Direct Ways to Help Ukraine — Verified Humanitarian, Military and Volunteering Resources

From volunteering for grassroots humanitarian non-profits in the US to crypto donations for the Ukrainian military, here are the most effective ways to support Ukraine now, as identified by a Ukrainian-American

Published in

Ukraine Diaries

8 min readMar 21, 2022

Andrew J.Kurbiko, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (edited by author)

The world has been shocked into action by putin’s unprovoked and barbaric invasion of Ukraine. I have already dedicated multiple posts and a publication to understanding the sheer unreality of the crisis, with many more to come.

So this time, as a Ukrainian-American, I want to preset you with the most effective and direct ways to support Ukraine in its defense of the free world from genocidal tyranny.

Ukrainian Military

For those wishing to bring the most immediate and humane resolution to this terrible tragedy, please consider contributing to the Ukrainian army. That is the most effective way to ensure a swift end to the conflict and can help stop further loss of innocent human lives. It would also be most beneficial to the millions of Ukrainian refugees in the long term, as it will allow them to return home sooner or never have to leave at all. There are multiple ways to contribute:

1. Credit Card — make sure to check your bank’s security alerts, which can be occasionally triggered since this is an international payment.

2. Crypto — supports Bitcoin(BTC), Ether(ETH), Tether, USDT, Dogecoin, Monero and many others.

Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

3. SWIFT — if for some reason you like paying extra processing fees, cherish a trip to a local bank branch and would like to annoy the teller by making them type a lot of random data, this method is for you. Just print this out and bring it with you.

Beneficiary Customer (Name): The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, 6, Povitroflotskiy Pr., Kyiv, Ukraine, 03168
IBAN (account number): UA963223130000025307010029738
* Currency of Bank Account (pick any): US dollars; Euro; British Pound sterling; Swiss francs; Canadian dollars; Polish zloty; Czech crowns; Australian dollars.
Bank Name: JOINT STOCK COMPANY «THE STATE EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF UKRAINE»
Bank Address: 127, Antonovycha Str., Kyiv, Ukraine, 03150
Bank SWIFT Number: EXBSUAUX
Payment description (Obligatory Remittance Information): Donation for the logistic and medical support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (UA458201720313281002302018611)
Source: Support Ukraine

4. Join the Foreign Legion — clearly, this is not for everyone. If you happen to have any relevant military or security forces experience, and a willingness to stake your life in defense of the free world, you can now volunteer with Ukraine’s Foreign Legion!

Source : International Foreign Legion in Defense of Ukraine

Humanitarian Aid

Ukrainian refugees, Interior Ministry of Ukraine via Telegram

1. Ukraine’s Ministry of Social Policy — funds go directly to where they are most urgently needed, and will help save as many Ukrainian lives as possible.

2. Save Life UA Charity — provides direct non-lethal assistance to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, supplying quadcopters, night vision goggles, computers, routers and more.

3. Razom For Ukraine — an excellent US-based grassroots non-profit group that supplies critical medial and technical assistance to Ukraine. It also organizes a lot of events in the US, so make sure to check out its Facebook page.

4. Doctors Without Borders — an independent and impartial organization, committed to providing medical humanitarian assistance to people affected by the war no matter who they are or where they are. The group has halted normal activities and is mobilizing emergency operations in Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia, Russia, and Belarus.

Refugee Support

As mentioned previously, the most impactful way to help Ukrainian refugees and to put an end to the conflict by supporting the Ukrainian defense forces. However, if you would rather provide essential short term support to the millions of fleeing Ukrainian women, children and the elderly, there are many great ways to do this.

1. Host a refugee — if you are located in Europe and have a spare bedroom or couch, consider hosting some of the refugees. There are multiple ways to place a listing or get in contact with the people in need, including Ukraine Take Shelter and I Can Help Host.

2. International Rescue Committee — founded in 1933 by Albert Einstein, it provides emergency aid and long-term assistance to refugees and those displaced by war, persecution, or natural disaster. Deployed to neighboring Poland, they are working with partners to assist arriving refugees. IRC is also working with partners inside Ukraine, supporting the evacuation of women and children and providing emergency aid to people who had to flee their homes.

3. Nova Ukraine — US nonprofit dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, currently processing evacuation requests from citizens in cities being affected most, such as Kharkiv, Mykolayiv and Kyiv. It is also building a network of volunteers in Ukraine, Europe, and the US to provide and share vital resources for refugees, such as housing, online health services and humanitarian support at the border.

Other ways to help

There are other highly effective ways to help, many of which are free.

1. Demand action from your government

Call or message your congressmen, senators, White House, NATO and many other US and international government representatives using the links below. Here are some references to help you do that:

You can send the following message, or write your own.

Russia invaded Ukraine without provocation on February 24. Every day Kremlin bombs cities and towns, targeting the civilian population, orphanages and kindergartens. Russian forces open fire on babies, passing cars, and “humanitarian corridors” led by the International Red Cross. Thousands have been killed, as Putin expands his “scorched earth” playbook across more and more cities, towns, and villages. Putin threatens biological, chemical and tactical nuclear weapon use, violating all international law and ethics. Putin has been unable to break the spirit of the Ukrainian people with Russian armed forces, so he is inviting Syrian and Hezbollah forces to join in these war crimes. Already more than 2.2 million have fled to neighboring European countries. The Ukrainian economy is being strangled, while Putin slaughters a peaceful nation. Ukraine is in a national state of emergency. Ukrainians are courageously defending their homeland, freedom in Europe and peace globally. A peaceful nation of some 42 million people has been attacked from all directions by one of the world’s largest armies committing war crimes hourly.

I ask you to Stand With Ukraine by (1) providing urgent incremental military support, in particular air defense to protect from missiles, including S300s, Stingers, early warning systems for missile attacks, UAVs/drones, ammunition; (2) immediate blanket sanctions against all Russian and Belarussian state banks, state energy companies and state commodity companies; (3) immediate sanctions against the entire Russian and Belarussian political (entire Duma, National Security Council and Government) and economic (top 100 oligarchs) elite and their families (including denial and revocation of visas and freezing all their assets); (4) ban on all imports from Russia (why help finance the bombs raining on the heads of innocent Ukrainians); (5) SEC regulations requiring all publicly listed companies to report fully on any and all Russia and Belarus transactions, assets, relationships, and exposure of any kind; (6) Delisting (not simply halting trading) of all Russia/Belarus companies on NYSE, NASDAQ.
Source: Action Network / Stand With Ukraine

2. Attend or organize a protest

Show your support for Ukraine and demand an end to the conflict through increased assistance from your governments. Here are few resources that can help:

3. Volunteer

UkraineNow — a global decentralized effort to help Ukraine and other nations deal with the humanitarian crisis and consequences of the brutal invasion. Recently featured on BBC.
Razom For Ukraine — volunteer in the US in various capacities.
Volunteers for Ukraine — travel to help support Ukraine and its people.
Nova Ukraine — help send humanitarian aid to Ukraine from the US

There are also ways to volunteer online, which I you can read more about here.

Social Media

Post in support of Ukraine across your social media accounts. Help spread pro-Ukraine content, draw attention to the humanitarian catastrophe and demand that Western governments to do more in support of Ukraine, especially when it comes to military assistance.

There are millions of Ukrainians and foreign volunteers ready to take up arms to defend Ukraine and the world from an unhinged mass murderer, but they urgently need additional military equipment to join the fight.

Show Your Support

Put up a yard sign, banner or a Ukrainian flag to let others know of your support for Ukraine and to raise awareness. Get a t-shirt, pin or hat to for the same.