I have a friend with family who has escaped from around Lviv to Poland Thursday (so they are already in the country). They should have finances to pay for themselves, but asked him just in case.
Any port in a storm.
What Ukraine needs is nukes which won’t be sold to them.
I was hesitant at first about donating to this fund as well, but the reality is that this is an existential struggle for the Ukrainians. I’m not willing to join their international brigade and pull triggers myself, but I’m down for anything short of that to help kill and demoralize as many of their enemy (which is my enemy also) as possible in the shortest amount of time.
For as long as I’ve been alive there has been either no moral justification for wars America fought or at best a dubious justification. So the idea that one should be anti-war and pro-peace is deeply ingrained. But when an aggressor invades with the express goal of eliminating your sovereign nation and subjugating your people, ferocious violence against the enemy is a moral course of action, as is funding such violence. At least in my personal moral code.
In addition my company is doing all we can to support our team in Ukraine. I hope the combination is enough to help preserve a free Ukraine. If it’s not I don’t want to spend the rest of my life asking myself if I could have done more…
I know that many it not most don't look at money like that, but I do, which is why this frightens me.
I see your point. But the Ukranians do not want to live under a Putin-puppet government, and they are willing to pay with their lives - but could use more equipment against a (on paper) superior military force.
The least I can do, is to help buy them some bullets.
EDIT: To people downvoting, Russia is attacking Ukraine because of USA and because of the agreement between Ukraine and Russia.
I know historically the Soviet union was probably worse to it's own citizens than the Nazis were to theirs. So I'm pretty sure Russia is the bad guy.
But how do you all know they are?
Where do I learn more that isn't some pre-digested media message?
Lately I've been let down by media narratives finding out they're often over hyped versions of the truth the leave out any nuance so I don't trust what I'm hearing on the news.
When someone attacks someone else the heavy burden to prove that they are right, just, and doing things to benefit the people is on the attacker.
You can go to the primary sources comming straight from the mouth of Putin and Russia and decide for yourself if in your opinion they met this burden.
RT is claiming it's not an invasion but a short term special operation to remove neo Nazis from Ukraine.
I don't trust the RT version but am far too ignorant to trust my own judgement.
I honestly have no idea what is really going on.
There is a unit with a large number of soldiers that like to use Norse pagan imagery. Some neo-Nazis also use Norse pagan imagery. So... it isn't impossible that there are some. However, a kernel of truth in a lie doesn't mean the whole thing is true; on the contrary, that's what makes a good lie.
Then please educate us, what is the valid reason for Russia to invade Ukraine?
"It's not an invasion" is pretty weak when you annexed Crimea, and declared 2 Ukrainian regions as "separate states".
The borders of Ukraine are pretty well set, so please explain why Russians have a right to shift these borders in their advantage? And how shifting borders is a "short term special operation".
Why do you care about western TV? Putin had an hour long televised speech about his reasons to go to war. You can watch it on youtube. If you don't speak Russian you can read the transcript on the Kremlin's webpage.
> I don't trust the RT version but am far too ignorant to trust my own judgement.
Excellent basis to start educating yourself.
Because nobody knows his real motivations. He has said some obvious bullshit, and there are educated guesses that can be made ( e.g. he'll want to install a puppet government), but it's just that, guesses. In reality we don't know what's going on in Putin's head.
At some point you have to trust your guts and decide how likely it is that Ukraine is run by neo Nazis.
For example watch https://t.co/WoMOgqXTWX and judge if this is the way a neo nazi would talk
If that is the case, why are all these Ukrainians giving such a huge fight against the Russian "liberators"?
And another thing: Putin claims that Ukrainians are committing attacks against the Russian minorities in Ukraine. Guess what the 1st language of the Ukrainian president is? It's not Ukrainian, it's Russian!
NATO can make nuclear threats too. They are too classy to make them publicly like Putin does, but who can say they aren’t making nuclear threats and declaring red lines of their own behind closed doors?
Also, while Putin can make these threats, is he sufficiently suicidal to actually act on them? If he did, the likely end result would be both Russia and NATO reduced to smouldering wastelands. Even if he was suicidally insane enough to give the order, the Russian military might refuse to carry it out, they might turn on him instead.
1. Domain registration points to Ondrej Filip, allegedly CEO of CZ.NIC who reposts links from Ukrainian embassy in Czech Republic. Not clear if it matters if WHOIS privacy is on.
2. Email and URL match those of the Ukrainian embassy in Czech Republic. I am trying to reach out to them and confirm. Phone numbers listed on czechia.mfa.gov.ua are not picking up and I don't want to occupy the life and death support hotline.
3. Awkward web design was not an indicator to me, considering the page must have been launched in haste.
Cross-check help would be appreciated. If you find the site untrustworthy, I will reply to the source where I saw this link posted ASAP. I won't dox my main HN account on this topic.
If you have any doubts, donate via UNHCR's Ukraine emergency page (Google it, since you should not trust the direct link I post if you think I’m a scammer). It supports refugees, but not military action.
Edited.
Ukrainian citizens are no longer allowed to leave freely. Men are not allowed to leave, that seems to be confirmed. According to some sources women working in certain sectors like health care either, not sure whether that is confirmed.
I have no clue, but I wouldn't be surprised if the reality differed from the policy here
But Ukrainians are understandable too, and some men are allowed to leave. On the other hand, there are also some returning home from Poland. Imagine you went to Poland in order to provide for your family and your family is left at home. There are many cases like this. In such a situation going back is often the only option - staying away would only cause constant suffering with you being anxious if your wife and kids are safe at that moment or not, and frantically reading all reports of bombing and civilian casualties.
Maybe such things can be started elsewhere.
Hiroshi Mikitani, founder of Rakuten gave $8.7 million to Ukraine. Maybe he thought his government is not doing enough. So, even ordinary citizens might feel the same.
Not only has Germany not supplied weapons until yesterday, it has even prevented other NATO countries from sending them weapons that they received from Germany in the 1990s. Thankfully our government finally caved in yesterday.
I guess Germany was under pressure from Putin regarding their gas dependency from Russia. The decision to deliver weapons after all was also a decision to accept Gas prices rising 10x fold next winter. Germans will pay quite dearly, since most of them use gas for heating.
Regular people are driving to the border here in Romania to help out refugees and donate food/clothing/medicine because the government isn't doing enough.
Everyone is free to choose if and how they want to help (or not).
You can find requisites and statements since 2014 here:
https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/26/22952357/ukraine-bitcoin-...
https://www.icrc.org/en/donate/ukraine is also available.
Canadian truckers are not fit to receive money but yeh, give directly to the Ukrainian Army...
