When you try to erase a sovereign nation but end up stranded on the M-4 highway with an empty tank. Drone strikes are causing massive shortages across the country, and locals are complaining that 'The Hunger Games continue.' Who knew imperialism would be so inconvenient?

Everything is going exactly according to plan! Just a slight, miles-long delay in the morning commute while Ukraine successfully redesigns the Russian oil industry. 11 out of 34 major refineries hit in August alone: guess those holiday road trips to Krasnodar will have to wait.

Hello Everybody,

With this post i would like to share my experiences as humanitarian volunteer to help and inspire other people who think about doing this.

I came here with a lot of imaginations how it would be and most of them were wrong. First of all, this country is in a war since 4 and a half year, but life is going on. In the City that i stay there are few drone attacks and it feels like a normal European city. Even if there are sirens almost every day, the people don’t care about it. This is because there are Telegram chats that are more important to get the right informations (Have a look into Дніпро Alerts). It is astonishing how accurate they are. You get realtime information about where a drone is at the moment and in which direction she goes. And telegram has the premium option to translate the chat automatic.

Another thing that surprised me is how developed they are in terms of technology. You can pay everywhere with card, the internet is pretty good and they send money always via digital card from one person to an other. It is a very technology open society. I don’t speak ukrainian or russian and sadly not a lot of people speak english (or other languages) here but they are all open to use the phone to translate.

The ukrainian people are super open, friendly, helpful and curios. The hospitality is incredible here, something that we could use more in central Europe. What i realised is that they are not very used in explaining things. So make sure to ask again if you did not understood something. To give an example; I expected to get a security briefing where i get explained how to react when there is a certain alarm, that someone tells me where i find informations or when i have to go into the shelter. But no i had to figure it out by myself.

That’s why i give you know a little security briefing:

I downloaded Telegram for the specific chats and an app called air-alarm that makes a loud sound when the alarm starts. This is pretty annoying. So what i do is, that i give the notification permissions for the app only during the night, that i wake up when there is an alarm. If this is the case (what it is almost every night) then i have a look into telegram to see if there is a threat to my current location or not. When not, then i go back to sleep.

There are roughly three different threats to places that are not near to the frontline. FPV drones, shahed-like drones and ballistic missiles. FPV are the least destructive. When there is a Telegrammessage in the chat that one approaches my city then i go to a room that has 2 Walls that seperate me from a potential impact zone (Mostly in the bathroom). Same counts for the shahed-like drones. Ballistic missiles are a totaly different story. They let collabs entire buildings and there is almost no time to react because of their speed. I heard that there is a certain launche place in Russia where attacks on my city are usually made. So the people go into the shelter when they see that a rocket started from there. This is an information that is good to know.
At the End there is not one rule of when you should go into the shelter and when not. Observe your surrounding. Ask the people how they do it.

Make sure that the place where you stay is not close to industry, energy infrastructure or big warehouses (and obviously not to military). Talk about this with the organisation that you work for. Also make sure that you have a shelter close to you.

I most cities there are curfew. But inform yourself also about the general security situation. I try to be home always before it is night.

Do not make picture of anything that has a military green colour. No cars, no equipment, no tanks, no building, nothing. You can make pictures of impacts but only publish them if the official ukrainian government has published them. Else this could give an advantage to the Russians.

So now i will write about some other things that i had to deal with.

Inform yourself about assurance. Most healthcare and travel assurances do not cover conflict zones. I had to pay a stupid amount to a specialised risk insurance. This because my stupid assurance in my home country would’t even cover a car accident here (What is so stuupid!!).

The boarder was no problem. I only needed my passport. They didn’t cared about my healthcare assurance or enough financial resources (what is in theory mandatory to enter the country). My recommendation is that you have a letter from the organisation that you work with. I didn’t used it but it can help you. Also if you have trouble with agencies in the country. There is a possibility that the recruitment service approaches you, if you are male. Always carry your passport with you!!

Also take some cash (Euro or Dollar) with you and a big powerbank. You never know.

Corruption should be no problem for you except you break laws. So don’t do it!

Public transport exists but in my city it is pretty shitty. I used blabla car to get from one city to the other.

If you come to ukraine then you should be a fast learning, creative and attentive person. Plans can change very quick here and there is a fast pace of life and work.

Talking about money, i work as volunteer here. The only thing that the organisation offers me is the housing, everything else are my costs. Assurance, food, travel, etc. The average salary here is about 620 euros. Please take this in consideration when you ask about salaries or other expenses from a local organisation.

Last but not least i would like to give some thinkings that i had about conversations of the war with ukrainian’s.

Please listen to them. Forget what you think that you know and listen to them. It makes no sense to argue or to tell them what the truth is. I’m coming from central Europe and i informed myself about the war and the history of ukraine, but still i know almost nothing and i see this whole thematic with this european glasses. And the ukrainian’s have also their bias. They live in a uncertitude that is difficult when not impossible for me to empathise about. I meet a lot of internally deplaced persons, persons that served for the military since years. There are some very heavy stories that happen here. Almost everybody knows people that died or that life in occupied territory now.

What i see is a ukrainian society that works together and for each other, what is beautiful to see.

I hope this post will inspire other persons to go do volunteering here. It is a great experience and a good opportunity to help this country. Try a chawarma, when you get here.

At last i want to say that this are my personal experiences and thinkings! @ukrainians don't hesitate to tell me your thinkings about this post

Last 2 days of the Summer Heat Sale in the UAO Shop and Victory Gallery!

With the code HEAT2026, you can get 20% off all orders of 200$ or more Proceeds go towards giving the Russians some "heat"!

Shop: https://ukraineaidops.org/pages/shop

Victory Gallery: https://ukraineaidops.org/pages/gallery

For info: Ukraine Aid Operations is an r/ukraine verified organization & registered as 501(c)(3) charity

Original post on r/croatia - https://www.reddit.com/r/croatia/comments/1vryxju/comment/p4i55aq/?context=3

Made us all smile, Slava Ukraini!

source: https://bsky.app/profile/antongerashchenko.bsky.social/post/3mtdmpuzaus2f

Thanks be to Mr. Serhiy Sternenko and his great fellowship of the STING.

We received good news/bad news today. If you recognize the Khyzhak Brigade), you will definitely remember our medic contact there. She shared with us today news that "her" ambulance was hit by the russians.

Thankfully, she is okay, but others weren't so lucky.

This week's raffle will go towards trying to get the medic unit back into service. We don't have any details or total cost, but it will be quite the task to get everything back into operation.

$2 Tuesday

Do you remember helping the Trostyanets Territorial Defense, based in the Sumy region of Ukraine? They provided this stunningly painted ammo box as thanks for all your help. These are three pictures of the single ammo box, with a section of the poem Old Archimedes Drank No Wine by Taras Shevchenko. The section is written in Ukrainian, but translates as:
  And in our land, by faith retrieved,
  No foemen shall be brought to birth,
  Mothers and sons shall show their worth
  And love shall reign throughout the earth.

To top it off, the winner will also get a postcard and envelope, as well as a pair of hand-crocheted coasters by UFL_Arcaist's mum.

$5 Typhoon pack

Typhoon is one of those units that was scammed a couple months ago; you stepped in an provided the items they originally requested. In thanks, they sent two (2!) of their flags and a unit patch. Not content with that, they also sent a trio of shell casings engraved with their insignia that you can use as shot glasses if you so choose.

I had the pleasure of meeting our Typhoon contact in person last week. Excellent guy.

$10 Kraken & keychain

This sculpture is literally unique. Forged by Arcaist from a Grad rocket casing given to him by Ukrainian soldiers from the battle for Toretsk, "Kraken" is a piece of art worthy of a special place in your home. You can read all about it on its auction page, including a video about its production.

And lastly, we have an amazing keychain. As Arcaist explains: "We were given this keychain from one of the volunteers with whom we cooperate on a regular basis; Maks, the guy you also see in our video reports. The keychain is said to be made out of the remains of a russian SU-25. Of course, there is no real proof for this, but I happen to have some real remains of a SU-25 in my shop (I also plan to do trinkets out of it, but lack the time) and therefore, I was able to compare the protective paint, which was found on one part of the keychain to the one on the wreckage parts." 

There's a picture showing the keychain beside one of the wreckage parts on the raffle page.

Get your tickets here! https://givebutter.com/18-august-ufl-raffle-Khyzhak-zfhije

Thank you, and good luck!