ABOUT US
Defend Ukraine Foundation (Canada), an all-volunteer NGO charity startup, was launched soon after 2-24, the invasion of Ukraine by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Our mission is to support the courageous people of Ukraine in their fight for freedom, democracy and survival.
Our directors and team of volunteers are a mix of Ukrainian expatriates and Canadian military / law enforcement veterans.
Our main business lines are:
1. Hospital and Medical Aid;
2. Non-Lethal Civilian Defense Aid;
3. Humanitarian Aid (clothing, bedding, food);
4. Firefighter and Urban Rescue Gear; and
5. Intensive Civilian Defense training in Ukraine.
In March and April, we air freighted 68 pallets of hospital, medical, civilian defense and humanitarian aid on 3 flights: Projects Uno, Dos and Tres.
This is the equivalent of a convoy of three 53-foot North American semi-trailers!
Our gear has flown from YVR (Vancouver) to Warsaw, Frankfurt and Munich, then trucked to distribution depots in Western Europe.
From there, streams of smaller trucks and Sprinter vans have fanned out to replenish warehouses in Kharkhiv in the east, Chernihiv in the north, Mykolaiv and Odessa in the south, and Zhytomir, Lviv and Kyiv in the west.
In late May, we completed Project Prometheus, our proof-of-concept initial firefighter aid venture. Almost 20 BC fire departments, from as far north as Masset and Fort St John, donated surplus “turnout gear” (jackets, pants and helmets), and rescue gear. After a three-day sort, organize and packing effort, we shipped over three tonnes of deployment-ready gear to our partner NGO, Firefighter Aid Ukraine, in Edmonton, which organized several massive airlifts and deployed this gear all over Ukraine.
In our latest initiative, Project Hawkeye, we located, shipped and deployed a NATO-grade 200-bed field hospital: 200 folding cots, 200 field stretchers, several dozen spine boards, 600 blankets and much more, from North Vancouver, where it was stored as 1970-era West Coast earthquake preparedness gear, to the fronts in Ukraine, where it is urgently needed.
We need your help. Air freight is not cheap. Neither are sea containers shipped by rail, sea and land. Our largest shipment, 28 pallets, cost over CDN $23,000 for air freight alone, plus ground freight charges.
Our M.A.S.H.-inspired field hospital projects are our most ambitious, essential and costly, to date.
The combat and shelling fronts, especially in the east and south, are woefully short of beds and supplies.
On Canada’s Victoria Day weekend, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy predicted 50 to 100 Ukrainians could soon be killed each day in the Donbas. The casualty rate, including civilian and military injuries, is much higher.
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Please help us help Ukraine.
