A year ago, on February 24th, 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine and started a full-scale war. During the last 12 months, the whole world witnessed numerous war crimes committed by the Russian army: rocket shelling of civilian houses, unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children, massacres, rapes and tortures. Many cities, like Mariupol, were completely destroyed. Some cities, like Kherson, Nikopol, and Kharkiv, and numerous villages are being shelled almost every day.
During the past year, Russia deported more than 2 million civilians from Ukraine, fired approximately 4,5 thousand missiles at Ukrainian cities and villages, and Russian troops destroyed more than 120,000 civilian infrastructure facilities, including power plants, schools, kindergartens, and numerous residential buildings. According to the official website of Ukraine, 461 children felt victims of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
During the year of full-scale war, we have also seen international communities unite as never before, showing support to the Ukrainian refugees, civilians and military. However, after a year of war, there is still no end in sight. As humanitarian catastrophes caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine keep unfolding, Russian bombs and rockets keep hitting residential buildings in Ukraine, and Ukrainian refugees keep seeking help abroad, we feel the need to address civic society actors, volunteers, media workers and activists around the world with a message: keep supporting Ukraine and Ukrainian people, who are fighting for their democracy, freedom and independence.
During the past year, Russia deported more than 2 million civilians from Ukraine, fired approximately 4,5 thousand missiles at Ukrainian cities and villages, and Russian troops destroyed more than 120,000 civilian infrastructure facilities, including power plants, schools, kindergartens, and numerous residential buildings. According to the official website of Ukraine, 461 children felt victims of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
During the year of full-scale war, we have also seen international communities unite as never before, showing support to the Ukrainian refugees, civilians and military. However, after a year of war, there is still no end in sight. As humanitarian catastrophes caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine keep unfolding, Russian bombs and rockets keep hitting residential buildings in Ukraine, and Ukrainian refugees keep seeking help abroad, we feel the need to address civic society actors, volunteers, media workers and activists around the world with a message: keep supporting Ukraine and Ukrainian people, who are fighting for their democracy, freedom and independence.
Arm Ukraine
We support Ukrainian people in their right to defend themselves. We oppose the claims of western populists (such as Alternative for Germany) and leftists and pacifists (such as leftist party Die LINKE), who insist on a “peace agreement” with the Russian government and therefore publicly speak against weapon delivery to Ukraine. We don’t share a position that Ukraine must surrender. It creates pressure on those who bravely fight back and also gives Russia green light to put claims over territories of neighbouring countries. The war can only be ended with a full victory for Ukraine by regaining control over their territories and returning to their 1991 territorial borders.
Support Ukraine
After one year, the support of people directly suffering from the war is still as vital as possible. In some cases providing humanitarian aid and systematic help for Ukraine has become even more difficult. Therefore we encourage everyone who reads this message to join humanitarian and volunteering initiatives, on site and online - below in the interviews our Ukrainian partner organisations are sharing their needs.
Helping Ukraine to spread reliable and current information is an effective tool against Russia’s propaganda and information war. Sign up to the official news sources and donate to support Ukrainian media, such as The Kyiv Independent, who during the endless year of russian aggression continued their work despite the shellings and electricity cut-offs.
Helping Ukraine to spread reliable and current information is an effective tool against Russia’s propaganda and information war. Sign up to the official news sources and donate to support Ukrainian media, such as The Kyiv Independent, who during the endless year of russian aggression continued their work despite the shellings and electricity cut-offs.
Donate to Ukraine
During the last 12 months, we received from you over 30,000 euros. The received donations of 25,000€ were spent on first aid kits and medical equipment to Kyiv, humanitarian aid to Kharkiv, humanitarian aid and support for Ukrainian refugees with disabilities in Germany (Sunflower Care). We also covered the costs of the visit of teenagers from Mariupol at documenta15 in Kassel, and supported our partner in Zaporizhzhya (Soldatski prival), who helps Ukrainian troops with groceries and supplies.
In the last weeks, we’ve collected additional 5,530 euros to support our alumni and partner organisations. By now, we’ve raised funds for Laska collective in Kyiv, new housing for IDPs built by Co-Haty in Ivano-Frankivsk and for support of the Ukrainian army with drinking water, food and ammunition in Zaporizhzhia. We have also fundraised money and helped purchase and deliver 2 reconnaissance drones for the 108th Separate Mountain Assault Battalion of Ukraine. 100 % of your donations go directly to Ukrainian organizations. We cover all transfer fees and other administrative costs ourselves. Please keep donating to us or other trustworthy foundations and organisations that help Ukraine. Click here for bank information and other details.
In the last weeks, we’ve collected additional 5,530 euros to support our alumni and partner organisations. By now, we’ve raised funds for Laska collective in Kyiv, new housing for IDPs built by Co-Haty in Ivano-Frankivsk and for support of the Ukrainian army with drinking water, food and ammunition in Zaporizhzhia. We have also fundraised money and helped purchase and deliver 2 reconnaissance drones for the 108th Separate Mountain Assault Battalion of Ukraine. 100 % of your donations go directly to Ukrainian organizations. We cover all transfer fees and other administrative costs ourselves. Please keep donating to us or other trustworthy foundations and organisations that help Ukraine. Click here for bank information and other details.
Civil society in times of war: How do our partners continue their work in Ukraine?
One year has passed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and since then the population has been struggling with deadly attacks on their homes and infrastructure, personal losses of their family and friends, power and heating outages, and much more. But it is not only the lives of Ukrainians that have been affected by the Russian invasion; their work has also had to adapt to the circumstances of war. This also affects our partners in Ukraine, with whom Dekabristen e.V. had already been working with and implementing projects together for many years. On the anniversary of the invasion, we asked our partners "Laska" (Kyiv), "Cultprojector" (Zaporizhzhia) as well as "Feminist Workshop" (Lviv) how the war has influenced their work, how they can be supported and what expectations they have of their international partners.
Instagram
Website
1. What does your organisation do, what topics do you deal with?
LASKA is a social and charitable project founded to change the cultural landscape and improve social needs in Kyiv, Ukraine. Our goal and mission is to form a community of people united by the idea of conscious consumption and to contribute to the solution of a local environmental problem by giving discarded things a new life. We work donation-based: People donate their things to us, which we sort into different categories. We donate 85% to charities needing help, and sell 15% in our two stores in Kyiv. We are also a project with a complete ecological cycle. We recycle the remains of rags or create upcycling, both commercial and social projects.
2. How has your work changed since the Russian invasion in Feb 2022?
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, we have been providing humanitarian assistance to internally displaced people; we support humanitarian funds and send a percentage of the proceeds to various humanitarian organisations. The amount of clothing donated to charitable foundations and those who need it - 594,058.3 kilograms; donated to charity - UAH 1,388,257.
3. How is it possible to support you and your work?
The constant power outages in Kyiv have made it much more difficult to carry out our daily work. In addition, this winter we had to deal with financial difficulties. Our team consists of 13 employees, and we support all of them, continue our work and pay salaries. However, we are currently looking for additional funds to purchase generators, additional lamps, create collection containers, logistics, etc. We are open to any kind of help, both financial and donations of clothes.
4. What are your expectations towards your international partners?
We always ask our international partners to spread truthful information about the war in Ukraine, to combat Russian propaganda and to support the Ukrainian community in their countries. We will also be grateful if they report about us at the international level and help us carry out our charitable activities during the war.
Website
1. What does your organisation do, what topics do you deal with?
LASKA is a social and charitable project founded to change the cultural landscape and improve social needs in Kyiv, Ukraine. Our goal and mission is to form a community of people united by the idea of conscious consumption and to contribute to the solution of a local environmental problem by giving discarded things a new life. We work donation-based: People donate their things to us, which we sort into different categories. We donate 85% to charities needing help, and sell 15% in our two stores in Kyiv. We are also a project with a complete ecological cycle. We recycle the remains of rags or create upcycling, both commercial and social projects.
2. How has your work changed since the Russian invasion in Feb 2022?
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, we have been providing humanitarian assistance to internally displaced people; we support humanitarian funds and send a percentage of the proceeds to various humanitarian organisations. The amount of clothing donated to charitable foundations and those who need it - 594,058.3 kilograms; donated to charity - UAH 1,388,257.
3. How is it possible to support you and your work?
The constant power outages in Kyiv have made it much more difficult to carry out our daily work. In addition, this winter we had to deal with financial difficulties. Our team consists of 13 employees, and we support all of them, continue our work and pay salaries. However, we are currently looking for additional funds to purchase generators, additional lamps, create collection containers, logistics, etc. We are open to any kind of help, both financial and donations of clothes.
4. What are your expectations towards your international partners?
We always ask our international partners to spread truthful information about the war in Ukraine, to combat Russian propaganda and to support the Ukrainian community in their countries. We will also be grateful if they report about us at the international level and help us carry out our charitable activities during the war.
Instagram
Facebook
1. What does your organisation do, what topics do you deal with?
Cultprojector, established in 2016, aims to develop Ukraine's creative economy through participatory projects in urbanism, art, photo exhibitions, festivals, theatre, cinema, literature, educational lectures, and workshops. We focus on Zaporizhzhia and southeastern Ukraine, and aspire to integrate Ukraine into the global artistic conversation and make it an integral part of the European creative economy. Our current projects focus on the promotion of international ties between Ukrainian, European and American artists and organisations, the non-formal artistic and cultural education for talented Ukrainian youth, and the mitigation of the effects of Russia's brutal aggression on Ukraine's sovereignty.
2. How has your work changed since the Russian invasion in Feb 2022?
Our current mission is to showcase the resilience of our people and culture in the face of barbaric Russian aggression, and to support artistic expression and the creative economy in war-torn Ukraine. Despite the daily shelling of Zaporizhzhia, which is on the front line of the Russian war in Ukraine, we launched a creative space in the Community Center for IDPs in Zaporizhzhia together with our partners from the Zaporizhzhia Regional Youth Center. Despite the displacement of part of our team in 2022, we have managed to carry out two international cooperation projects during the ongoing invasion:
3. How is it possible to support you and your work?
Telling the true stories of the Russian-Ukrainian war is the most important support for us, as for all Ukrainians. Here is how you can help us as an organisation:
1. What does your organisation do, what topics do you deal with?
Cultprojector, established in 2016, aims to develop Ukraine's creative economy through participatory projects in urbanism, art, photo exhibitions, festivals, theatre, cinema, literature, educational lectures, and workshops. We focus on Zaporizhzhia and southeastern Ukraine, and aspire to integrate Ukraine into the global artistic conversation and make it an integral part of the European creative economy. Our current projects focus on the promotion of international ties between Ukrainian, European and American artists and organisations, the non-formal artistic and cultural education for talented Ukrainian youth, and the mitigation of the effects of Russia's brutal aggression on Ukraine's sovereignty.
2. How has your work changed since the Russian invasion in Feb 2022?
Our current mission is to showcase the resilience of our people and culture in the face of barbaric Russian aggression, and to support artistic expression and the creative economy in war-torn Ukraine. Despite the daily shelling of Zaporizhzhia, which is on the front line of the Russian war in Ukraine, we launched a creative space in the Community Center for IDPs in Zaporizhzhia together with our partners from the Zaporizhzhia Regional Youth Center. Despite the displacement of part of our team in 2022, we have managed to carry out two international cooperation projects during the ongoing invasion:
- An international residency on rethinking industrial cities, which was transformed into a shelter program for Ukrainian women artists displaced by war, and a platform for rethinking cities during the war. As a result, 7 concepts for art objects were created and 2 exhibitions were organised in Halle (Germany) and Zaporizhzhia (Ukraine), and now we are working on the physical installation of one of the art objects in Zaporizhzhia.
- The international design laboratory "Re-imagine your city!", which we joined as a partner and participated in all its stages, helps Ukrainian creative youth to exchange ideas with their counterparts from Germany, Poland, and Georgia and creates a digital space where they can explore and plan the implementation of their own small urban intervention projects.
3. How is it possible to support you and your work?
Telling the true stories of the Russian-Ukrainian war is the most important support for us, as for all Ukrainians. Here is how you can help us as an organisation:
- Donate to our PayPal or bank account to support our institutional development and inter-project activities.
- Invite us to your project as a partner or create a project with us.
- Come to our creative space in Zaporizhzhia with a lecture, discussion, exhibition, or film screening. We are currently hosting offline, hybrid, and online events there.
- Become a volunteer for our organisation.
Instagram
Website
1. What does your organisation do, what topics do you deal with?
We provide shelter for women*, children and pets and support their individual needs. We provide basic products and psychosocial support to elderly women in Lviv. We nurture the community of teenage girls and trans and non-binary people by holding regular knowledge-sharing events and providing individual support on their journey as activists. We build and support activist communities both online and offline, organising group meetings, strengthening connections and trust between them, supporting their initiatives, and coordinating collaborative work. And we create online content about the needs of vulnerable groups during the war and highlight human rights issues for local and global audiences by organising presentations, meetings and written materials.
2. How has your work changed since the Russian invasion in Feb 2022?
With the importance of international solidarity, we put our global cooperation in the foreground. We are open to joint projects and discussions. And we invite you to share voices of Ukrainian feminists that we collect in our YouTube podcast "Feminists about the war" (a text version is also available). Please also follow our English Twitter channel FeministsUA, soon we will have more opportunities to interact. And of course we welcome donations to: https://femwork.org/en/support-us/
3. How is it possible to support you and your work?
We hope that the international community will work to create the conditions for the destruction of the terrorist state regime in Russia so that the Russian invasion of other states will never happen again. Military support to the Ukrainian army is the most obvious way and the first step. It is also obvious that the world should stop all cooperation with the Russians who support the Russian army and create the conditions for the punishment of all those who kill, rape and help in it.
Website
1. What does your organisation do, what topics do you deal with?
We provide shelter for women*, children and pets and support their individual needs. We provide basic products and psychosocial support to elderly women in Lviv. We nurture the community of teenage girls and trans and non-binary people by holding regular knowledge-sharing events and providing individual support on their journey as activists. We build and support activist communities both online and offline, organising group meetings, strengthening connections and trust between them, supporting their initiatives, and coordinating collaborative work. And we create online content about the needs of vulnerable groups during the war and highlight human rights issues for local and global audiences by organising presentations, meetings and written materials.
2. How has your work changed since the Russian invasion in Feb 2022?
With the importance of international solidarity, we put our global cooperation in the foreground. We are open to joint projects and discussions. And we invite you to share voices of Ukrainian feminists that we collect in our YouTube podcast "Feminists about the war" (a text version is also available). Please also follow our English Twitter channel FeministsUA, soon we will have more opportunities to interact. And of course we welcome donations to: https://femwork.org/en/support-us/
3. How is it possible to support you and your work?
We hope that the international community will work to create the conditions for the destruction of the terrorist state regime in Russia so that the Russian invasion of other states will never happen again. Military support to the Ukrainian army is the most obvious way and the first step. It is also obvious that the world should stop all cooperation with the Russians who support the Russian army and create the conditions for the punishment of all those who kill, rape and help in it.
“The lives of disabled persons from and in Ukraine are in constant danger.”
As an NGO located in Berlin we want to raise awareness for the more than 50.000 Ukrainian refugees that arrived in Berlin in the last year. The reopening of the hangars in Tempelhof and the situation of refugees sleeping in tents at Tegel airport are not a solution to create humane living conditions. We acknowledge the work of numerous civic initiatives in this city to support refugees!
Sunflower Care e.V. supports disabled, neurodivergent, chronically ill and war wounded children and adults from and in Ukraine and their caregivers. The volunteers co-organize and co-coordinate evacuations from war zones to Germany, and other safe countries in Europe or cities in Ukraine. The lives of disabled persons from and in Ukraine are in constant danger. No electricity and no heating means: if a person uses a ventilator in everyday life or should charge their aids to survive, if the person cannot move and their body does not produce heat, if the person needs urgent surgery and medical treatment, their life is in danger.
In Germany, Sunflower Care e.V. accompanies disabled and ill persons and their carers in the bureaucratic processes and takes care of necessary needs, such as medicine, wheelchairs and rollators. Another problem is the rejectionism of the integration system and the violation of human rights in collective housing and other facilities in Germany and other countries.
The team of Sunflower Care e.V. calls on civil society to stand up for the rights of disabled refugees and demand barrier-free accommodation in private housing units, access to barrier-free information, to assistance, aids, therapeutic support, education and leisure activities.
To continue this work, Sunflower Care e.V. needs your financial support.
Money can be sent via PayPal to: donations@sunflower-care.org.
Sunflower Care e.V. also needs new people to join the team to support disabled people and their carers from Ukraine in Germany. Please write to the email: info@sunflower-care.org.
Sunflower Care e.V. supports disabled, neurodivergent, chronically ill and war wounded children and adults from and in Ukraine and their caregivers. The volunteers co-organize and co-coordinate evacuations from war zones to Germany, and other safe countries in Europe or cities in Ukraine. The lives of disabled persons from and in Ukraine are in constant danger. No electricity and no heating means: if a person uses a ventilator in everyday life or should charge their aids to survive, if the person cannot move and their body does not produce heat, if the person needs urgent surgery and medical treatment, their life is in danger.
In Germany, Sunflower Care e.V. accompanies disabled and ill persons and their carers in the bureaucratic processes and takes care of necessary needs, such as medicine, wheelchairs and rollators. Another problem is the rejectionism of the integration system and the violation of human rights in collective housing and other facilities in Germany and other countries.
The team of Sunflower Care e.V. calls on civil society to stand up for the rights of disabled refugees and demand barrier-free accommodation in private housing units, access to barrier-free information, to assistance, aids, therapeutic support, education and leisure activities.
To continue this work, Sunflower Care e.V. needs your financial support.
Money can be sent via PayPal to: donations@sunflower-care.org.
Sunflower Care e.V. also needs new people to join the team to support disabled people and their carers from Ukraine in Germany. Please write to the email: info@sunflower-care.org.
Demos and events in Berlin
Around the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there are numerous demonstrations and public events planned in Berlin, and we encourage you to join them and show your solidarity.
#FullScaleFreedom
On February 24, 16:00 there will be a march #FullScaleFreedom organised by the civil society association of young Ukrainians “Vitsche” in collaboration with the LibMod. “russia must be held accountable for its criminal war and the suffering it has brought upon Ukraine. We intend to remind the international community of russia’s ongoing violations of international law, its terror against Ukrainian civilians, as well as the human rights abuses and war crimes being committed by russia’s occupation forces.” The start is at Café Kyiv, Karl-Marx-Allee 34, 10178 Berlin. We participate in the demo and the anti-imperialist bloc within the Vitsche demo and invite you to join us!
On February 21, 19:00 we invite you to a book discussion with Ukrainian writer and poet Tanya Pyankova, who has written a novel on Holodomor called “Вік червоних мурах“ (The Age of the Red Ants), for which she combined and assembled in an imagined place what she found in archive documents from that time. As she writes in the epilogue, her novel is about "the horrible, unjustifiable terror that the occupying state of Russia began against Ukraine in 1908 and is continuing to this day". Venue: Panda platforma.
Book discussion
Tanya Pyankova “The Age of Red Ants”
On February 25, the Ukrainian contemporary art festival Art — Weapon! presents a full day and night of newly emerging culture during wartime from Ukrainian musicians, painters, performers, and other artists. “After all, the strength of Ukrainians is in the diversity of our vision, feelings, and experiences, united in a single idea of the victory of light over darkness”.
Festival
Art — Weapon!
On 27 February, numerous Berlin-based organisations are joining to host the event Cafe Kyiv – We Choose Freedom. “Throughout the day, Cafe Kyiv will host workshops, discussions, talks, salons and culture. Freedom, Europe, security and recovery will be on the agenda. Through art, history, films, cuisine and the creative scene, we want to rediscover Ukraine and listen to its diverse voices”. Due to limited space, registration is required.
Cafe Kyiv – We Choose Freedom
The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine contradicts the just and peaceful goals of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. On 1 March, 18:00, the civil society Coalition for Sustainable Development of Russia (CSDR) will present a report on the implications for Sustainable Development in Russia resulting from the country’s military aggression and the repression against its own population.
The Invasion of Ukraine: Implications for the SDGs in Russia
We keep supporting Ukraine and Ukrainians, especially, activists, volunteers, partner organisations in Ukraine and abroad. We also support journalists, artists, activists, political prisoners and refugees from other countries, who share our values and policies on the Russian war in Ukraine, who fight against the Putin and Lukashenko regimes, against dictatorship and imperialism in the countries of the former USSR. Soon, we’ll present to you our new programs and opportunities, tell you more about our transition and strategies.
© 2023 Dekabristen e.V.
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Dekabristen e.V.
Ahlbecker Str. 3
10437 Berlin
Dekabristen e.V.
Ahlbecker Str. 3
10437 Berlin
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