Solutions for Dignity and Freedom in 2022: 21 surprising facts

What is the problem?

Since 2014, on November 21, Ukraine has celebrated the Day of Dignity and Freedom, established in honor of the beginning of two revolutions — the Orange revolution in 2004 and the Euromaidan in 2013. On this day in 2013, people began to spontaneously go to the central squares and squares of their cities. This was a reaction to the decision of the then authorities to stop the course towards European integration and cancel the preparation process for signing the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. The Day of Dignity and Freedom became a reminder of the price Ukrainians paid when they defended their right to fair elections and integration into the European Union on Maidan.

The struggle of Ukrainians for the European future did not end with the revolutions of 2004 and 2013. The current war with the russian aggressor is a new Maidan, but already within the borders of the entire country. The Revolution of Dignity was only the first victorious battle of the war for Ukraine's freedom from the mad empire.

What is the solution?

"We withstood on Maidan — we will win the war" is this year's Day of Dignity and Freedom slogan. From the first days of the full-scale war, the whole country has stood up to defend its freedom and is fighting for its right to life. Right now, we are united, we are strong, we understand the price of freedom, and we strive for a free life at the European level. We will definitely win! It's just that each of us has to keep order and help as much as we can.

How does it work?

Today, 700,000 Ukrainian soldiers defend Ukraine in the war.

In the very first days of the full-scale war, people who had never held a weapon in their hands lined up at the military commissariat. Because for each of them, the protection of the Motherland was not just words and not a formal norm of the Constitution. Thousands of volunteers in every Ukrainian city asked the military commissars to allow them to defend the country. There were many women in the queues. People of respectable age came. Medical students came with medicine, offering to provide medical assistance in case of street fights. Teenagers came with bottles of "cocktails for putin."

Statistics on the number of volunteers are currently not kept, but even now, every territorial center has registered volunteers standing in line to serve in the Armed Forces. And a recent KMIS survey shows that today 60% of Ukrainians feel part of the national resistance.

In 2021, the number of women in the Armed Forces ranks was about 30 thousand. Even though women are accepted into the ranks of the Armed Forces only on a voluntary basis in Ukraine, their number is steadily increasing. Today, 50,000 women work in various military structures. Of them, 38,000 serve in military specialties. And among these 38,000, five thousand are on the front lines. If we compare the number of women in the Armed Forces of Ukraine with similar indicators of NATO member countries, Ukraine will surely take one of the first places.

After the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the volunteer movement revived with new strength. Our volunteers do everything possible, sometimes impossible, to secure the front and protect the rear. Ordinary people who cannot stand aside from the challenges of war sew clothes for the military, cook food, make camouflage nets and trench candles, and collect and deliver hundreds of tons of military and humanitarian goods. They create charitable funds and organizations and actively initiate their own fundraising. With the collected funds, volunteers buy uniforms, weapons, and ammunition for defenders at the front and help displaced people.

Only from February 24 to June 30, 2022, 4,365 civil society organizations were registered in Ukraine. Among those registered, there are 3,364 charitable and 1,001 public organizations. Some of them are new, and others previously worked informally but now have received official status.

Ukrainians do not spare money for aid — our national fundraisers have already become a real phenomenon. Thus, the "Return Alive" army competent assistance fund has already collected more than 5.2 billion hryvnias for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And since February 24, it has spent more than UAH 2.8 billion on military projects alone.

For half a year, from February 24 to August 24, Ukrainians donated UAH 2,164,606,785 to Serhiy Prytula's fund accounts! In the last 2 months alone, 2,856 units of equipment have been transferred from the fund to the front, and 112 applications from units defending the Ukrainian south have been completed.

Another large military aid fund — "SOS Army" — in the period from the 1st to the 3rd quarter of 2022 collected about UAH 90 million in cash, which is many times more than during the entire period of the fund's existence since 2014.

And the Razom for Ukraine Fund, which caring Ukrainians from the USA founded, has collected more than 64 million US dollars since the beginning of the full-scale war. 

Today, Razom delivers almost the largest number of personal medical first-aid kits (IFAK), professional medical backpacks, and means of communication to Ukrainian defenders.

Surveys show that the level of devotion of ordinary Ukrainians to their compatriots, their communities, and their country is incredible — 81% of Ukrainians have donated money to the Armed Forces. However, 95% say that they do not have enough income to live comfortably. In addition, 63% donated essential items to internally displaced persons (IDPs), 60% donated money to humanitarian aid, and more than half provided shelter or aid to IDPs.

On June 25, the collection of funds for the Serhiy Prytula Foundation "Narodniy Bayraktar" project ended. More than 600 million hryvnias were raised for the project. But the Turkish manufacturing company decided to present Bayraktars to Ukraine. So, after negotiations with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the fund decided to purchase a satellite using the collected funds.

Now, thanks to donations from Ukrainians, our military will have access to the ICEYE satellite constellation image database for more than a year. The Armed Forces quickly receive high-quality images that help with rapid operation planning.

And when in November, President Volodymyr Zelensky launched a special collection through UNITED24 for 100 Ukrainian-made marine drones, Ukrainians collected money for the first marine drone in two hours (one device costs 10 million hryvnias). It will be called "Kherson."

When russia launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine on February 24, our army did not have many modern models of Western weapons. And the occupiers, who boastfully called themselves the "second army of the world" and took Ukrainian military capabilities lightly, wanted to take advantage of this. However, the Armed Forces resisted the aggressor for almost five months on their own reserves and developments.

The anti-tank missile "Stuhna-P," anti-ship complex "Neptun," tank BM "Bulat," armored car "Kozak-2M", armored personnel carrier BTR-4, unmanned complex PD-2, self-propelled guns "Bohdana" and many other weapons of Ukrainian production gave a worthy rebuff to the russian invaders, which surprised not only them but also Western experts, who predicted Ukraine's quick defeat back in February.

Anti-ship complex "Neptun"

Work on new models of Ukrainian weapons continues even during the war. Thus, according to Ukroboronprom, since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, more than 70 new UAV developments have appeared. Currently, they are developing a "heavy machine" that can carry up to 75 kg and fly up to 1,200 km in the absence of air defense.

At the same time, the Ukrainian aerospace company Ukrspecsystems presented the new Shark drone. Its capabilities include solving reconnaissance, surveillance, and fire correction tasks. Work on the Shark drone began after russia's full-scale invasion. In less than half a year, the UAV has already started operating.

The main directorate of intelligence (GUR), together with the "Return Alive" Foundation, announced the Black Box project, which is capable of reducing russia's offensive potential. In October, benefactors purchased and handed over UAH 40 million worth of equipment to GUR of the Ministry of Defense. It can reduce russia's offensive potential, but what kind of equipment it is and how it works — the fund does not tell because of the project's secrecy.

The head of intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, emphasized that the Black Box project is already working, and it caused millions of dollars in losses to russia in October alone.

Since the beginning of the invasion, Ukraine's defenders have destroyed more than 15,000 units of russian equipment and weapons. This is quite comparable to the armies of several countries. More than 2,000 units of russian equipment and weapons have already been obtained by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. And these are only those numbers that are known according to open sources. To date, more than 82 thousand occupiers have gone to hell.

Since February 24, 32,000 Ukrainian soldiers have received state awards, and six units have received honorary titles. Ukraine is protected by almost 1 million people from the security and defense sector. 179 soldiers were awarded the title "Hero of Ukraine." "Such a scale of courage and heroism of our fighters unequivocally proves that Ukraine cannot be stopped," the President of Ukraine said.

Since the beginning of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than a thousand Ukrainian citizens have been released from captivity. Almost 30 exchanges have already taken place. This work requires maximum silence, so we will learn about its results only after another exchange. But it is constantly happening. Ukraine will return every single person! We, unlike the russians, do not forget our own.

The Ukrainian army is successfully driving the occupiers from the state's territory. And the number of freed territories cannot fail to impress. As of November 14, Ukraine's Armed Forces liberated 52.5% of the territories occupied since February 2022. This is almost 78 thousand km². The calculations of OSINT researcher DefMon evidence this.

More recently, the Armed Forces of Ukraine made a serious breakthrough in the Kherson region. In a short time, our defenders managed to take control of more than 60 settlements of the region, which were under occupation almost from the first days of the full-scale war. In total, 198 settlements were liberated in the southern direction (5,580 sq. km of territory), reaching the right bank of the Dnipro.

The rebuilt bridge in Stoyanka (Kyiv Oblast), the destruction of which prevented the occupiers from entering Kyiv

As a result of hostilities in Ukraine, 325 artificial structures and 25 thousand km of roads were destroyed. But despite everything, Ukraine is already rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure facilities. "Ukravtodor" has already repaired and opened passage over more than 50 bridges that were destroyed due to armed russia's aggression. Works are being carried out in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, and Mykolaiv regions. They recently started working in the de-occupied territories of the Donetsk region. Works are also planned in the Kherson region.

Unfortunately, in many cases, the completely destroyed infrastructure will have to be rebuilt "from scratch." According to forecasts, roads and bridges can be restored in 2-4 years, and specialists will be able to rebuild critical objects in a year and a half. Today, restoration work is carried out where there is an urgent need. First of all, on those routes that are extremely important for the fastest possible adjustment of logistics.

Despite the war, we produce, launch, build, and invent. Is it bold? For sure. Since February, Ukrainians have opened 150,000 new businesses. In October alone, 21,300 private entrepreneurs and 3,200 companies were registered. The number of new business registrations dropped a bit in the first weeks of mass shelling in Ukraine but "caught up" in the last week of October.

Despite the war and all the obstacles created by the russian federation, Ukraine's agricultural products export for the incomplete year of 2022 decreased by only 10% compared to the corresponding period last year: from 17.8 billion dollars to 16 billion dollars.

And we also have Made with bravery. This is Ukraine's official marketplace. Clothes, shoes, accessories, household goods, food, and much more from Ukrainian manufacturers are sold here. Made with bravery allowed foreigners to buy Ukrainian brands and businesses — to scale and find new customers abroad. And this is profit, jobs, and an opportunity to contribute and keep the Ukrainian economy stable. 5% of each product purchased goes to the reconstruction of Ukraine through the UNITED24 platform. Therefore, every purchase at Made with bravery is a brick in our new walls.

The mood and spirit of the people during the war are no less important than weapons or the economy because a healthy spirit helps to make the most effective decisions even in extreme conditions.

Today, the knowledge and skills of psychologists are extremely needed both by fighters who defend Ukraine and ordinary people whose lives were turned upside down on February 24.

During russia's full-scale aggression, many psychologists united and intensively helped to fight traumas, anxieties, fears, despair, apathy, and loss of the meaning of existence. They, like medics, are always where they are most needed: at positions, in bomb shelters, and in newly liberated cities.

Psychologists and psychotherapists have been waging war for the mental health of Ukrainians for nine months. Free Internet platforms, chats, and psychological consultations online and offline — all this helps Ukrainians needing emotional support and help due to the rapid changes currently taking place in the economy, society, and every person's life.

It is impossible not to mention those who also have our back. Employees of "Ukrzaliznytsia" rescue people, deliver humanitarian aid, grain, and other goods, and restore railway connections with de-occupied and front-line territories.

Every day, every railway worker in their place does everything possible and a lot of impossible things, helping Ukraine on the way to victory. Wherever the railway workers come, life is restored because light overcomes darkness. And the railwaymen themselves joke that the light at the end of the tunnel is from the locomotive's headlights.

Since the beginning of russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian railways have evacuated 4 million people, a million children, 120 thousand animals and transported more than 300 thousand humanitarian goods.

"Iron diplomacy" became a good support for the diplomatic front. Over 200 diplomatic delegations have been delivered safely to Ukraine by Ukrzaliznytsia. In addition, our railway helps the Ukrainian army; in particular, more than 10,000 anti-tank hedgehogs were made from railway tracks across the country.

According to estimates by the UN Refugee Agency, about 7 million people have changed their place of residence within Ukraine, which is currently the largest displacement crisis in the world. Since the beginning of the war, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian families have evacuated to safer regions. Most of them did not have relatives or friends with whom they could safely wait out difficult times.

However, the state, business, and volunteer organizations did not leave them alone with these problems. Currently, the number of initiatives to support internally displaced persons is increasing daily in Ukraine. As reported by the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, as of October 14, 5,670 places of compact accommodation for displaced persons sheltered about 1 million citizens in Ukraine.

Currently, 11 modular towns have been developed and inhabited in settlements of Kyiv (Irpin, Bucha, Borodyanka, Makariv), Chernihiv (Novoselyvka), and Lviv (Lviv) regions for over 3,500 people. Shortly, it is planned to equip 13 more modular towns for the temporary residence of almost 5,000 people in Ukraine. Four towns are at the final stage of development.

According to official estimates, 3,182 children were orphaned in just six months of the full-scale war unleashed by russia. The war caused another civic feat — many citizens expressed a desire to adopt an orphaned child into a family.

However, adoption is not possible during martial law. This is how the form of helping children through temporary shelter in the family appeared. For this, a special chatbot, "The child is not alone," was created. More than 23,000 people have declared they are ready to shelter children during the war. Of these, more than 5,000 have undergone special online training, and 1,800 have already received the status allowing them to become guardians.

People who have declared their willingness to take a child into a temporary shelter have already expressed their desire to become foster parents in a foster family or a family-type orphanage or have declared that they are thinking about adoption.

 "This is probably what we will be proud of after the war. This is the phenomenon we will study," says Volodymyr Vovk, Deputy Director for the Protection of Children's Rights of the National Service.

Now literally, the whole country has come to Ukraine's defense, and our children have not been left out. Ukrainian children and teenagers organize volunteer groups in schools and humanitarian headquarters, sort humanitarian aid, and deliver food and medicine to lonely pensioners. They join telephone volunteering and support children of internally displaced persons. They attack russian sites and perform tasks on the cyber front. They organize fairs and charity evenings, and earn money for the Armed Forces with their creativity and skills.

• The children's orchestra from Vinnytsia sent its third car to the front. Children hold charity concerts where they collect funds for the needs of defenders. To date, members of the brass band have collected 460,000 hryvnias.
• 8-year-old Yuriy Napora collected over 1 million hryvnias for the Ukrainian army with street concerts.
• 11-year-old world chess champion Valeria Yezhova, who at the beginning of summer collected 21 thousand hryvnias for the needs of the army, is again organizing charity games in Kyiv. And to make it more interesting to collect money, now she plays not with one opponent but with seven at once.

Ukrainians, from children to adults, united to help the military defend our country. The stories of the elderly are heart-wrenching and give faith in our victory because a country with citizens ready to give their last cannot be defeated.

• In Sumy, 85-year-old pensioner Mykola Ivanovych sold real estate and donated $35,000 to help the Armed Forces.
  93-year-old Olena Vladymyrets from Vinnytsia makes trench candles for the Ukrainian military. Her daughter Nina helps her. Mrs. Olena no longer walks, so she works at home.
• Lyubov Yarosh is 102 years old. She and her daughters weave "kikimora" for the military. Her grandchildren are in the army.
• In Motyzhyn, Buchansky district village, a 70-year-old woman directed the artillery of Ukraine's Armed Forces at the equipment of the occupiers. Her work resulted in the destruction of about 100 units of heavy enemy equipment.
• During the occupation, a retired couple from Kherson transferred the pension received from the occupiers to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And after the liberation of Kherson in the Kherson region, the elderly woman gave our soldiers a luxurious gift — ribbons with cartridges, which she stole from the occupiers and hid.

Eight months of occupation — 256 days of struggle and heroic resistance. The people of Kherson did everything they could to bring the moment of liberation of the city closer. And they never lost faith in the fact that Kherson is Ukraine.

After the instant occupation of the city by the russians, the open protests of the people of Kherson continued for a month until it became extremely dangerous. The occupiers started terror. Ukrainian television and mobile communications were turned off almost immediately. Banks and pharmacies were closed. Products began to disappear from store shelves. And activists from their apartments. People began to leave en masse, not wanting even to breathe the same air as the occupiers.

Open protests were replaced by partisan struggle. Thanks to the activists of the "Yellow Ribbon" Resistance movement, daily reminders appeared on the walls of houses: that Kherson is Ukraine. But the partisans did not limit themselves to leaflets: they collected and passed on information about collaborators to the Ukrainian military. Force actions were carried out. They planted explosives in a restaurant in the center of Kherson, which the occupiers liked. They blew up the traitors' cars.

And here is such a long-awaited moment: on November 11, the Ukrainian military entered Kherson. From the first hours of liberation, people began to destroy any reminders of the occupiers. The people of Kherson have a hard winter ahead — the occupiers, retreating, destroyed power grids, water supply, and heating facilities. But the main thing is that from now on, Kherson is home! The terrorist country failed to turn Ukrainians into mankurts.

The Ukrainian flag is a true symbol of the country's struggle and indomitability, national unity, honor, and dignity.

Caches with blue-yellow or red-black flags were found in the Rivne region and Galicia, which residents and rebels hid from the Bolsheviks in the 1940s. And now, Ukrainian flags are also being saved from the russian invaders in the occupied territories. In the village of Izyum District, Kharkiv Region, a man hid two Ukrainian flags so that the russian invaders would not get them. He buried them in the garden around the beginning of April, and after the de-occupation of the village, he asked the Ukrainian defenders to dig up the jar. And in Kherson, residents hid flags under pavement tiles.

Today, all over the world, the blue-yellow color of our flag represents courage, independence, democratic values ​​, and the best virtues characteristic of the courageous Ukrainian people. And these, of course, are the colors of our victory, which the Armed Forces of Ukraine and every Ukrainian are confidently approaching. And it will definitely be Ukraine's, and Ukrainian flags will return to cities and villages liberated from the occupiers — to places where Dignity and Freedom will always be.

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