Sitting at home, watching the war in Ukraine unfold has led Britons to wonder how they can help.
As the Disaster Emergencies Committee announced that it had raised £150 million in its first week, the public have been asking how else they might contribute. What alternatives are there and should you use them?
People have delighted in sharing stories of how they have contributed directly to Ukrainian citizens by renting properties through the online lettings company Airbnb and buying art through sites such as Etsy. Others have gathered clothes, toys and sanitary products to be delivered to the Ukrainian border.
Professor Lucy Easthope, Britain’s leading expert on disaster management, told The Times that such alternative methods are almost always mistakes that lead to fraud and waste. Easthope, professor in practice of risk and hazard at the University of Durham, said that people should give money to charities with good local links even if it seemed boring.
“People say, ‘Oh, that’s very boring’ or ‘I don’t like to back the big charities’,” she said. “I always reply, ‘However cool and funky the other things are, they open up the risk of fraud in the country where we’re donating and elsewhere’.”
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• Homes for Ukraine: How can I host Ukrainian refugees?
What are the best charities?
The Disasters Emergency Committee, a coalition of 15 leading charities, is providing emergency aid. The funds are being used by charities inside Ukraine and at its borders to provide people fleeing the war with food, water, medical assistance, protection and trauma care.
Unicef’s crisis appeal for the children of Ukraine and Save the Children are pledging to provide families with water, shelter and food. The British Red Cross and the International Rescue Committee want to raise money for those still in the country as well as those leaving.
The Halo Trust is raising funds so its Ukrainian staff can keep families safe from explosives and map where the bombs fall for future clearance operations.
The government and charity commission have urged anyone looking to donate to a smaller charity to “give safely” by checking the status of any charity on gov.uk and reminded those in charge of large privately raised pots of their responsibilities.
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Can I donate to Ukranian charities?
The British-Ukrainian Aid charity set out to raise £20,000 for medical supplies and first aid kits and has raised more than £394,000 via its Just Giving page, which remains live. It has increased its target to £500,000
The Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain has an appeal that has reached more than £2 million so far to support “accredited and registered Ukrainian charities to provide medicines, food and critical services”. It has its own GoFundMe page.
Can I sponsor a Ukrainian family to stay in the UK?
Yes, but Britons without family connections to people in Ukraine can sign up on a government website.
Refugees will be able to move in with British families from this weekend, regardless of whether they have ties to the UK, and host households will get tax-free payments of £350 a month.
Households offering their homes will face only “light-touch” vetting to maximise the number of refugees who arrive. However, there were concerns that the scheme could prove difficult to access as the families or individual refugees will have to be named by hosts to qualify.
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There are numerous sites offering to connect people with accommodation to refugees, including Shelter4ua.com but they do not offer background checks for either side. Liubomyr Bregman, the Ukranian-born data scientist who created Shelter4ua, did not respond to a request to comment.
Positive Action in Housing is a Scottish charity with a track record of connecting householders with refugees.
Have people been able to house refugees yet?
A Ukrainian mother and daughter are among the first refugees to find a home through the new sponsorship route after connecting with a British couple on Facebook. Niyara Mamontova, 40, and her daughter Eleanora, seven, will move in with Si and Don Morris-Green and their two children at their home near Petersfield, Hampshire.
Claire Johnson, 40, who runs a dog-grooming business in Leeds, has been helping her former husband’s family to get to Britain but has struggled with Home Office bureaucracy.
Alyona Findik, her husband, Salih, and their children, Eva, 12, and Timur, 2, fled Kyiv on March 4, a few hours before their district came under heavy fire.
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Johnson said that they were in the Polish city of Rzeszow, where they had submitted their biometric data to British officials in the hope of getting a visa next week. They must then make the five-hour journey to Warsaw to get their visas before flying to Britain.
“The UK Home Office is not making it easy for them,” she said. “They’ve done their biometrics and they’ve been told they have to wait 72 hours and they will be contacted by email. They’re staying in a shopping centre at the moment.
“They didn’t want to move from there, even though it’s not very comfortable or warm, because there’s a play area that the two-year-old likes.
“[When they get to Britain] they can stay with me. I don’t have room, but I’ll make room. [Alyona]’s a bit of a mess because she’s left her dad, her mum, her grandma and her two younger sisters behind.”
Andy Trafford, 56, also from Leeds, has found Facebook groups designed to connect home owners with refugees a frustrating experience. Despite posting offers to put people up in his home on sites including Ukrainetakeshelter.com, he has received no interest from refugees.
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“My wife and I can offer a room with a double bed that is going spare,” he said. “We’re not the richest people in the world but we could certainly help a single mum with a child.”
He hopes that the government’s relaxation of rules will allow people to take up his offer.
Should I rent a property through Airbnb?
The Airbnb community has pulled together to help thousands of people stuck in Ukraine and fleeing it. One hotel in the capital Kyiv has used donations to deliver 15,000 meals a day using £23,000 given by users of the service.
Artur Gabovich, 50, co-owner of the Campus Community A-Hotel, said that he was very grateful for people’s generosity. “It shows big support for our country, for our people, and for what is going on,” he said.
In Somerset a well-wisher named Richard Hudson, 64, said that he was delighted to receive a message of thanks from Elena, whose property in Kyiv he booked without any intention of staying. Hudson, from Bath, said that Elena had replied: “Thank you very much for your help and support. Indeed, Kyiv is now going through a terrible period. We have explosions in the street and the air raid alarm goes off endlessly.
“The worst thing is that our little children understand what war is. Your support is invaluable, you inspire us and give us a ray of light in these dark days.”
Despite these positive stories, Easthope warned against sending money through Airbnb even if properties looked legitimate. The more popular it becomes as a conduit for sending money, the more scammers will be encouraged to get involved.
Airbnb itself is funding short-term housing for up to 100,000 people, to which people can contribute by offering free stays at their properties or donating money.
How can I send clothes or other items to Ukraine?
It would be better to sell them at a jumble sale or car boot sale and send money instead.
Easthope said that unless a local agency had asked for specific items, such as good quality first-aid kits, it is better to send money so that they can be bought locally.
Those who work in disaster management recall the problems created by good-hearted people sending items to people made homeless by the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.
“That was a huge moment to show how dangerous inappropriate aid is. It sits in containers on the side of the docks. There were batteries from toys leaking acid into duvets,” Easthope said.
She added that although good quality toys would be appreciated in months or years to come, refugees needed basic items such as food, toothbrushes, nappies and sanitary products and even these were better if bought locally.
“The rest is what we call drag. It can take years for things like play equipment, art therapy equipment and toys to be needed. If children need them now then they would probably prefer them from local agencies bought in-country.”
She said that “at best 70 per cent of items are entirely inappropriate, sometimes 100 per cent”.
Should I buy art through Etsy?
Easthope said that giving money to Ukrainian artists through craft marketplaces such as Etsy would open well-meaning people to scams.
“The Etsy thing terrifies me because it lets your guard down for both fraud over there but also over here. You have no idea until you work in disaster the human tenacity to scam you out of your money.”
Will drinking beer help?
A craft brewery in Sussex has teamed up with a Ukrainian brewery to create Malo Mavpa (translation: Little Monkey), as a way of raising funds for Ukraine’s defenders.
Jeremy Cook, owner of Missing Link Brewing, used Instagram to contact Ilia Godina, owner of PZDK Brew in western Ukraine. Godina, 31, a volunteer in Ukraine’s territorial defence, worked with Cook to create a beer recipe.
“I was very touched when Jeremy contacted me to work together on this collaboration,” Godina said. “I feel his support; we are brothers in beer.
“I found a little toy monkey at our patrol headquarters. I wanted the beer to have a friendly name; to show solidarity and support for Ukraine.
“I chose the brewing yeast for Little Monkey because it has an aroma of apricots. My wife loves apricots and it made me think of her. I miss her and our son very much. I am fighting for them now.
“I am a volunteer in Ukraine’s territorial defence, carrying out my duty for the people of Ukraine. It is our job to ensure order on the road between Kyiv and Lviv, and to patrol the city against looters and saboteurs. It’s not fun at all here right now, but we hold on.”
