Like a burning flame

It's just over six months since Russia's fullscale invasion of Ukraine, and I just saw (and was briefly enraged by) a particularly disingenuous piece of tankie disinformation on Twitter, so I felt it was high time for a post bringing together links to organisations to whom to donate.

Before I do this, a bit of a preamble to preempt some potential questions.

( Long, long preamble )

With all that in mind, here is my list. Each organisation/individual has a bit of explanation and context.

Come Back Alive is an organisation which buys protective/defensive equipment for the Ukrainian military, as well as using funds to train members of the military, and combat medics, to provide rehabilitation for injured servicemembers, and to help them train to switch to civilian careers. They do not use funds to buy weapons (although they do buy things like drones). Funding the military is not a moral issue for me in this context, but I know it may be for some of you, so I would recommend reading their website in detail if you need further clarity.

United24 is the main Ukrainian government fundraising initiative. You can specify whether your donation goes towards military and demining, humanitarian aid, or rebuilding the country.

Humanitarian Support for Kherson. Funds here go to a group of volunteers who buy and distribute aid (food, medication, nappies and sanitary products, etc) to people trapped in the occupied Kherson region. (Basically they go and buy this stuff in Odesa and then in various complicated ways get it to the people in the occupied villages, at great personal risk.)

The Kyiv Independent is an independent Ukrainian English-language news organisation. As the daughter of two journalists, a functioning media is really important to me, and in wartime, with clouds of disinformation distorting the situation, this is particularly important. I have elected to make monthly payments to the Kyiv Independent on Patreon, but it's also possible to make a one-off donation on GoFundMe or contribute to their fundraiser supporting Ukrainian media more broadly.

Olia Hercules is a Ukrainian chef based in the UK. She has been fundraising via various initiatives. I support her on Patreon, becuase she gives the funds to her parents — who run a business in occupied Nova Kakhovka but have fled the region — and her parents use this to pay the wages of their employees who are obviously out of work due to the war and occupation.

I'd also like to open up this post for other people to share links of their own. They can be either in support of Ukraine, or in support of another cause. I ask for two things when sharing:

1. I cannot vet everything you share, so please ensure that you've scrutinised it thoroughly — it should be something you've either given your money to in the past, or would be comfortable giving your own money.
2. Please provide context for what this organisation or individual funds. If they're for something unrelated to Ukraine, please specify the country (and, if relevant, region). Basically, 'this organisation campaigns for reproductive rights' is too vague, 'this organisation campaigns for reproductive rights in NAME OF STATE, in the United States, where abortion has just been banned' gives the needed context.

I will make a top-level comment for Ukraine-related, and non-Ukraine-related organisations, and link those comments in this post. Please post your own links under the relevant comment so it's easier for other people to view them. Any comments that aren't links to charities can be made as normal.

Edited to add:

Top-level comment for posting links to organisations/individuals helping Ukraine

Top-level comment for posting links to organisations unrelated to Ukraine