Projects

Each project is driven by three main objectives: delivering life-saving supplies to the Ukrainian armed forces, bringing hope and solidarity to the Ukrainian people, and advocating for the mission to inform the Dutch public about Ukraine’s stance against the Russian aggression—and how this, in turn, helps protect us all.

Dignitas

Dignitas is our dream partner in Ukraine: inventive, state-of-the-art, creative, flexible and highly effective. It is a platform that supports innovation in the army. They are what Protect Ukraine aspires to be: a fast-track NGO and an example of how to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We support and work together with Dignitas on many projects, which you find on the following pages. This is how Dignitas describes itself:

Early on, many of us organized fundraisers, mobilized volunteers, and participated in protests to support Ukraine and raise awareness of the Maidan events both in the United States and around the world. Our volunteers come from diverse backgrounds, many with experience in non-profit work. One of Dignitas Ukraine’s co-founders, Lyuba Shipovich, co-founded Razom for Ukraine in 2014, which brought together passionate volunteers in the U.S. and beyond. Since 2013, our efforts have supported Ukraine in a variety of ways:

Assisting Ukrainian tech startups in securing investments from U.S. investors,
Providing children of fallen Ukrainian soldiers with birthday gifts and educational supplies,
Supporting Ukrainian veterans by helping them reintegrate into civilian life through IT and cybersecurity training,
Supplying tactical medical gear, including Individual First Aid Kits and medic backpacks,
Donating vehicles for medical evacuations,
Training and equipping first responders and defenders with quadcopters.

In the fall of 2023 Protect Ukraine started to cooperate with Dignitas, the Ukrainian NGO founded by Lyuba Shipovich and Maria Berlinska. Dignitas is supporting and bringing together the Ukrainian people and military – above all it is an ecosystem for sharing knowledge, sourcing spare parts, drone infrastructure, technological development, training and supporting drone operators and supplying drone infrastructure to the Armed Forces, the State Emergency Service and medical services. They do so in cooperation with the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

So far, they have fully trained more than 90,000 drone pilots (more people than the complete French army), the biggest drone pilot educator in the world. Ukraine has the ambition to soon have an army of a million drone pilots, Dignitas is the most important partner to reach this goal. At the 12 training grounds, aspiring pilots receive both theoretical lectures and practice using various technological equipment, including multi-rotor drones, under the supervision of experienced instructors.

One of the branches of Dignitas is Protect – these are the projects done together with and financed by Protect Ukraine. We are proud to help Dignitas support eight brigades with the needed drone infrastructure: Starlinks, antennas, ecoflows, generators, spare parts, etc. Communication systems that hold strong, even under heavy shelling. Mobile workshops keeping equipment battle-ready, right near the front lines. Electronic warfare systems to neutralize enemy drones. Tablets and laptops streamlining command and control.

In 2024, Dignitas together with Protect Ukraine, supported these eight military units:

63rd Separate Mechanized Brigade
72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Black Zaporozhians
93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade “Kholodny Yar”
53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Prince Volodymyr Monomakh
110th Separate Mechanized Brigade
15th Operational Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine
54th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Hetman Ivan Mazepa
155th Training Center

Dignitas – Ground Robot Pilot Schools

The next important development in this war is the use of ground robots, for evacuation of wounded soldiers and for logistics (to bring water, food, medication, ammunition etc.). We helped Dignitas to establish the first school of ground robot pilots, and we coorporate with the general staff to develop and build a ground robot for evacuation of the wounded.

Dignitas – Mobile Shower

We support and finance the building of mobile showers and washing cabins, with two washing machines, two dryers, a wood stove, a water tank, a water pump and a generator. Research shows that the biggest source of depression and loss of motivation under soldiers is lack of sleep and the inability to wash oneself.
This is a preliminary list of the units that soon will receive mobile showers:

125th Territorial defense brigade
53rd Separate battalion of the operational command West
20th Separate regiment of unmanned systems
411th Separate regiment of unmanned systems
92nd Separate Special Forces Brigade
93rd Separate mechanized brigade
5th Separate mechanized brigade
110th Territorial defense brigade
47th Separate mechanized brigade
25th Separate mechanized brigade

Dignitas – Female Drone Pilots

We sponsor the first special training and equipping of 50 female drone pilots. Military commanders are still protective of their female soldiers and put them often in less dangerous positions like kitchen, administration, and logistics. With Dignitas we try to change that and motivate commanders to send and allow female soldiers to have the training, for that reason they get the complete kit (men do not receive the equipment).

Aqua Drone

On request of the 36th Marines in Kherson Protect Ukraine developed an aqua drone, for logistic tasks as bringing food, water and medical supplies and to evacuate wounded soldiers, as many of the marines are located around rivers and islands.

Our first aqua drone – the GB2 – is currently being tested on the Dnipro by the 35th Marine Brigade in Kherson.

Nebesna Kara

Nebesna Kara (Punishment from Heaven) has beensupported by us since March 2022, when a team of drone racers in Lviv decided to dedicate their knowledge to building drones and robots for the army. The man leading the team is a longtime friend of Dirck.

We aided them to set up a workshop which was twice expanded over the past 2.5 years and equipped it with computers, 3D printers and other tools. We support them with the development of de-mining robots and fixed-wing reconnaissance drones that have a speed of 200 km/h.

Today, Nebesna Kara builds around 100-150 fixed-wing reconnaissance drones per month which can fly a distance of up to 70 kilometers behind enemy lines. We supported them to set up a drone pilot school and brought them vans for the pilot school. Recently, Nebesna Kara started to build UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicles) for de-mining purposes.

Through them, we supply drone infrastructure, robots used for logistics and fixed wing reconnaissance drones to the 36th Marine Brigade in Kherson, the 28th Mechanized Brigade and the 82nd Air Assault Brigade.

Kyiv Rugby Union

The Kyiv Rugby Union is a perfect, reliable and personal network to support and distribute to individual soldiers and their units. Many of the Dutch volunteers helping Protect Ukraine are former or active rugby players (many from Ascrum (Amsterdam) and from DSR-C (Delft)) so it was obvious to make contact with the Kyiv Rugby Union. Initially, they were suspicious, but after we visited them in Kyiv, a strong cooperation grew from there.

Out of 80 active rugby players of Kyiv’s rugby clubs more than 50 are fighting at the front. We support these heroes and their units with cars, electric motorbikes, trauma kits, and protective materials they desperately need. They provide us regularly with precise feedback on how and when the goods are delivered. On Facebook, you can find individual stories of these defenders at Rugbyplayers4Rugbyplayers.

Kolo-Fly

We have worked together with Kolo-Fly since April 2023 supporting their drone development department and pilot school. One of the projects is the Titan, an ambulance drone which can evacuate wounded soldiers from the red and grey zones. Evacuation of the wounded with cars is very hard now, evacuation cars and medics are a prime target for the Russians.
Kolo-Fly has an excellent network of contacts in Ukraine. Through them, we also help units of the Armed Forces with cars, electric motorbikes, generators, medical aid,trauma kits and other requested materials.

Convoys

Our focus has been, starting from March 2022, to bring the Armed Forces of Ukraine what is requested to places where it is needed badly.

Already in March the first transports of helmets, body armor, traumapacks and night vision were transported by Ukrainian volunteers to Kyiv and Mariupol. In May 2022 Jaap drove his first small transport to Kyiv and Chernihiv in a Toyota Hilux loaded with water pumps, drills, chainsaws and other tools. He repeated that twice meanwhile starting Protect Ukraine together with Dirck and friends in May 2022.

In June 2023 Protect Ukraine organized it’s first bigger convoy. The SUVs are mostly used by the Ukrainian army as evacuation cars for the wounded and the pick-up trucks often get a machinegun mounted on the back and are used by mobile units to shoot down Shahed drones and protect cities and civilians from drone attacks.

Up till May 2025 we brought about 125 cars, including vans, twelve ambulances, many evacuation cars, one rollback truck, one deep cooling truck for the deceased, an Argocat (for evacuation of wounded through water and mud) and 47 electric motorbikes for reconnaissance and silent logistics. We leave all cars behind for the different units and return by train, taxi, bus or on foot over the border.

The convoys mostly consist of about eight to ten cars, every car with two drivers, so mostly we travel with quite a big group. Driving ourselves is cheaper than transport by truck. By delivering the cars and goods deep into Ukraine we also bring solidarity and hope. It makes the people we cooperate with in the bombed cities and the soldiers we meet realize they are not forgotten by the people in Western Europe. In the winter we bring mostly fresh herring from the North Sea and Bols Jenever plus stroopwafels.

Bloodbank

Protect Ukraine wishes to make a sustainable impact saving lives in Ukraine by improving the quality and quantity of the blood supply. Blood supply services in Ukraine are dispersed throughout the country and patients in need of blood are often forced to look for blood donors themselves.

Even before the war an estimated 2/3 of patients did not receive blood in time or at all. The war, since 2014 and the full-scale invasion of 2022, have made the shortcomings of the blood supply even more evident. The lack of a steady blood supply is a problem for all people, from the mothers giving birth, to cancer patients needing treatment, people who need operations and the soldiers on the battlefield.

PU aims to increase the quantity and quality of blood supply in Ukraine by creating a new blood center in Kyiv. PU works with a Ukrainian partner, Donor UA, and Sanquin in the Netherlands. Donor UA is a price-winning Ukrainian NGO that recruits blood donors. At this point, they have already recruited over 170.000 new blood donors in Ukraine. Now they need a blood donation center.

We will create a blood center which adheres to European and Dutch quality standards. To ensure the quality of healthcare processes Sanquin (the Dutch blood supplier) has agreed to work on this project. They will advise Donor UA and PU on all decisions concerning the quality of the blood supply and train the health care professionals in Ukraine.

We aim to increase the number of blood donations in Ukraine by 5-10% in the first year and up to 40% within 3 to 5 years.

At this point in time, we are focusing on grants from different governments, but we are also looking for other investors. For this project 1,4 million euro is needed. Please contact us if you think you can help in any way with this project.

Tactical Medical Training

Starting from March 2022 we deliver trauma kits to the Ukrainian Military consisting of 1 SOFT tourniquet, 2 Fox seal chest seals, 1 Chitosam hemostatic gauze and 1 emergency (Israeli) bandage. Every soldier, firefighter, policeman or border guard needs to have at least one trauma kit on him/her.

Until May 2025 Protect Ukraine brought about 3000 trauma kits to Ukraine. We also bring stretchers, braces, monitors and other medical essentials donated to us by Dutch hospitals.

Protect Ukraine now supports the tactical medical training of soldiers in West Ukraine.

Brigades

Protect Ukraine works directly with commanders of front-line units to discuss their needs and coordinate deliveries. We focus our support with drone-infrastructure on 6 front-line brigades (see page onthe left): the 28th Mechanised Brigade, the 63rd Mechanised Brigade, 72nd Mechanised Brigade, 93rd Mechanised Brigade, 82nd Air
Assault Brigade and 36th Marines Corps Brigade are provided with pilot training, jammers and the infrastructure for drone-units like tablets, Starlinks, antennas, Eco Flows etc.

Furthermore, we support many other brigades and units with pick-up trucks, motorbikes and other materials. All these deliveries are made through personal, trusted contacts. To name some: the 13th brigade, the SBU, GUR Military Intelligence, the Border Guard, Special Operations Forces, 12th Special Operations Brigade “Azov”, 79th separate Territorial Defense Battalion, 420 Rifle Battalion, 4002 UAV Strike Unit, 64th Brigade, 91th Brigade, 92nd Brigade, 93rd Brigade, 46th Brigade, 24th Brigade, 25th Brigade, 1st Nordic Tank Brigade, 4th Tank Brigade, 81st Separate Air Assault Brigade, 19th TRO Brigade, 41st Separate Rifle Battalion, 143rd Brigade, TRO 1st Brigade, 119th TRO Brigade. We supplied mini buses for pilot training, a deep-cooling truck for AZOV to bring home fallen defenders and an Argocat for the 3nd Brigade in the Kharkiv region.

Dreamers UA

We support Dreamers UA, an Ukrainian NGO started by Khristina Matvienko. Dreamers UA organizes holiday camps for children of fallen defenders in Transkarpatia. Protect Ukraine helped Khristina to buy food, sleeping bags, tents, camping beds, a tv-screen and audio system.

Dreamers UA also organizes retreats for the widows of fallen defenders. Protect Ukraine also supports these. Thanks to one of our donors, Dreamers UA could now acquire a piece of land in Transkarpatia to build a permanent camp site for the children camps an the widow retreats.

Soon Dreamers UA, together with Protect Ukraine, is going to build lodges on this building site. We still search for materials and support for this great project.

Schrijvers voor Oekraïne (Writers for Ukraine)

Advocacy and documentation is one of the 3 main tasks of Protect Ukraine. A group of Dutch writers created the initiative ‘Schrijvers voor Oekraïne’ (Writers for Ukraine) which performs in theatres throughout the country reading their works on the war in Ukraine. They write books, give lectures and publish articles in Dutch newspapers and weeklies and appear on national radio and television to tell the true and often personal view on the events in Ukraine, as an antidote to fake news and Russian propaganda. The biggest hope for the Kremlin to win this war is focused on splitting the West, destroying our trust in an open, democratic society and our will to fight for it.

The aim is to keep the focus on Ukraine in times when the war is slipping out of people’s minds and social media are flooded with misleading information. Most of these authors know Ukraine (and Russia) intimately and travelled with Protect Ukraine as a volunteer to Ukraine.

So far, the group has performed in Winterswijk, Antwerp, Amsterdam (2x), Deventer, Apeldoorn, Zutphen, Enschede and at the Crossing Border and Lowlands festivals. The income from these theatre events is donated to Protect Ukraine. A new series of performances is in preparation. Marcel Wendrich is the organizer of the bigger events. In October 2025 there will be a new series of performances. For information check the ‘newsroom’ on this website.

Military hospital Kyiv and other medical aid

Starting from March 2022 to Mariupol, we deliver with every convoy trauma kits to the Ukrainian Military consisting of 1 SOFT tourniquet, 2 Foxseal chest seals, 1 chitosam hemostatic gauze and 1 emergency bandage. Every soldier, firefighter, policeman or border guard needs to have at least one trauma kit on him (and preferable 2 or 3 tourniquets when fighting on the frontline) but there is a shortage of them on the frontlines. The kit contains the essentials to save lives when a victim is strongly bleeding or a shot or shrapnel through the lungs. Until October 2024 Protect Ukraine brought nearly 2000 trauma kits to Ukraine.

We also bring stretchers, braces, monitors and other medical essentials which were donated to us by Dutch hospitals. On the first two convoys we made the mistake of taking everything to Ukraine that the hospitals offered us, but we changed our policy – after seeing the tired looks of doctors and rescue workers when unpacking boxes with thousands of face masks – and now only bring what is requested.

The cooperation with the Military Hospital in Kyiv started in January 2024 after we received from a medical institute in the Netherlands a large Ilizarov set, a medical device developed in the Soviet Union to treat injured persons with extensive limb deformity injuries. With the set, which was generously donated to us and has a value of € 200,000, 40-50 patients can be treated simultaneously. One of our volunteers is an orthopedic surgeon and participated on 12 February 2024 in a symposium on the treatment of war injuries for Ukrainian Army trauma surgeons in the Military Hospital in Kyiv.

Volunteer Organizations

Protect Ukraine collaborates with several volunteer organizations and we full heartedly can recommend our community to support them as well.

Dreamers UA (Ukraine based, focused on helping the kids of deceased military or military on the front, basically kids without fathers)

Eyes on Ukraine (Dutch based, focus on drones)

De Leeuw Kyiv (Dutch based, focused on humanitarian aid and support of the army)

LifelineUkraine (Dutch based, focused on medical aid and repairing infrastructure)

NL4Ukraine (Dutch based, focused on medical aid and rehabilitation for military)

Orphans Feeding Foundation (Dutch based, focused on bringing back kidnapped children from Russia and Russian occupied territory)

Open Door Ukraine (Dutch based, awareness and humanitarian and early reconstruction activities)

Ukrainian Patriot (Ukraine based, focused on helping citizens and military close to the front)

Ptach foundation (Poland based, focused on humanitarian and medical aid)

Help4Ukraine.nl (Netherlands based, focused on medical support)