24, 2022, Putin escalated the invasion of Ukraine, home to 44 million people.

This is not a Ukrainian crisis. It’s been a war since 2014 when Russia committed an act of aggression towards a neighboring country by trespassing the border with military troops. A recent move destroyed years of diplomatic negotiations and disrupted peace in the region even further.

Today people of Ukraine are not safe in any city, town, or village. Massive attacks are happening all over the country. The old, women, and children are forced to flee, hide in bombshells, seek a safe and warm place to stay.

At the same time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces hold the positions in the face of the Russian Army. Civilians who used to be developers become defenders. Marketers become war journalists. Gamers become fighters in real life. People are fully committed to stopping the war and returning to normal and safe life as soon as possible.

Ukraine stands still on the ground and defends its territory. If you want to take part and return peace to Europe faster, there are many ways you can help as a foreigner:

1| Show solidarity, share the news.

Spread information about what’s happening in Ukraine to your network. Help the world to see the consequences of war in all matters. Your actions will help to dissolve the propaganda of Putin’s regime, naming the invasion as a “special military operation in Donbas” and leaving Russian citizens unaware of the global humanitarian tragedy they’re taking part in.

2| Encourage businesses and the government to take action.

Many businesses (like Volvo, Adidas, The Walt Disney) and countries (most countries of Europe closing the sky) have already cut ties with Russia. Meaningful international support is provided to Ukraine at the official level. Russian banks are banned. Volvo stopped distributing cars in Russia. As a customer and a citizen, it’s in your power to expand the range of these examples.

3|Donate to Ukrainian organizations.

Help Ukrainians to help themselves. Even the price of a coffee sent in the right direction can make a difference, or even save lives. I’ve collected a number of official resources of a different aim where a donation is appreciated at this moment. Defenders, adult civilians, and children depend on your help — see options below.

4| Support local volunteers in your country.

The whole world is currently accepting refugees and collecting humanitarian aid to support people who faced a war. The help is already enormous, and you can combine efforts with volunteers, organizations and businesses: provide provisions or medical supplies, support with housing, connect people who are providing help with those seeking it.

5| Send help to Ukraine on your own.

Currently, Nova Poshta sends the packages to Ukraine from abroad. Here volunteers keep listing items of high demand (mostly, medical aid) and addresses for shipping. You can collect the aid on your own or organize volunteer groups to deliver humanitarian materials to Ukraine.

List of resources: where to help

Donations

Note: some services may be down due to a high load of traffic. If you’re experiencing the downtime, wait until the page is back live or choose another fund service out of the list.

Military service

Ministry of Defense of Ukraine: https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-vidkriv-spetsrahunok-dlya-zboru-koshtiv-na-potrebi-armiyi
Donate via largest bank of Ukraine: https://uahelp.monobank.ua
Charity fund Come Back Alive: https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate/

Humanitarian aid

Ukrainian Red Cross: https://redcross.org.ua/en/2022/02/donate-to-support-the-ukrainian-red-cross-to-help-civilians-in-this-difficult-time-for-ukraine/
Dobrobut Foundation: https://www.facebook.com/DobrobutFoundation
Razom for Ukraine: https://www.facebook.com/RazomForUkraine/fundraisers

Information support

Share information on social media

Official resources:

President of Ukraine

Web: https://www.president.gov.ua/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zelenskiy.official

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

Web: https://mfa.gov.ua/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MFA_Ukraine

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UkraineMFA

Ukrainian Media in English:

UkraineNOW, the official page of Ukraine on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UkraineNOWOfficial

The Kyiv Independent: https://kyivindependent.com https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent

Ukrayinska Pravda: https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/

SPRAVDI: https://spravdi.gov.ua/en/

Ukraineworld: https://ukraineworld.org /, https://twitter.com/ukraine_world

Post on your own (use hashtags #standwithukraine, #stopthewar): https://supportukrainenow.org/post-on-social-media

Help Locally

Help Ukrainian refugees and volunteers in your region: https://supportukrainenow.org/refuge-for-ukrainians
Join a protest in your city: https://www.stopputin.net/ https://standwithukraine.live
Send aid on your own: the shipping is currently available with Nova Posta https://supportukrainenow.org/humanitarian-help

Join Ukrainian Military Forces

Whether you live in Ukraine or abroad, you can join the Ukrainian Armed Forces. For foreigners, contact your local embassy of Ukraine to get the requirements. For people in Ukraine, find more information and the instructructions here: https://kyivcity.gov.ua/bezpeka_ta_pravoporiadok/teritorialna_oborona/

For us in Ukraine, normal life stopped. I can’t tell you how much we’re looking forward to getting back to our daily routine. Life without bomb shelters, explosions on the streets, back to our family members and homes. Instead, millions of us are forced to become a shield protecting the rest of Europe from war.

Support us with handling what’s going on right now 🙏 Tomorrow, Ukrainians will never forget what you’ve done today. And hopefully, our mutual efforts will stop the spread of Putin dictatorship, violence and death.

Author: Alina Danilova (my lovely co-worker from BotsCrew)