All Ukrainians will remember this day for the rest of their lives. On February 24, 2022, a full-scale war began on the territory of Ukraine. During these two years, both civilians and military personnel showed extraordinary resilience and heroism in defending their rights and sovereignty in the fight against the enemy. And we are talking not only about direct conflict on the battlefield, but also about the rear – the help of thousands of volunteers, stars, organizations who, with their efforts, bring us closer to victory.
ContentDenis HristovIgor LachenkovSergei PritulaSergei SternenkoDiana Makarova
They are collecting the necessary funds to help both the army and civilians. But the help is not only material, but also physical. There are volunteers who risk their lives to save others and appear even in the hottest spots.
Two years of full-scale war: a humanitarian crisis and consequences The main figures of the war: the results of the 2-year Russian-Ukrainian confrontation
In fact, it was thanks to the war with the Russian Federation that many people reconsidered their views on charity. Those who have never volunteered before are now creating funds and platforms, encouraging millions of others to help both in Ukraine and abroad.
WomanEL decided to share with you a list of people who over these 2 years (and some even more) have made a huge contribution to the volunteer activities of our country. It was difficult to narrow down the top five (there are so many more!), but we settled on the following:
Note: Let this list be your inspiration and a starting point for realizing that everyone has something to contribute to the victory of Ukraine in this war.
Denis Hristov
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- Instagram: denis_khrystoff
You probably knew Denis as a TV presenter of the M1 channel and a showman. But the war in Ukraine completely changed his life, and now he is called Dutch (his call sign). He is not just involved in collecting humanitarian and financial assistance for the needs of the army, as well as the civilian population.
Denis travels to the hottest spots and distributes food to those in need, and is involved in the evacuation of local residents from front-line zones: in the Kharkov and Lugansk regions, in Bakhmut, Donbass, etc.
On February 6, 2024, on his Facebook page, Hristov published a video of the evacuation of people with dogs and a cat. This is not the first time a volunteer has saved the life of an animal. Previously, for example, in Karlovka, Donetsk region, he successfully evacuated an entire herd of cattle.
In addition, Denis is a member of the international charitable foundation “For Ukraine!” The Foundation undertakes the task of providing humanitarian and material assistance to those affected by the war, as well as supporting projects aimed at restoring infrastructure and socio-economic development in devastated areas.
Igor Lachenkov
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- Telegram channel: Lachen write
Volunteer, blogger, one of the people included in the “30 under 30: Face of the Future” rating from Forbes Ukraine, winner of the medal “For Assistance to Military Intelligence of Ukraine, II degree.” Everyone should know Lachenkov. Igor actively runs one of the largest Ukrainian channels on Telegram – Lachen Pishe, where he covers the main events of the war and exposes popular Russian fakes. Over 1.4 million people have subscribed to his channel.
When it comes to financial assistance, the numbers are staggering. It is known that the 24-year-old Ukrainian blogger and influencer is one of the initiators of the “People’s Bayraktar” fundraising project (together with Sergei Pritula), within which they managed to collect 600 million UAH in just 3 days. Thanks to him and the head of the “Come Back Alive” fund, a collection was organized for the Black Box (230 million UAH), what was in it is unknown, but, according to Kirill Budanov, the project was very effective. As Igor wrote on Instagram, boxing in just October 2022 caused millions of dollars worth of damage to the enemy.
According to Monobank, four of the bank's five largest fundraisers were organized jointly with Igor Lachenkov. For example, 152,770,290 UAH were collected for the “Shahed Catcher” in less than two days. Collections take place on a regular basis to supply the army with everything necessary.
According to the blogger, he also donates his own money: everything he accumulates, he sends to training camps.
Sergey Pritula
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- Foundation website: prytulafoundation.org
Even before February 24, 2022, the politician and TV presenter was engaged in charity work. But it was during the war that he was able to turn his fund into one of the largest funds that help the Ukrainian army. For the first year, the total amount of fees amounted to 4 billion 182 million hryvnia. In January 2024, Sergei reported that it had already amounted to 6 billion 277 million hryvnia, and also that 100% of the money that people donate goes to support our defenders. This is a principled position for him, and it is supported by the entire team of his charitable foundation.
His foundation employs 105 people. By the way, many of them are migrants from the occupied territories. This is their opportunity to retake homes and influence the state of affairs in the war.
Sergey and his team are delivering drones, mine clearance vehicles, optical instruments, communications equipment, military vehicles, tactical medicine units and much more to the Ukrainian army. In addition to helping the military, the Pritula Foundation is engaged in humanitarian assistance to people in deoccupied and front-line territories to restore decent living conditions.
Sergey Sternenko
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- YouTube channel: @STERNENKO
When the war began, public and political figure Sergei Sternenko did not stand aside and joined the defense of Kyiv. Today, the 28-year-old Ukrainian takes an active part in helping the Ukrainian army.
In August 2023, Sternenko wrote on his social networks that he managed to collect (for the period from April 1, 2022 to August 12, 2023) 480 million hryvnia, which was spent on the purchase of more than 6,000 FPV drones, almost 1,000 other UAVs, 110 thermal imagers, 107 night vision devices, 225 vehicles, etc. Sergey also invested his own money in donations – 2,658,984 UAH for the specified period.
Gatherings to get closer to victory continue to this day. For example, recently Sergey, together with volunteer Igor Lachenkov, opened a fundraiser for the purchase of 2,300 drones. Their goal is to collect 100 million UAH. In 2022, he and Sergei Prytula bought 142 drones for UAH 352 million for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Sternenko has a successful YouTube channel (1.87 million subscribers), in which he talks about various events related to the war, political figures, Russian propaganda, etc.
Diana Makarova
The best volunteers of Ukraine during time of war, Source: Vladimir Golota/facebook
- Diana Makarova Foundation on Facebook: fondDM
There are, of course, women among the volunteers. We would like to tell you about one of them. Former journalist and famous blogger Diana Makarova heads the F.O.N.D. Charitable Foundation. Diana Makarova” (“National Assistance Fund”) is an initiative group of activists to provide assistance to the army and National Guard of Ukraine, the wounded and refugees, and families of military personnel.
Few people know that Diana has been collecting and transporting aid for fighters since 2014. That's why she calls herself an old volunteer. According to experts interviewed by the Association of Philanthropists of Ukraine, based on the results of work in 2014, its Foundation is among the charitable and volunteer projects that operate most effectively, publicly and transparently. Diana was also awarded the Order of Princess Olga III degree and a personalized weapon from the Minister of Defense.
It is noteworthy that her foundation does not receive payment for its work. In one interview, Makarova said that they do not even use legal interest from general cards for their own needs. There are only a few people in their team, and all of them have day jobs, so they work seven days a week. They are driven by the idea of helping Ukrainians and bringing Ukraine closer to victory.
The Foundation, in addition to raising funds for the army, is engaged in removing people from the combat zone. Diana spares no effort for this, despite the fact that the woman has a bad heart and knees.
Jamala also showed her best side as a volunteer. Find out what personal item she put up for auction to help the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
