About us
Discover the power of hope
We believe we must address the root cause of all this suffering: the Russian Federation’s aggression. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are essential to stopping Russia’s destruction and protecting vulnerable people. By providing defensive equipment and medical supplies, we aim to help Ukrainians live safely in their own country and bring the war to an end sooner.
The second day of the war, on February 25, 2022, I went to the border between Hungary and Ukraine to pick up some distant relatives. It was the first time in my life that I found myself in such an enormous flow of refugees.
It was February, and yes, it was freezing cold. There were literally tens of thousands of people crossing the border in small groups, often with only a small backpack of stuff. Not knowing what they were going to do with their lives or where they could go. It was really complete desperation.
At one point I had been waiting at that border for four days for my family members, a young woman arrived in a rusty van. She opened the doors and started handing out blankets, placing them over people’s shoulders. Within half an hour, that young woman transformed the atmosphere at the small border crossing at Lónya from despair into something resembling hope, through this simple act of humanity.
That was the moment I thought: I have to help too. I can’t just stand by and watch; I have to take action. I made that decision there at the Lónya border crossing, thanks to a young woman.
The second decision I made, a few days later, was that the most effective and humane thing to do was to help the Ukrainian army and the people who remained in Ukraine. Because, essentially, everyone was talking only about helping refugees fleeing the country. But I thought: you have to help the people there, otherwise, 40 million people would simply have to flee.
What started with one family’s journey and one volunteer’s act of kindness has grown into a movement of more than 150 volunteers, working directly with trusted partners across Ukraine. Our mission remains exactly as it was that freezing night at the border.
Living and working in Ukraine for over 27 years, I have a lot of friends, former colleagues and acquaintances who volunteered to fight against the Russian aggressor. And practically everybody else supports family, friends, former colleagues and others who fight.
For me it started with Ilya, the nephew of my wife Victoria, who in March 2022 volunteered to be a soldier. From his training camp in West Ukraine he called:
‘We have nothing, no helmets, no bulletproof vests, no winter shoes or clothes, nothing’.
He was training to fight the Russian invaders in his summer sneakers on which he left Kyiv.
A letter to friends and family in the Netherlands made a huge change. Soon, we had raised enough money to buy helmets and all the other essential equipment Ilya needed – not just for him, but for his entire platoon. Before long, we were supporting his whole battalion.
We also began supporting a team of drone racers, smart kids who used to race drones on weekends and found out that a simple hobby drone could be used to spy on Russians, the birth of modern warfare.
The response from the Dutch friends and family was overwhelming and when I met my friend Jaap Scholten in April 2022, who had been doing the same thing from Hungary, we decided to join forces. A few weeks later we met in the notary’s office and signed the founding act of Stichting Protect Ukraine.
Since the phone call of Ilya, Protect Ukraine has grown to one of the leading foreign NGOs supporting Ukraine’s efforts to maintain its freedom and independence. Today, we work with up to a hundred military unit commanders and medics, trying to serve the needs which the Army and Government cannot do because of a lack of money, bureaucracy or speed of innovation. The war in Ukraine has shown that it cannot be won without civil society filling the holes in its defences and fighting to keep soldiers alive.
I am proud that Protect Ukraine can play this important and still growing role in this existential fight for freedom in Europe thanks to our sponsors and volunteers.
In recognition of our work, Scholten was awarded the Order of Merit on 27 May 2026 on behalf of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
