Why donate to the Defenders Fund?

It has come to my knowledge that many people are reluctant to donate to the Defenders Fund in the Ukraine (personal contacts ratio cca 1:12).

For the purpose of helping out those on the frontlines, XyloDrone and Supercolony are releasing the collection “Catharsis”(each nft contains "Catharsis" from R E U S E and the track "Falling out of Love". View the collection here.

All donations go to the Defenders Fund wallet, while the artist retains 5% royalties of further resales, 5% will keep going into the fund.

This article aims to encourage the opposite by providing evidence on the importance of these donations.

The majority of people which I’ve spoken to said that they are against all war. This is completely understandable, probably most people are against any form of violence. However, when peace is attacked by a group of individuals which have a thirst for power who aim to claim this power with violence then the only way to prevent this is to fight back.

A couple of quotes from unrelated sources as a comment on the above:

"Bullies do in general tend to stand down when their victims stand up to them. But circumstances often make that quite difficult."

Psychology Today

"Karate is properly applied only in those rare situations in which one really must either down another or be downed by him."

Karate Wikipedia

It is very clear that help for civilians and refugees is a must, however, let me provide a little bit of information how donations to the defenders or volunteers fund would result in less casualties than what we’ve witnessed so far.

1. The Ukraine defenders don’t need more people, they need guns

According to Fox News, the defenders aren’t in the need of people, they are in the need of weapons.

"I can't join, because I was specifically told ‘no room,’" Savchuk said. "We are yelling for more weapons because we can't put more people on the front line. Please give us more weapons, so that all of us can fight." Mark Savchuk, Kyiv-based coordinator of the Ukraine Volunteer Journalists Initiative (UVJI).

If there are no weapons, there will be more victims, including Ukrainian and international volunteers coming to help.

2. You’re not supporting violence, you are supporting peace through self-defence

There was a tweet which described a Ukrainian soldier pulling men out of cars to go and fight in the war. Apparently, they were very rude and aggressive towards these men. Just a little reminder that an individual or a small group of them does not represent a country, nor its people, the same goes for the Ukrainian army and defenders. In order to change your mind about the defenders, here is an image of a few of them trying to evacuate an elderly lady:

3. If Ukraine falls, we will (probably) see terrifying political changes

There are very similar echoes of the past linked to current political affairs, this is very evident in the use of the letter “z” from the Russian side. Another similarity is the one linked to the Balkan Wars:

The liberation-from-Nazis rhetoric of both Milosević and Putin are direct precedents for mass war crimes and terror against the civilian population at large. What is scarier in the case of Ukraine is the sheer scale of terror that will be employed in many more cities.
Total Croatia News

While it is undoubtably important to help refugees and civilians, it is the defenders and international political affairs which will play a great role in preventing the past from happening again.

4. The Russian army is far better equipped than the Ukrainian

although the Ukrainian army has more modern weapons, they are largely outnumbered and outgunned.

How big is Russia’s military? Russia has more than 1 million active-duty personnel, more than four times Ukraine's force strength. Russia also has 378,000 reserve personnel and 250,000 paramilitary troops that it could call up in a conflict with its neighbor.

Who has the most weapons? Russia, hands down. In terms of land power, Russia prevails, with more than 12,000 tanks (compared with 2,500 for Ukraine), 30,000 armored vehicles (Ukraine has 12,000) and 12,000 self-propelled artillery (Ukraine has a little more than 1,000).

Russia also dominates in air power, with more than 700 fighter aircraft (compared with about 70 for Ukraine), more than 700 attack aircraft (Ukraine has fewer than 30), more than 500 attack helicopters (Ukraine has 34) and 1,500 helicopters (Ukraine has a little more than 100).

At sea, Russia rules with 15 destroyers, 70 submarines, 11 frigates and nearly 50 mine warfare vessels. Ukraine has no destroyers or submarines, just one frigate and one mine warfare vessel.

Source | USA Today

Conclusion

Violence is wrong in every possible way, but stepping up to bullies and using self defence is a different story, we should donate to the Defenders fund because it will prevent further casualties from happening.