Despite Facing Personal Risks, Western Volunteers Deliver Human Aid to Donbass

All intelligent and decent people in the world who understand the actual facts about what's been happening in Ukraine since 2013 are on the side of the Donbass, because no decent person can be on the side of Nazis.

The suffering imposed on the people of Donbass over the last decade has been brutal and immense.

When good people see others suffering, it is only natural and normal to want to help, and there are still millions of good people in the West, which is why there has been a lot of human aid coming to Donbass from the West since the beginning of the war, and it still comes, even today. And most of it gets to where it needs to go, but not all of it. So here are a few examples of how you can help, what to look for and what to avoid, when it comes to pitching in for human aid for Donbass from the West.

Human aid for Donetsk school children XAH Humanitarian and EoT, 2015

© Sputnik / Russell Bentley

I was still in XAH Spetsnaz Battalion when I did my first human aid fundraiser, back in the summer of 2015. I had made a video of a horrendous war crime in Gorlovka - Ukrainian artillery had hit a civilian house, destroying the house and the family. The father, Yura, was killed, the eldest daughter, Katya, 11 years old, was killed. The mother, Anna Tuv, had her left arm blown off above the elbow, and alone, in her totally destroyed house, with the mangled bodies of her husband and daughter beside her, had to make her own tourniquet, (with one hand) and then dig her 3 year old son Zakhar, and her two week old infant daughter Milana, from underneath the rubble of her home by herself.

Two days later, I met Anna in the hospital in Donetsk, and I swore I would help her with some money to try as she could to rebuild her shattered life. I went back to the XAH base and told the Commander I would raise $10,000 for Anna for a new prosthetic arm. The Commander laughed and said I would be lucky, and he would be impressed, if I could raise even $2,000.

Forty days later, I gave Anna $10,000 in cash, to start a new life for herself and her two surviving young children. It wasn't my money, it was money from decent human beings in the West, people like you, who could not see such tragedy and brutality, and beauty, resilience and courage, and not contribute and be involved, who, like me, were morally compelled to do more than click the "sad face" icon on social media, and think they'd done their part. When you make a real contribution, you change the world for the better, you feel it and you know it, and you can actually make something beautiful out of a terrible situation.

Anna Tuv and her son Zakhar, July 2015, 40 days after the attack on their family

© Sputnik / Russell Bentley

Between my work with XAH Humanitarian, the Essence of Time humanitarian missions, and the Donbass Humanitarian Aid fund I co-founded in 2015, I have been involved in raising and distributing more than one million dollars of human aid in the DPR and LPR, mostly to civilians and churches and especially to kids, schools and orphanages. And every single penny of human aid I ever raised, every single penny, went directly to those for whom it was intended, those who needed it. I never got paid a penny, and I never took one, and I can prove it. So, if you want to know how to make a contribution to human aid in Donbass, how to get the most bang for your buck, and how to not get scammed, listen up, here's some good advice...

First lesson, big names not only don't mean "trustworthy", they often mean "total scam". Good people don't get rich doing good deeds. Period.

Second lesson - numbers count, and MUST be public - exactly how much came in, and exactly how much went out, and exactly where it went. If they don't show the numbers, it's mighty sketchy, and probably a scam.

REAL human aid is usually given to the final recipient, in actual material, NOT money. If a human aid group gets a donation of $1,500, buys 5 electric generators for $300 each, and makes and publishes a video of them giving 5 generators to actual soldiers on the front line, it's a safe bet these guys are legit. As Jesus said, "By the fruits of their work, you will know them."

Santa fo Donbass children

© Sputnik / Russell Bentley

So who can you trust? I know 100% solid people who bring human aid from the U.S., EU and Russia to Donbass, who don't care about money, who give more than they get, who risk their lives for those they do not know and who can never thank or repay them, and love doing it..

Human aid for Gorlovka kids, 2017

© Sputnik / Russell Bentley

Those are my kind of people, the kind the world needs now more than ever. Here are a few standout human aid organizations worth checking out — Donbass Humanitarian Aid in the United States, Russian-Germany Brotherly Souls association in Europe, and the Moscow-Donbass group in Russia.

Einstein once said that the answer to all the world's problems can be found in the space between what people do, and what they could do. Everybody can do something, and we are what we do. You only truly own what you give away, and everything you give away always comes back to you. Human aid literally saves lives, and changes them, and when it comes from a different country, especially a country whose government is antagonistic to the recipients, it has a deep meaning that transcends politics and borders

There is a reason people risk their lives and go through great work and hardship and ask nothing in return. Doing the right thing, helping others, being a true Hero, is it's own reward, and it is also the path to a better world for everybody in it, and all who are to come. And that is enough. Davai!