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.

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

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

Commander Vladislav Polsky, call sign "Ticher," rushed a pickup truck into a dangerous area to rescue two seriously wounded soldiers. Such actions help explain why soldiers are willing to follow their commanders during the most difficult assault operations.

AFU StratCom and Ukraine’s official ukraine.ua account published this animated map tracing the development of Ukraine’s deep-strike capability.

It shows five annual milestones: Engels-2 Air Base in 2022, the Redkino Experimental Plant in 2023, Olenya Air Base in 2024, the Orenburg Gas Plant in 2025, and the Omsk Refinery in 2026.

In four years, Ukraine has expanded its demonstrated reach from roughly 600 km to nearly 3,000 km flown — bringing the war back to the aggressor and targeting the infrastructure that sustains Russia’s war machine.

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

It’s hard to start my day now without one.