  Online campaigns As it became obvious that Ukraine's military lacked even the most basic supplies, activists set up many online groups to collect and deliver donations to the army. Wings Phoenix has become one of the most popular. "Our task is to provide the Ukrainian army with clothes and shoes, protect and improve it as soon as possible," says the group's mission statement. It has more than 35,000 followers on Facebook and claims to have collected more than $850,000 (£500,000).crowdfunding advertising  The type of goods donated is almost entirely non-lethal, ranging from food, medicines and toiletries to bullet-proof vests, helmets and binoculars. There have even been reports in Ukrainian media about members of the public giving the army their own armoured personnel carriers, which had apparently been bought as surplus military equipment.indiegogo marketing Some of the donations go directly to individual soldiers. Activist Nataliya Vetvitskaya, who has 16,000 followers on Facebook, visits wounded soldiers in hospitals and then posts their bank details online so that money can be transferred directly into their accounts. Fans of football club Dnipro set up a donation point in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk and groups have been sending activists to supermarkets to encourage shoppers to buy and donate food on the spot. The donations are then delivered by volunteers to military units involved in fighting in the east. Facebook group Army SOS gives details of how the money is spent, posting photos of goods being delivered to military units in the field.kickstarter marketing T-shirts for troopsSome groups are more specialised. One Facebook community is dedicated to making and supplying the army with bullet-proof vests, and another to procuring medicines. Luta Sprava focuses on t-shirts, which seem to be in short supply in the army, too. "There is no such thing as too many t-shirts for our guys," is its motto. "Buy one t-shirt for yourself, and another will be presented to a soldier." Many, if not most, discussions in online groups helping the Ukrainian army are in Russian. Yet officials and media in Moscow have suggested that Russian speakers in Ukraine are being threatened by the military and need protection.kickstarter project Posted from: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28459772 |
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