How to help Ukraine: Dzyga’s Paw and procuring front-line equipment for Ukrainian soldiers (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, 

Thank you for your continued support. Earlier this year, we launched a new membership benefit: the “How to help Ukraine” newsletter. We send one edition per month, highlighting an organization supporting Ukraine and giving you a closer look at civil society in Ukraine. We have heard from our members that there’s interest in getting more involved in helping Ukraine, so we will share with you opportunities to donate or, in some cases, volunteer. 

On our community survey, we heard that there was particular interest in helping Ukrainian soldiers, so in the sixth edition of the “How to help Ukraine” newsletter, we’re excited to share with you the work of Dzyga’s Paw Charity Foundation, a Lviv-based defense non-profit that brings technology to Ukrainian soldiers through global crowdfunding.

Dzyga’s Paw is currently running their annual initiative, “Secret Santa for Ukrainian Defenders,” which lets people from all over the world become Santa for a soldier on Ukraine’s front lines. 

Here’s how it works: Ukrainian soldiers write letters with Christmas wishes and practical needs. Dzyga’s Paw collects these, then you choose a letter and buy the gifts for the Ukrainian soldier. You can either assemble the package yourself, or make a donation so the Dzyga’s Paw team can buy the gift in Ukraine. You can find all the details here. 

In 2022, at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, two young IT professionals Dimko and Iryna Zhluktenko abandoned their career plans and instead started volunteering to help the Ukrainian army, creating ways for English-speaking foreigners to donate directly to Ukrainian soldiers. These efforts eventually grew into Dzyga’s Paw — an organization (named after their dog, Dzyga) that is focused on engaging and explaining to foreigners the importance of supporting the Ukrainian military. 

Gifts from last year’s Secret Santa, en route to be delivered to their recipients.

Members of the Dzyga’s Paw team (including Dzyga herself) in front of the Donetsk Oblast sign.

Dzyga’s Paw has now existed for over three years and has raised over $4.5 million for technological assistance to the Ukrainian military. They prioritize investing in technologies that give Ukraine a tactical advantage on the battlefield, maximizing effectiveness and saving lives, including drones, satellite communication systems (e.g, Starlink), encrypted long-range radios, night vision devices, thermal imagers, tablets, charging stations, and autonomous power systems. 

The Dzyga’s Paw team keeps track of every single donation they receive, as well as every expenditure and shipment to the front line. They display all financial and delivery reports on their website here, as a way to build trust and credibility with donors.

Right now, Dzyga’s Paw is running their annual Christmas initiative: Secret Santa for Ukrainian Defenders. They launched this program last year, after seeing how much soldiers valued personal notes and small gifts from Dzyga’s Paw donors. The team then decided to create a big holiday project, so anyone could have the opportunity to create a small miracle for someone on the front line, and so that soldiers in the Ukrainian military would know that somewhere far away there are people who sincerely support them.

To collect the letters to Santa, Dzyga’s Paw sends a form to their community of military personnel they regularly support. The team verifies all participants. Last year, the Dzyga’s Paw received about 50 letters — this year, they received 140 letters from soldiers from 36 different units, including assault battalions, artillery, reconnaissance, drone and technical support units, marines, and evacuation groups. They even received letters from foreign volunteers in the Azov Brigade and HUR, Ukraine's military intelligence agency.

In the letters, there are requests for everything from Lego sets and smart watches to candy, as well as equipment needed for missions, like helmets — and even an engagement ring. 

Here’s how you can participate in Secret Santa (all the instructions and links can also be found here): 

1. Here are the letters from the soldiers. Take a look — they’re organized by price — and pick the one you want to fulfill. 

2. Then, confirm you want to participate and the letter you chose by filling out this Google form. After you select a letter, it will be removed from the form. 

3. Then, buy the presents. You can either collect the items and send the gift yourself or donate to the purchase. The Dzyga’s Paw team will send you details about the donation and shipping addresses after you fill out the form.

4. The Dzyga’s Paw team will help you coordinate logistics, you just need to send the gift by the deadline — and then follow the updates in the Dzyga’s Paw WhatsApp chat for Santas and reports on social media.

If you can’t cover the cost of one letter, you can also make a donation of any amount to the Secret Santa project here, at the bottom of the page. Every donation makes a difference, and the Dzyga’s Paw team will use the donated funds to buy small gifts for those soldiers whose letters weren’t selected. 

We also encourage you to team up with friends and other community members! Last year, many kindhearted Santas joined forces to share the expenses of some of the letters. The Dzyga's Paw team recognizes that the cost of some letters can be quite high, and they are dedicated to ensuring that every soldier receives a bit of holiday magic. Let’s come together and spread some joy this season!

You can also follow Dzyga’s Paw on social media, including Bluesky, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Thank you for your support — and we hope you find these letters highlighting organizations like Dzyga’s Paw valuable. If you have any questions or feedback about our newsletter, please feel free to reach out via email at brooke@kyivindependent.com, and let us know what you think of this membership benefit.