How you can help Ukraine

I am harvesting these links from multiple issues of Tim Snyder’s “Thinking About…” Substack newsletter. Ironically, although these are available online, and I received them as part of a free subscription, the online version cannot be viewed without a paid subscription – sad.

March 1, 2025

If you are thinking today about how to help Ukrainians, here are some possibilities: Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian NGO that supports soldiers on the battlefield and veterans; United 24, the Ukrainian state platform for donations, with many excellent projects); RAZOM, an American NGO, tax-deductible for US citizens, which cooperates with Ukrainian NGOS to support civilians; and BlueCheck Ukraine, which aims for efficient cooperation with Ukrainian groups and is also tax-deductible.

https://snyder.substack.com/p/help-stop-a-genocide

So rather than indulge my own preferences, I asked where I could be most immediately helpful.  The answer from the Ukrainians I asked was a system to defend against the Iranian drones.  And so that is what, as an ambassador of the president’s United24 platform, I have pledged to do: to raise $1.25 million for such a system, a Shahed Hunter. 

https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-challenge-of-6

1.  Safe Skies.  This is passive drone-detection system that allows Ukrainians to detect drones and cruise missiles in time to shoot them down.  President Zelens’kyi just posted some photos of that end of the operation.  Thanks to thousands of people, including many of you here, I was able (with support from some great historian colleagues) to raise enough money to protect eight Ukrainian regions with five thousand sensors (map here).  Ukraine needs 12,000 total sensors to protect the entire country, so 7,000 more.  The technology is inexpensive and effective.  I have seen it at work.  It saves lives.  This is a very direct way that you can help Ukrainians protect themselves.  Just go to this page and hit the button “Protect Ukrainian Skies.” 

2.  Razom for Ukraine.  This is an American 501(c)3 that carries out important policy advocacy work in Washington DC and around the country.  Aside from their terrific advocate team, they have a large group of volunteers who work tirelessly with Ukrainian NGOs to deliver aid and supplies to Ukraine.  I have worked together with their great team on events for years and am always filled with admiration of their energy, efficacy, and devotion.  A donation to them is a very safe bet.  Please visit their page and donate.

3.  Come Back Alive Foundation.  More and more I hear from people who wish to help the Ukrainian army directly.  A Ukrainian NGO that supplies soldiers on the front with what they need is Come Back Alive.  They have been doing this job since the first Russian invasion and are very well reputed and highly reliable.  You can see their fundraisers here.

4.  1 Team 1 Fight Foundation.  This is a group with some very active European volunteers who have shown their mettle and devotion in getting supplies to the front in Ukraine.  They are also an American 501(c)3.  You can find their campaigns here.

5.  Liberty Ukraine Foundation.  Here we have a small group of (mostly) Texans who have done a great job in delivering humanitarian and military aid to Ukrainians.  You can find their current projects here.  They are a US 501(c)3.

6.  Documenting Ukraine.  As many of you will know, I helped establish this project to support Ukrainian scholars, journalists, writers, artists, photographers, librarians, archivists, and others who are documenting the war, each according to their own talents and following their own projects.  We have given grants to 360 Ukrainians at this point, and are aiming for 500 by the end of the year.  (One of those 360 was Mstyslav Chernov, the director of 20 Days in Mariupol, which just won an Oscar).  I am proud of this effort to give Ukrainians a voice and to create a record of the war in real time and across multiple media.  You can donate here.  This is also a US 501(c)3.

https://snyder.substack.com/p/how-to-help-ukrainians-during-the (flood)

1.  Ukraïner have a small group on the scene who have been evacuating people right from the beginning.  Your donation would mean a lot to them.  You can support them on Paypal from abroad via tymoshenkoyulia99@gmail.com or follow this link.

2.  Rescue Now UA is a Ukrainian evacuation organization founded when this invasion began now active in Kherson.  They are constituted as a US 501(c)3 so donations by Americans are tax-deductible.  You can send money by PayPal here or consult the donation link here.

3.  The Ukrainian Firefighters Foundation is raising money to buy pumps for the Kherson Emergency Services.  You can help via Paypal via bimbirayte@gmail.com or by going to this page and hitting the Paypal button.

4.  Vostok SOS is a Ukrainian evacuation organization working in the flooded Kherson region now to move people with limited mobility, children, and animals.  You can support them through Paypal on nfo@vostok-sos.org or use this donation link

5.  The Prytula Foundation is an established Ukrainian NGO specializing in matching equipment to local needs.  They are already delivering boats and other gear.  You can support them via Paypal on serhiy.prytula.kyiv@gmail.com (specify goal) or follow this donation link.

6.  UAnimals has been evacuating and caring for animals throughout the war and is raising funds to do so now in Kherson region.  As you might have noticed Ukraine is a country that cares for its land and its animals.  Donation link is here.

7.  Razom is an American NGO that cooperates with local Ukrainian NGOs.  If you donate to Razom, they will make sure your support is appropriately directed.  It is a US 501(c)3.  You can donate here.

8.  World Central Kitchen is an international NGO that has done extraordinary work in Ukraine during this war.  They are providing excellent nutritious food in Kherson region right now.  You can support them here.

9.  United24 is President Volodymyr Zelens’kyi’s official fundraising platform (I am an ambassador).  Their “Lifeboat Ukraine” project is raising money for gear for rescue operations.  Follow this link and look for the Help button.

10.  ComeBackAlive is a trusted NGO that supports Ukrainian soldiers. Ukrainian soldiers are now evacuating disabled people and the elderly. They are also using their drones to deliver water to people stranded on rooftops.  Beyond that: rescue operations are hindered by Russian artillery and snipers.  Only Ukrainian soldiers can get them out of range.  Here’s a link.

Giving WordLand a try

I was not planning on trying WordLand by Dave Winer, but after seeing a post from Ken Smith on X, and reading Dave’s post about it today, I decided the way I could add value would be to create a “first-time user” video – an “unboxing”, so to speak. Executive summary: WordLand successfully posted to a test WordPress.com site I created, the video appears below.

SIDE NOTE: Camtasia, the video capture/editing program SUCKS! At around 1:50 in the video, the audio suddenly sped up and made me sound like a chipmunk! I had to use Audacity to fix the audio – DISGUSTING! Camtasia costs hundreds of dollars – not worth it!

Some thoughts on the end of the Core Intuition podcast

I had seen some recent posts from bloggers I follow that the Core Intuition podcast (hosted by Manton Reece and Daniel Jalkut) was coming to an end after 626 episodes over 16 years. I listened to the final episode this week, and it was a pleasant conversation. They did make a few statements which should be examined, though, in my opinion.

The first was about how they were close to stopping the podcast some time ago, but then started taking ads, and they decided to keep it going. Many podcasts I listen to run ads, and almost without fail, the hosts of those podcasts talk about how the ads “make this podcast possible”. I wish to challenge this statement, especially for a podcast such as this. First, the two people involved own their own software companies (albeit small ones), so hosting should not be a problem (host as part of your company servers). Second, was the income from those ads so motivating? Was it paying for direct costs of the podcast? I mean, this is two guys talking, which could be done via Zoom or other free services with production using Audacity, And, they also had a membership option, where individuals could pay to “support” the podcast, and have access to some extra content. Again, was this revenue “the thing” that kept it going so long? I don’t think so. From this one episode, I got the impression that Manton and Daniel were good friends, and enjoyed talking with each other. I think that, with some recent events involving Manton, he felt like this was an area to “cut back” in his life, and Daniel was happy to “free up the time” as well. In my opinion, many podcasts that run ads are trying to “make it pay”, so that the people producing it feel compensated for their time. They could do that podcast without ads, but they are leaning on that as an excuse for running ads, and trying to convince their listeners that “they could not produce this podcast without these sponsors”. BALONEY!

The second statement that I take issue with is that, by their stopping this podcast, they were “creating some space” for new podcasts to start and take root. Give me a break! This is the Internet, where as Doc Searls righteously says “NEA: Nobody owns it, Everybody can use it and Anybody can improve it.”. And, by the way, the Doc Searls post I just linked to is talking about the openness of PODCASTING! Anyone in the world can create a podcast. I have written about how to use WordPress to host a podcast, and using Audacity to edit a podcast. Thanks to the work of Dave Winer, no one has been able to take over the ability to create and distribute a podcast. Marshall Brain gave a great TEDx talk in May 2015 titled “Getting Over Getting Started”, with its main theme that the only thing stopping people from creating things is their own inertia (tools are not the problem, knowledge is not the problem). So, PLEEEASE, Manton and Daniel, don’t think that your stopping your podcast is going to get someone else to fill your shoes. Enjoy your “extra time”, but it is up to others to decide to get into the podcast game, and your leaving the arena is not “making space” for others – the space has been there from the beginning.

I would like to close with a quote from my post “The Joy of Podcasting“:

To close, I recently listened to a Radio Open Source podcast episode focusing on the life of Hannah Arendt, who lived under authoritarian and totalitarian regimes in the 20th century. One line of her writing stood out to me: “We are free to change the world and start something new in it.”. I think that every podcast is a chance to change the world, and anyone is free to create one and send it out into the world. Thank you, Dave Winer, for making this possible.

from “The Joy of Podcasting”

Yeah!

Playing around again with the Hugo static site generator

Jack Baty converted his eponymous site to Hugo, and I liked the look, and decided to think of a reason to try out his theme. I decided to create two linkblogs, one for personal links and one for liveblogging the Trump administration. In the spirit of “imperfect progress is still progress”, I am declaring the sites live, they need work, but I got something out there, at least one post each – yay!

A short review of the Huffduffer podcast feed service

Recently, I posted some ideas about podcast subscription lists/listening lists, and one of my readers (John Johnston) suggested I look at the Huffduffer podcast feed service. I found out that I already had an account – amazing! Must have forgotten!

I tried it this evening. After I logged in, I clicked on the “Huffduff it!” button at the top of the page. This took me to another page which had text boxes for the audio URL, title, description, and tags. I filled in the fields and saw a file added to the previous file that I had “huffduffed”. I then took the feed URL, and was able to subscribe to it to PocketCasts, and to listen to one of the files. Bing!

This service provides the basic functionality of creating a feed from audio files, and also hosts the feed, so the user does not have to provide any hosting. Nice! In the next few days, I will review some other services that I discovered after Huffduffer. Many thanks to John Johnston for mentioning the Huffduffer service.