I have very exciting news that we have been working on for a long time and it’s now official. Protect a Volunteer now has a Memorandum of Cooperation and Interaction with the Foreign Recruitment Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For OPSEC purposes I am not sharing the exact details of the agreement. However we are looking forward to working on the shared goals of helping more foreigners come to assist Ukraine’s fight and provide them with appropriate support once they arrive. Ukraine’s defense of its own territory is remarkable; so are the contribution of foreign volunteers who fight with them. Integrating thousands of volunteers coming from all around the world has not been easy. It understandably took time for Ukraine to formalize a system to be able to expand their recruitment of foreigners as well as the opportunities they have in Ukraine. Now that it is formalized under a central command we are looking forward to working together. We will have a lot of updates soon regarding this partnership.

Our recent arrivals in the PAV library. That IFAK is desperately needed and goes out today. A lot of this came from our Amazon wishlist at protectavolunteer.com where we have carefully selected really useful products that cannot be bought in Ukraine, are far more expensive in Ukraine, or the American ones have far superior packaging. Below: 1. If you are coming to Ukraine, please bring over some Copenhagen long cut chewing tobacco. We cannot ship this. This is highly coveted here. 2. The Amazon list has these Jif peanut putter pouches. These go right in a pants pocket and are emergency high calorie nutritious food. 3. Basic Tyenol/panadol are way more expensive in Ukraine. The USA has these giant industrial sized bottles for the same price as a small packet here. American cold/flu medicine is also in high demand. 4. Low sugar protein bars are really coveted. Everyone everywhere is asking for more protein. You can find protein bars in Ukraine but options are far better in the EU and USA. 5. And finally...THEY GET TO HAVE MEXICAN FOOD ON POSITION. These are shelf-stable high protein packets of food they can't find here. That is going straight to some Americans and Mexican soldiers and it's a surprise. I know a lot of people have questions now on where donation dollars go. There are no questions if you use the Amazon list and buy yourself. Also if you are American and planning a trip to Europe soon you can volunteer to be a courier and bring over donated military kit of the Amazon supplies. You are responsible for luggage costs for this however if you have extra space in your suitcase then it's a super simple way to help. Contact [email protected] for that. We can only work with people who have a prior history of volunteer work with a Ukraine-related NGO or volunteer work as you are entrusted with donated goods.

This exactly. The change in Ukraine is noticeable. It is now so much more dangerous for civilians. People are worried about what will happen in winter. For soldiers some of them jokingly long for the “easy” days in the trenches because now they are on position way longer. Logistics challenges for resupply are totally different now. They’re stressed. Imagine how their families feel. Every ngo volunteer I know in Ukraine has a story about getting screamed at by an Ukraine supporter who gets mad about something or gets into some one-sided conflict with them. If you aren’t living through this then don’t make it worse for someone who is. If you don’t have nice things to say then now isn’t the time. Also understand that people can’t always tell you what is going on. I once had a person yell at me about why I didn’t get an update on their laptop I sent yet. I didn’t have it because right after the team got it, multiple team members died. I didn’t want to bother them about a photo. But I was not allowed to tell anyone that happened, at least not right away. They did make the video and were very grateful but obviously that wasn’t a priority at the time. People are already stressed and do not need more.

I think the best endorsement for PAV is what the foreign defenders say themselves. I frankly take a beating on this app from supposed Ukraine supporters and a lot of them choose to say something despite knowing they will be screamed at themselves. I think a ton of people here don't get what PAV is, how it operates, and why the foreign fighters are appreciative. 95% of what we do is not direct regular fundraising like a regular NGO. We have a 501c3 partner and move a ton of aid in the form of physical supplies plus take non-monetary donations of miles and points but the biggest thing we do is donor matching. We directly match donors with volunteers. They are in signal chats together. Financial transfers and physical goods go directly to them. Donors in the chat get private follow-ups of photos/videos and receipts. A ton of them are also having a fantastic time forming friendships and learning about what it's like to serve in Ukraine. I'm not in those chats. I do not and cannot financially benefit in any way. If I wanted to profit this was a horrible idea. This idea and the airline miles for foreign defenders are my ideas. I founded the org. I had a hard time getting it going because I had these ideas to help but I am not military myself. I knew they needed gear but not what gear. I tried to get US veterans setting up support for Ukraine to work with me. They laughed at me and told me I had no idea what I was doing. I got told go back to humanitarian work, go help refugees. One guy didn't laugh. One of the first foreigners that the flight program helped was an American Army veteran who went to Ukraine and joined the GUR Legion. I told him this idea and talked about how this could build trust with donors because they have direct contact and they didn't have to be concerned with corruption at the top when there is no top. He told me I was a genius and used his own money to set up the original website. When we started we had only his team we were helping. He thought of it from a soldier's perspective and said "This means we can get wet suits without telling people we are getting wet suits." I was new and naive to the military and didn't quite get what he meant. What he meant was that he could get funding for his team to get critical non-issued gear. But while everyone else had to tell the world what the gear was, who it's going to, I had a system where he only had to tell a couple people. They didn't have to tell the world they were planning a river assault they could just ask a small group of people to help get the tools to enable them to do that. This is why they love it. This is why I say I fight with my brain not with weapons. Multiple soldiers from that first team are dead now but it might have been all of them if I did not have this idea and make it work despite people telling me it could not be done. I would really like to continue to put my brain to work for Ukraine. It's becoming increasingly difficult to do that if Ukraine supporters can't leave me the hell alone to let me do that.

I’m blocked now. If anyone has questions, the reports for what we do are on our website and social media. We will never tolerate harassment even if you are a dinosaur or dog on the internet.

I am tired of dealing with this. My organization primarily supports foreigners fighting for Ukraine. Most of them you have never heard of and many of them will die for Ukraine. But I cannot keep doing this if I get harassed by supposed Ukraine supporters. I am tired. Maybe I should just spend time with my dad and tell everyone to go to hell.

Russia launched an illegal war on Ukraine and I am stuck here using my fancy law degree to figure out what counts as lethal vs non lethal aid because the legal doctrine did not keep up with technology. We will had decades of conferences and law review articles from people scared of guns figuring out if shotguns and ammo that are exclusively provided to shoot down drones, not people, are lethal. Meanwhile I know foreign fighters who killed Russians with a rock or were prepared for it. Maybe we should regulate rocks now. Russia does not not need to worry about this because they will attack regardless.

I will comment as a person with the same education and same training as Albanese. We are human rights attorneys/lawyers/advocates whatever you wanna call it. I see no excuse for her. In this profession you get trained on ethics. On responsibility to other people, which is different than the traditional client/attorney relationship. Our job is to advocate for people but do no harm to the particular people we interview or interact with. We are advocating to change an overall structure but should not harm anyone we encounter. She fails. The majority of people in Gaza are worse off in Hamas rule. Utilitarian principles fail. Individual principles of right to life fail both in Gaza and Ukraine. You are more likely to survive the invasion under Ukrainian rule than Russian. We are supposed to be human rights advocates and lawyers. To do that the people we advocate for need to live. She is arguing for a future that makes thar less likely. She has abdocated her responsibilities.

There is still no response to a foreign fighter saying this. Check his further replies for more information I assure you he is not just talking about PAV he talking about multiple organizations that keep help and his fellow soldiers alive. Today, this is us. This is what we received. This is from a team leader in 3rd Army Corps. They took casualties in Operation Vivaldi and this is me asking him what does he need to keep going. Look at this list closely. Everything is helpful and useful but there is ONE item where he says if possible because he knows it's hard to get. That is the one we are prioritizing. We do not want them to die. That is the item on this list deciding whether they live or die. Attack me all you want for running LLC. I am so happy I get to tell people putting their lives on the line that you are more likely to tell your grandchildren about what you did and who you are because we will get you what you need and put it right into your hands when no one else will.

Anyone coming from Australia to Europe? This is a STEAL. Fire resistant gear is normally $60 or more just for one piece. Given the attacks they face, fire resistant can save a life.

The UN is now the League of Nations. It's broken. Cannot be fixed.

I am back in Iowa now and Iowa has always had volatile weather but somehow when I arrive it's even more wild. We had major storms all week including lots of giant BOOMS from thunderstorms. This is not the rolling thunder I remember this is big bangs then silence. Fantastic. This is wonderful. Definitely doesn't sound like a missile.