A group of U.S. veterans have helped to raise more than $30 million to send much-needed supplies to the Ukrainian army as Kyiv starts its fightback against Russia.
They have been coordinating and delivering more than the delivery of the non-lethal aid to frontlines since the start of the full-scale invasion in February last year.
Nearly 9,000 civilians have been killed and more then 15,000 have been injured since Vladimir Putin‘s all-out assault on Ukraine.
Spirit of America, the Virginia-based nonprofit that counts several ex-servicemen and women amongst its ranks, tracks down non-lethal military supplies and gets them to the frontlines to help the Ukrainian war effort.
It is the only such organization in the U.S. that works directly with the Department of Defense to identify the needs of the Ukrainian soldiers.
Weapons shipments are left to Ukraine’s allies, with a small number of U.S. officials tracking deliveries inside the country to stop them ending up in the wrong hands.
The group was set up in 2003 by tech entrepreneur Jim Hake after the 9/11 attacks.
Present in more than 100 countries, it has been on the ground in Ukraine since 2014 after Moscow illegally seized Crimea, initially focusing on setting up a radio station to fight back against Kremlin propaganda.
But the focus switched when Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin sent troops and tanks into the capital, Kyiv.
Its staff and donors have made it possible to ship more than 200 tons of non-lethal equipment such as helmets, body armor, and surveillance drones.
The organization, drawing upon its Ukrainian government contacts, has even paid to refurbish old Soviet-era military vehicles to help the country’s army fight back against Russia.
Colleen Denny, who served for nearly a decade with the U.S. Coastguard, joined the non-profit in January 2019.
‘We had actually been working with the US Embassy in Kyiv and US military partners for a couple of months before the full-scale invasion,’ she says.
‘We were just reading what was happening and understanding what Russia was doing.;
When Russia’s army eventually rolled over the Ukrainian border, Denny was on vacation in Utah where she watched the events unfold on TV.
‘I was watching the news and seeing what was happening and how unfair and cruel it seems,’ Denny says.
But just 24 hours later, the Johns Hopkins graduate was back at her home in Washington D.C. and packing her bags for Poland.
Ukraine’s government revamped the rules to make it easier to join the country’s Territorial Defense Forces just before Russia’s latest illegal land grab.
Their ranks swelled from 55,000 to as much as 110,000 by May 2022, according to the British defense think-tank RUSI.
A presidential decree also bans males between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country. It meant demand in Ukraine for life-saving items such as Kevlar-plated vests shot up in the first few months of the war.
In fact, one of the group’s donations helped a young solder cheat death on the frontline in the southern port of Mykolaiv last year after coming under Russian fire.
‘We provided the helmet that he was wearing,’ Denny said. ‘He texted a photo and said “last night I was in a firefight and this saved my life”.’
Spirit of America eventually hopes to have shipped the equivalent of $200 million in terms of non-lethal aid and equipment to the Ukrainian army, which began its long-awaited counteroffensive against the Russian invaders on June 10.
Unlike many other non-profits, it prides itself on being ‘non-neutral’ and openly supports U.S. foreign policy goals.
