360° IT Check #36 — How you can help Ukraine and Ukrainians meaningfully

On February 24th, Europe stopped. Russian forces entered Ukraine. We dedicate this 360° IT Check to the most important matter at hand at the moment.

ITMAGINATION stands with Ukraine, and the people of Ukraine. We have pledged to help Ukrainian NGOs and people during these hard times.

How can you help Ukraine and Ukrainians meaningfully?

Non-financial commitments

• There is a group on LinkedIn connecting people from Ukraine with companies from, e.g., Poland. Employment of Ukrainian individuals gives them a safe shelter and allows for financing their stay in Poland, should they decide to seek refuge;
• Your company may join Tech To The Rescue’s Initiative #TechForUkraine. You can develop solutions for Ukrainian NGOs, advise them/mentor them, secure their existing solutions, and more - all this is pro bono / non-commercial. Everything is with the goal to make them more effective in helping the civil population of Ukraine;
• Combat disinformation. Spreading untrue pieces of information about the situation on the East is a part of a wider process of keeping the public asking themselves what really is happening. Ground.news is a great website to stay informed, as it aggregates news from numerous sources, and rates their factuality, shows who owns the publication, and more. Furthermore, there are people you might follow on Twitter, who report from Poland’s Eastern Neighbor. One of the lists you may follow is here; 
• Reach out to the people you know in Ukraine, and ask them how are they doing. Even though this might not give them the psychological comfort they need, the action will surely be appreciated. Apart from that, you may also send them a link with some resources regarding the stay in Poland, and regarding sending help and aiding fellow Ukrainians. The resource is an initiative of our colleagues at ITMAGINATION and others in Poland.
• Boycott Russian goods and services provided by companies owned by Russian billionaires. Regular Russians are not your enemies, and are not a side of the conflict. In fact, many of them protest on the streets of the country even though they will undoubtedly face repression;

Donate to Ukrainian NGOs working on the areas of conflict such as:

• Donate to the Ukrainian Red Cross https://www.icrc.org/en/where-we-work/europe-central-asia/ukraine
• Voices of Children https://voices.org.ua/en/
• “Solidarity with Ukraine” [Polish] https://lnkd.in/dV2VJPkq
• Join one of the fundraisers on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RazomForUkraine/fundraisers
• United Help Ukraine http://unitedhelpukraine.org‍
  

Should you require context on what’s been happening in Ukraine over the past years, then there are few things you can watch, read, and listen to.

• Winter on Fire (film)
• Ukraine and Russia explained in maps and charts
• Ukraine invasion — explained
• The Earth Is Blue as an Orange (2020) - IMDB (film)