‘Non-lethal’ – foreign aid in Ukraine’s war effort

AFTER a pro-democracy revolution turned bloody, Ukraine was left in a deep political crisis that was exploited by separatist, pro-Russian elements in the country’s East.

The Yanukovych government was toppled by large-scale popular protests in most of Ukraine’s major cities in what was known as the Maidan Revolution.

Shortly after the protests reached their bloody climax, the scale of the endemic corruption of the Yanukovych government was revealed – with an estimated $80 billion having been stolen from state budgets at various levels by allies of the President.

With Ukraine in disarray, Russian forces annexed the Crimean Peninsula while the Easternmost oblasts, Donetsk and Luhansk, declared themselves as independent people’s republics.

As the conflict in the East of the country grew and developed into a full-scale war, the already-stretched Ukrainian government was struggling to meet its army’s needs alone.

With no money and sub-standard equipment, a new phenomenon arose whereby the Ukrainian army became heavily supported and equipped by groups based entirely in other countries.

Countries with large Ukrainian diaspora communities, like Canada and the US, featured prominently, but also European countries like Lithuania and Poland have consistently contributed to Ukraine’s war effort.

While the organisations are strictly providing non-lethal aid, many of the recipients are military personnel – night vision and infra-red scopes can be used defensively and offensively, for example.

Though when speaking with these volunteer groups, most agree that this doesn’t seem to be much of a problem for attracting donors.

With a diaspora community run, for the most part, by the descendants of World War Two émigré nationalists; they have been active in providing material and financial support for their ancestral homeland.

One of the biggest organisations is ‘Patriot Defence’ – an initiative set up by Dr Ulana Suprun, who was born in the US state of Michigan to Ukrainian parents. As well as being a medical doctor, she also currently holds the position of Acting Minister of Health of Ukraine.

The group, set up with the support of the World Congress of Ukrainians, an over-arching representative organisation for the Ukrainian diaspora, focuses on training soldiers in tactical medicine.

[pullquote]Diaspora: people who have spread or been dispersed from their homeland[/pullquote]

Dr Suprun’s husband, Marko, acting director of Patriot Defence explained that the organisation has been active since the start of the war, after noticing the distinct lack of medical training or knowledge in the armed forces.

He said: “There was insufficient medical support overall and even more importantly a lack of knowledge, about medical aid on the battlefield.

“Medical kits were non-existent or they consisted of old bandages and soviet rubber tourniquets. There was no medical training. To survive, soldiers relied only on faith.”

So far, the group has delivered training to nearly 20 thousand soldiers and handed-out nearly 22 thousand personal first-aid kits – while over 300 doctors, civilian and military, have been given additional training.

Marko explained: “We organized a few ‘train the trainer’ initiatives bringing in western trainers, primarily former British combat medics, to share their knowledge and prepare a new community of pre-hospital instructors with a focus on battlefield trauma.

“Currently we work closely with an organization called Brotherhood that provides psychological counselling for veterans and their families.”

Marko describes the group’s main role has been in training medical professionals and changing attitudes in a country that is still very much stuck in its old, Soviet ways.

He said: “Inculcating a culture of training, self-criticism, acceptance of mistakes and to be willing to learn from those mistakes are some of the more important parts of what we do.”

Patriot Defence have been working with representatives of the British Army in Ukraine for some time. This has led to some commentators and critics in the UK to suggest that the war in Ukraine is a proxy conflict between NATO and Russia.

Dr Adam Swain, an expert on Ukraine from the University of Nottingham, explained that while there is evidence that suggests that the conflict is a proxy war, it is important to consider the views of those involved.

He explained: “Certainly, to the people on the ground, this is not a proxy war – it all depends on perspective.

“There is a very good case, given the level of funding on the Ukrainian side from the US and other NATO allies, while the militaries of the DNR/LNR [separatist republics] are basically extensions of the Russian army.”

Away from diaspora communities, help for the Ukrainian army has come from more unexpected places.

Mauro Voerzio, an Italian journalist, has been involved in raising funds and donating materials for the Ukrainian army since the beginning of the conflict.

He says he prefers to do this privately, because there are repercussions in Italy for openly supporting the Ukrainian army.

He said: “Russian propaganda is at work here. I have already been called a killer and terrorist so I do not go near military equipment. In Italy, if you help soldiers you are branded a ‘fascist’, though there are also people in the [Ukrainian] diaspora who think it is better to help children and civilians.

“We take our goods and money and deliver direct to the Donbas, so the people who donate can see exactly what is happening with what they donated, I couldn’t do this when I worked for an organisation so that is why I prefer to be private.”

While émigré nationalists may dominate the larger diaspora-based groups, many post-Soviet migrants have been fundraising, purchasing and delivering items themselves. Many have direct ties to the region, while many others have friends and family members in the armed forces.

In the UK, the leaders of these volunteers are Vasyl Bihun and Natalia Ravlyuk – based in Manchester and London respectively.

Vasyl, a recipient of a medal for courage from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence for his volunteer work, explained the reasons why he, and many others, dedicate themselves to this cause.

He said: “We’re all patriotic people who wanted to do something to help our country. Some people help by fighting, and some people help in any other ways they can.”

With Bihun, and his colleagues, so far away from their homeland, he says that their efforts to help their armed forces is borne from a desire to retain close ties to home.

He said: “At the start of the war, the army’s budget had been emptied and the soldiers barely had anything that they needed. We saw this problem and started our voluntary work, with everyone doing their little bit for their country.

“We feel we must help the soldiers because they are defending our independence and freedom. We’ve never had anyone have a problem with raising money for the army – we’re very clear that this is who the funds are for – people are proud to help their army if anything.”

While there is a focus on military support from some groups, others have decided to focus on civic projects and concentrate on societal reform in Ukraine like Razom [“together” in Ukrainian], who, since 2014 have sent millions of dollars’ worth of aid to the country.

Yulia Paslavska, Razom board member, explained: “Razom began sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine in early 2014 reacting to the Maidan events. Since 2014, the nature of the aid sent by us has changed from emergency humanitarian aid, to more of a proactive, quality-of-life bettering aid.”

She explained how there were lively debates on the topic of whether to send help to the military as an organisation.

Yulia said: “Razom decided not to support the military as an organization. We decided that as an organization we can have a bigger impact towards reaching our goal of a prosperous Ukraine by working in non-military fields.”

Though the military is not directly supported, there are active Razom volunteers who also do work for the army outside of their time with the organisation.