Ukrainian Patriot

Ukrainian Patriot Ukrainian Patriot is a group of Ukrainians and internationals working to aid volunteers defending UA On 24 February, 2022, we awoke to war in Ukraine.
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Ukrainian Patriot was conceived on Day 5 of that war as a trusted source for the international community to donate funds, food, medicine, and tactical clothing to keep Ukrainian citizens fed, healthy, and alive. Although many of us are far away from Ukraine, the threat and destruction is brought home to us every day through the coverage we are seeing from traditional, digital and social media sour

ces. In 2022, war is raging again in Europe, perpetrated by Vladimir Putin over a once-peaceful Ukraine, a nation that has made incredible strides and yearns for a democratic and enduring freedom. Lana Nicole Niland has had the great fortune to spend the last 18 years living, dancing, creating art and developing amazing local partnerships in Kyiv, even as she built a network that stretched all the way back to Canada. She remained in Kyiv when the tanks breached the sovereign serenity of Ukraine. Lana has seen firsthand the volunteers sign up for Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces, which, though considered a Reserve Division of the regular Ukrainian Army, provides very little equipment for defense or personal protection. Seeing ways she could bring real help to these forces, she created the Ukrainian Patriot fund (UP). UP is a means of effecting on-the-ground changes for these brave souls as they face the nearly insurmountable odds of the invaders’ infantry and armoured divisions marching into their cities and destroying their homes, businesses, and peaceful way of life. Whether you are part of the Ukrainian diaspora, or simply a concerned fellow human being, the horrors we are witnessing from many KMs away have left us all feeling helpless as we witness this unfolding tragedy…

Be the change you want to see in the world. Give today so Ukraine has more than just brave hearts to protect them. Give today so there is hope for Ukraine tomorrow.

Слава Україні!

A logistical report from a volunteer foundation is usually measured in kilograms, tracking numbers, and delivery confirm...
01/08/2026

A logistical report from a volunteer foundation is usually measured in kilograms, tracking numbers, and delivery confirmation receipts. But the reality behind these numbers is simple: it is about moving essential items from a warehouse directly into the hands of those holding the line.

This month, through our ongoing partnership with Нова пошта, these shipments moved without interruption, reaching specific points across the country where our defenders are stationed:

- A Starlink terminal was shipped and delivered to ensure stable connection for the units operating in the southern direction.
- Bulk shipments of adult diapers and specialised care items reached military medical facilities where wounded defenders are currently undergoing rehabilitation.
- Additional medical cargo and hygiene supplies were delivered to the deoccupied areas of Kharkiv oblast to sustain the families of servicemen and personnel staying in the zone of close proximity to the front.
- Shipments of specialised food and supplies were routed to Mykolaiv oblast and Izium to support the animal units and shelters working alongside defenders in these heavily affected territories.

Our work does not happen in a vacuum. It relies on a network of people who understand that speed and reliable transport are just as vital as the cargo itself. The points provided by Гуманітарна Нова пошта are not just numbers on a screen - they are the physical means that allowed every single one of these boxes to be taped, shipped, and received on time.

The next batches are already being labeled at the warehouse. The route continues.

Ukrainian Patriot - The ArchiveLooking through the oldest photos in our digital archive, the changes look technical at f...
30/07/2026

Ukrainian Patriot - The Archive
Looking through the oldest photos in our digital archive, the changes look technical at first. The trucks in the early pictures are smaller, the warehouse walls are different, and the faces of the team look less tired. But the physical nature of the work has not changed. The black marker used to label tactical medical kits is the same one we use today.

From the first journeys, the focus was not on guessing what might happen, but on delivering what was immediately needed. The early photographs document that certainty in motion:
The first medical deliveries to Chasiv Yar and frontline villages. The photos show boxes stacked in small village kitchens. Today, many of these locations are completely closed due to heavy fighting. But the field doctors and neighbors who received those initial supplies used them to keep people alive when the roads finally cut off.

The first crates of tactical medicine sent to stabilisation points. The images show the first batches of IFAKs being loaded into volunteer cars. Today, those same kits are in the mud of the trenches, being opened by defenders to stop bleeding on the zero line.

The first resilience sessions with children in Izium. Some saw the early attempts at outdoor games and coloured paper stars as simple distractions. But on the concrete, the children showed us something else: the stars were something they could control when everything else was falling apart.

The first tons of food brought to frontline animal shelters. The early photos show abandoned yards filled with wet, shaking dogs and volunteers operating on pure exhaustion. We knew then, as we know now, that leaving them behind meant leaving a piece of our own humanity. Today, those shelters still stand, and those animals are fed.

The spirit behind these archives is not about emotional slogans. It is about a quiet, repetitive determination. We saw what worked in the first months, and we continue doing it now - in the stabilisation points, in the villages, in the shelters, in the makeshift classrooms...

Back at the warehouse, the next trucks are being loaded. The markers are out, the boxes are being taped, and the destination remains the same: wherever help is needed most.

When the full-scale invasion began, Taïsa was finishing high school in Canada.Like so many people in the Ukrainian diasp...
23/07/2026

When the full-scale invasion began, Taïsa was finishing high school in Canada.

Like so many people in the Ukrainian diaspora, she watched from thousands of kilometres away, wanting to do something more than simply follow the news. This summer, with the support of her family, she came to Ukraine and spent two and a half months volunteering with Ukrainian Patriot.

There wasn't one job. There were dozens.
She helped prepare the Resilience Centre in Shelestyanyi, Khmelnytskyi oblast, ahead of its first children's camps. She spent a week volunteering with our friends at WOW Animal Shelter in Vinnytsia. She learned to weave camouflage netting. She travelled east with our team to Kharkiv and across the oblast to places like Taranivka, Izium, Barvinkove, and other frontline communities, helping run resilience sessions with children through dance, English-language lessons, games, and crafts.
Somewhere between all of that, she also learned to drive a manual car, made friendships that will last well beyond this summer, and discovered that Ukraine felt less like a place she was visiting and more like home.

People often ask what volunteering looks like. Most of the time, it looks like picking up whatever needs doing that day. Sometimes it's carrying lumber; sometimes it's washing dishes; sometimes it's spending an afternoon making children laugh.
Thank you Taïsa for saying "yes" when Ukraine needed more hands. We'll be waiting for your next visit.

If you've ever thought about volunteering, maybe this is your sign to stop thinking and start planning.

21/07/2026

About a month ago, our team spent several days travelling across eastern Ukraine. One of the stops was Izium, where we held a Resilience Session for children living in a community that continues to carry the weight of war every single day.

It’s easy to focus only on what’s happening today. But before we share more from this summer’s camps, we wanted to return to one afternoon in Izium. Because this work didn’t begin at the Resilience Centre, and it certainly doesn’t end there.

For a couple of hours, the street filled with music, games, dancing, crafts, and children simply enjoying being children. It doesn’t erase what waits for them when they go home, and we never pretend that it does. But for a little while, there was room for laughter instead of air raid alerts, teamwork instead of worry, and movement instead of standing still. That is why we continue making these journeys.

The road into eastern Ukraine is one we know well. Some days we deliver humanitarian aid. Other days it’s medical supplies or equipment for defenders. On this trip, the most important thing we carried was time. Time to listen. Time to play. Time to remind these children that people continue to come back.

Another group of children will soon be filling our Resilience Centre with the same laughter this summer. But with this clip, we’re reminded that every one of these sessions matters, whether it takes place in a quiet village in Khmelnytskyi oblast or in the cauldron of the war.

This is two minutes from one afternoon. We hope it gives you a small glimpse into why we keep going back.

UkrainianPatriot

Some partnerships are built over years on the same roads… We first met Harald in the early days of the full-scale invasi...
19/07/2026

Some partnerships are built over years on the same roads…

We first met Harald in the early days of the full-scale invasion. He drove into Ukraine from Norway with a white van, a trailer full of aid, and a willingness to go wherever the need was greatest. Since then, we've crossed paths more times than we can count, working together on deliveries deep into the east and south.

Harald is the kind of volunteer who simply gets on with the job, and his latest trip looked much the same. A vehicle loaded with fire extinguishers, fishing nets, humanitarian aid, and, as always, freshly baked muffins (for which he is well-known 😉). If you've spent time with defenders in eastern Ukraine, there's a good chance you've heard about Harald's muffins.
Then, near Pyriatyn, in early spring this year, everything changed.

His vehicle struck a car that had been left on the road, and the impact destroyed the van. Harald was trapped inside the wreckage with devastating injuries to his right leg. It could easily have ended differently.
When we finally reached him and his team, we asked one question.

"What do you need?"

The answer wasn't about himself.

"Save the cargo."

So that's what we did.

Our team went directly to the crash site, recovered every fire extinguisher, every fishing net, and every piece of humanitarian aid that could be salvaged. Everything was transported back to our warehouse in Kyiv before continuing east to the defenders and frontline units it had been intended for from the beginning. The mission didn't stop. It simply changed drivers.

Harald is now back in Norway, undergoing more extensive surgery following the first round in Kyiv that saved his leg. He's focused on recovery, and, true to form, is already raising funds for another vehicle so he can get back on the road. He’ll be back in August 😄

People often ask what partnership looks like in Ukraine. Sometimes it looks like this. You carry the load until your friends are able to carry it for themselves again.

To help Harald back into a new van, follow this link:
https://www.spleis.no/project/490839?s=17822160&fbclid=IwY2xjawS7bAFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe_TNRQy-uKmZPLusZgZBfSaZCSjcTzDctQ9sdamWxLy1IhUhs-jS84rj-gZA_aem_MgrxqbipkHdv-G1GA65L7g

We had a plan. The beds would be in. The showers would be finished. The kitchen would be fully connected. The first grou...
15/07/2026

We had a plan. The beds would be in. The showers would be finished. The kitchen would be fully connected. The first group of children would arrive to a camp that looked exactly the way we had imagined it.

That isn't quite how it happened.

The beds didn't arrive in time, so everyone slept on mattresses. The shower house wasn't fully connected yet, leaving one working shower for children, counsellors, and volunteers alike. The kitchen still had no running water, so dishes were washed outside in basins.

A month earlier, those things would have kept us awake at night. However, the children didn't seem to mind.

They laughed, adapted, helped one another, and somehow turned every inconvenience into part of the adventure. They reminded us that children don't measure a week by whether the plumbing works. They measure it by friendships, games, late-night conversations, and memories. That was always the real purpose of this place. For one week, children from frontline communities had the chance to simply be children.

As we come to the end of our own necessary rest period, preparations for round two at the UP Resilience Centre have already begun. The beds and the sink have already arrived; the showers will soon be complete; and the construction will finish.
Looking back, the first camp was never about having a perfect building. It was about opening the doors.
Should you feel called to be a part of the magic, follow the link: https://ukrainianpatriot.org/support-safe-spaces/

Some requests can’t wait.In May, we received a call from another volunteer about an urgent shortage at the National Mili...
12/07/2026

Some requests can’t wait.

In May, we received a call from another volunteer about an urgent shortage at the National Military Medical Clinical Centre in Kyiv. Within hours, our team had allocated the budget, sourced the supplies, and started coordinating the delivery. A few days later, the hospital received 2,000 suction catheters.

These are not the kind of items that attract attention, but they are the kind that hospital staff rely on every single day. This is often what medical support looks like. No headlines. No dramatic moments. Just identifying a gap, finding a solution, and making sure essential supplies reach the people who need them before they run out.

We work alongside hospitals because no one organisation can carry the load alone. When a request comes in, our job is to help fill the gap as quickly as possible.

The requests keep coming.

If you’d like to help us respond to the next one, you can support our medical work at UkrainianPatriot.org/donate

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