"++ for AFU" from Vadym Stolar Foundation

For more than a year, Vadym Stolar Foundation has been implementing the complex project "++ for AFU" (The Armed Forces of Ukraine), which has united more than a dozen different areas of assistance to defenders of Ukraine: from supplying of ammunition and equipment to transferring of means of arranging border strips and high-tech equipment. In our material you can read how it was possible to combine such different directions in one project, how it increased the effectiveness of support and how needs of the front changed during this time.

The first days of help

From the very beginning of the full-scale russian invasion, Vadym Stolar Foundation immediately changed the focus of aid from pre-war to supporting the military, territorial defense fighters and civilians who suffered as a result of enemy aggression. In the first weeks, the Fund's activities were focused on Kyiv and Kyiv region, as well as on frontline regions.

"We took on everything, for any help to defenders of the city: we collected and sent medicines, ammunition, fed the fighters with hot food, found transport," the director of the Foundation Andriy Feshchenko recalls. "Basically, at that time, we were one big volunteer team in which everyone could bring a request from the military, take the initiative and announce a fundraising."

However, the situation changed very quickly. After the enemy was defeated, geography of activity was significantly expanded, new areas of assistance appeared and actively developed. It became impossible to help the whole world and everyone at once, as before. It was necessary to make a fundamental decision: to choose several areas of assistance and focus only on them, or to start the construction of a complex large project oriented to the military, which includes organization of all processes: from analysis of real needs to organization of supplies and feedback. Vadym Stolar Foundation followed exactly the second path.

The project "++ for AFU" from idea to implementation

"The idea of "++ for AFU" arose last autumn. We thought about name for the project and we came up with the idea of "++ for AFU " because "++" means "everything is OK" in military slang, "everything is fine" and this is our goal, so that our defenders were fine. And all our efforts, all directions of assistance are aimed at this. We strive to protect the fighters as much as possible and make their hard work easier, to give them an advantage in observation, mobility and security," Natalia Prykhodko explained, a volunteer of Vadym Stolar Foundation.

"We saw that there are a lot of requests from the military, and for greater efficiency the aid needs to be systematized and generalized. And we also realized that the requests from the military are constantly changing and it simply will not work to focus on one thing. For example, it turned out that there is a large demand for seasonal ammunition, we started accepting applications, bought equipment and delivered it to the fighters. It became known about lack of means of arranging the border strip among the border guards, we helped with special equipment. After russian terrorists blew up the dam of the Kakhovsky Reservoir, motor boats were needed to rescue people, we delivered them to the marines. And we were very happy to know that after the end of the rescue operation, these boats came in handy for our soldiers more than once," Natalia Prykhodko added.

An important direction of the "++ for AFU" project is searching and transferring of high-tech equipment to the military. Moreover, as Vadym Stolar Foundation notes, the needs for such equipment in the Ukrainian military may change. "Yes, we continue to deliver ammunition, equipment and vehicles to needs of the front, but more and more requests from the military are shifting towards high-tech equipment. Moreover, these requests are also change. If at first drone-observers were most needed, which help to conduct reconnaissance and guide artillery, then when the enemy mastered such equipment, they began to request (and receive from us) systems for combating enemy UAVs more often. Today, almost the main request from our fighters is for FPV kamikaze drones. Just recently, about 60 such "birds" were handed over to the SOF unit," Andriy Feshchenko said.

Brief summaries

Volunteers of Vadym Stolar Foundation especially emphasize that consolidation of various areas of aid into one joint project "++ for AFU" and establishment of joint processes and procedures helped to establish uninterrupted work in operational fixation of military requests, in searching for the equipment they need, in procurement (often abroad), in delivering and ultimately, transferring them directly to combat units. Now it is easier to work for the Foundation team, and the fighters get everything they need faster and in larger quantities.

"From the first days of the large-scale invasion of the enemy, we strive to comprehensively support our defenders. The project "++ for AFU" was created in order to do this most efficiently, in the shortest possible time, providing the soldiers with exactly what they need here and now. A large team of volunteers has been working harmoniously to achieve this goal for more than a year, and I want to thank each of them for the incredible efforts they make 24/7 to provide maximum support to our military and bring our Victory closer," Vadym Stolar summed up.