Solutions to win: Come Back Alive fund has raised ₴10 bln to support Ukrainian army since beginning of full-scale war

From February 24, 2022, until the end of December 2023, generous donors contributed over 10 billion hryvnias to the Come Back Alive Army Aid Fund to support the Ukrainian Defense Forces. Over the course of this period, the organization received a total of 2,862,453 donations from individuals in more than 90 countries across all continents. An average donation amounted to 3,562 hryvnias.

Rubryka informs about this.

These funds will provide daily support for over 650 units and formations of the Defense Forces, including drones, optics, power, communications, and even weapons.

Among other things, since February 24, 2022, Come Back Alive has acquired for the army:

• unmanned aerial complex Bayraktar TB2;
• 26 Stork–100 unmanned aerial vehicles among a total of 72 unmanned aerial vehicles;
• 25 Shark unmanned aerial vehicles among a total of 75 unmanned aerial vehicles.;
• 11 intelligence complexes PD-2;
• 8,920 copters;
• 20,200 FPV drones with ammunition;
• 1,460 7.62 mm machine guns;
• 286 120 mm caliber mortars;
• 200 automatic machine guns of 12.7 mm caliber;
• 300 82 mm caliber mortars;
• 50 automatic grenade launchers;
• 1,000 ATGL-L3 hand grenade launchers;
• 1240 new cars;
• 11 armored vehicles;
• Ten maintenance workshops;
• 37,084 radios;
• 16,022 tablets;
• 8,384 units of thermal imaging and night optics;
• 1,897 optical sights.

"We managed to collect more than 10 billion hryvnias thanks to caring people and responsible business," says Oleh Karpenko, deputy director of the Come Back Alive Foundation. "More than 2 billion hryvnias were spent on preparing the army for the summer offensive campaign of 2023 alone. We also provided transport and the equipment of sappers who demined the liberated territories, paved passages for our equipment, and attacked aircraft at the front. We have already handed over ten maintenance workshops to the army, thanks to which Western military equipment is repaired in the field. We helped the cyber forces of Ukraine's armed forces develop the infrastructure to counter Russian aggression more effectively. In addition, the Armed Forces now have eight educational and training facilities for tactical medicine. We are also continually improving our air defense communications. These are just some of our ongoing efforts."

In 2022-2023, the Fund had more than 50 projects. The most significant amount — 400 million hryvnias — was collected together with the OKKO gas station network as part of the "EYE FOR EYE 2. Let's arm the Territorial Defense Forces (TDF) to the teeth" initiative in April-December last year.

All 200 large-caliber machine guns, 40 automatic grenade launchers, and part of the mortars purchased for this initiative have already been handed over to TDF units. Previously, together with OKKO, they also collected 325 million hryvnias for 25 SHARK intelligence complexes. Everyone is already working on the front lines.

Also, Come Back Alive had a sizeable independent collection of 333 million hryvnias for reconnaissance-strike complexes with 120 mm mortars within the framework of the "LONG ARMS" project.

330 million hryvnias was collected by the Fund together with Nova Poshta in June-December as part of the project "Pack the sky — pump air defense." With these funds, the fund is strengthening air defense with modern means of communication. The Air Command "Center" has already received complex communication hardware, wearable communication and control sets, and telecommunication sets. Come Back Alive will also provide them with mobile command posts based on passing trucks.

In November 2022, Come Back Alive and blogger Ihor Lachenkov will accumulate 230 million hryvnias for the "Black Box" initiative. Last year, the Fund revealed that one of the components of the project was barrage ammunition of Ukrainian production "Beaver" for the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Among the large projects of the Fund, it is also worth noting Operation "Unity" and Operation "Unity 2: New Year's Salute" together with UNITED24 and Monobank. The first project has been fully implemented. All 10,000 FPV drones and their ammunition have already been handed over to the Defense Forces.

Additionally, the Fund, in collaboration with Kyivstar company, raised 180 million hryvnias for the "Let's live here" project. As a result, 106 out of the originally planned 146 sapper groups from the Support Forces have already been provided with brand new pickup trucks and essential equipment for demining.

Come Back Alive has been helping the army since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war — since 2014. During the first eight years, from the spring of 2014 to February 24, 2022, benefactors donated more than 281.6 million hryvnias to the Fund for the needs of the military. Last year, in November, Come Back Alive announced that it had collected more than 9 billion hryvnias.

In 2023, the Foundation's instructors trained over 1,500 military personnel in "Shooting from Concealed Positions with the ARMOR Graphic and Calculation System." Additionally, approximately 300 soldiers received training and improved skills in mine safety, while 600 more are currently undergoing training as part of the "Zvirolovy" project.

More than 7,900 people have completed online training courses for UAV operators, launched in 2022 by the instructors of the Aeronautical Intelligence Foundation on the Prometheus platform.

Come Back Alive analysts presented necessary research in security and defense, particularly about the experience of using the Territorial Defense Forces and Ukraine's membership in NATO as the only effectual security guarantees.

The Foundation's team also works on sports rehabilitation projects for veterans and military personnel. Specifically, they help organize the involvement of the Ukrainian national team in international competitions such as the Invictus Games and the United States Air Force and Marine Corps Trials in 2024.

As reported by Rubryka, Come Back Alive invested significant funds in support of the summer offensive campaign of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. Over 2 billion hryvnias were spent on this, which people and businesses transferred to the organization's general accounts.