To want to help Ukraine- is there ANYTHING we can do????

[Helpforthosethatneedit]

I am just so sad watching Zelensky. He's had his country invaded by Russia, fought for survival and now he's got Trump and Vance gaslighting him. Mumsnet, there's posts every day on here about this sort of behaviour, but usually it is happening in playgrounds. Wonderful advice is given. But this is not a playground. This is the world. How can we/ the little people help? I feel so so helpless. Please give ideas? Can we do something to support Ukraine and potentially change the future?

Aibu?

Yes- frankly, we, the little people have nothing we can do to help.
No- We need to fight to help Ukraine and keep Europe safe (and here's my idea....)

This isn't just about Ukraine, it about European security in general.

Indeed. Or do you have sons of an age you could encourage them to join and go and do their bit? Your husband, brothers?

What- being a pathetic ignorant bully.

For goodness sake. People can care about more than one thing, I've made multiple donations via Red Cross to Palestine over the last year. The situation is awful and I wanted to help.

I can also recognise there are many other awful situations in the world and care about them too same as OP. If anything Palestine arguably gets a disproportionate amount of attention and support compared to other similar situations world wide.

I honestly feel whataboutery like this hurts the cause and makes people less likely to go off and donate 😵‍💫

Zelensky doesn’t want this war and the war will end when Russia ends it.

One of us must have an old suit we can send over for Zelenskyy. That might help. Not sure how we can get it over there, aid convoy maybe?

Just so you are aware you can donate to their army, might not be for everyone but here is the link

https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-vidkriv-spetsrahunok-dlya-zboru-koshtiv-na-potrebi-armiyi

What the frontline really needs is ammunition.

Incidentally the Russian advance has stalled, it's only a matter of time before the Russians crack, so long as support for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia are maintained. We need to look at sanctioning their supporters too, a lot of Russian fossil fuels are being rebadged by the likes of Georgia.

In case anyone is interested in boycotting American products, for whatever reasons, I started making a list a while back. It's by no means complete so please do your own research.
I have no idea if boycotting is an effective response but according to this source in 2023 the UK imported 74 billion dollars of American goods.
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/exports/united-kingdom

TECH COMPANIES
meta ( inc Facebook and Instagram )
Amazon
Apple
Oracle
Microsoft
Nvidia
Tesla
Sisco

BEAUTY BRANDS:
Revlon
L’Oreal - which also owns :
Kiehls
BioTherm
Aesop
Kérastase
Essie
Maison Margiela Beauty
Yves Saint Laurent
Prada Beauty
Lancôme
Urban Decay
Shu Uemura
Garnier
Maybelline
Gilette
Boots is owned by an American investor now
Pantene
Olay
All Estee Lauder companies, so:
Estée Lauder
Le Labo
La Mer
Tom Ford Beauty
Bobbi Brown
Darphin
Origins
Killian
Aramis
Rodin
Bumble & Bumble
Coty and all it’s brands:
Wella
Sasson
Rimmel
Clairol
Sally Hansen
Max Factor
Bourjois
Nioxin
Johnson and Johnson and it’s subsidiary brands
Neutrogena
Aveeno
Roc
Clean and Clear

CLOTHING AND HOMEWARES:
Anthropology
Free People
Urban Outfitters
Ralph Lauren
Under Armour
GAP
Nike
New Balance
Red Wing shoes
Tommy Hilfiger
Calvin Klein
Levi Strauss & Co.
The North Face
American Eagle
Outfitters
Converse
Everlane
Fruit of the Loom
Hollister & Gilly Hicks
Old Navy
J. CREW
Calvin Klein
Schott NYC

RESTAURANT CHAINS:
Starbucks
McDonald’s
Five Guys
Domino's
Pizza Hut
KFC

SUPERMARKETS:
Morrisons .. American owned
Tesco - The Vanguard American Group has invested
Amazon Fresh

FOOD MANUFACTURERS:
Heinz
Coke
Pepsi
Quakers Oats

ALCOHOL PRODUCERS
Barefoot
Apothic
Dark Horse
Ernest & Julio Gallo

Duracell

STREAMING SERVICES
Netflix
Disney+
Amazon
SKY / Now Tv ( owned by Comcast a UsS company)

You are doing a lot. Bless you.

The most has to be done by Putin. He is a thug.
Donald Trump, it seems, can not sway him so joins him.

Apart from not buying US and Russian goods and not visiting their countries, and by donating to Red Cross, we can do nothing.

Because that is the only thing he could do.

This idiot in the White House and his truly repellent intended successor cannot be put in their place by a UK PM by criticism. We have to be a lot cleverer than that.

What needs to be done is an education of the American people about Putin. I’m presuming most of them are not aware of what happened in Salisbury and therefore not aware of how their current government is being played by Moscow.

I’m waiting to hear a denunciation of the current White House stance from the former presidents, particularly from George Bush as a republican. I presume there’s an etiquette that former presidents don’t criticise current ones, but in this case the USA is being made a fool of by Moscow and that message should be going out loud and clear to the American people.

It’s one thing to say that too much American tax payers’ money has been spent on Ukraine. It’s quite another to present Ukraine as the aggressor and jump into bed with Putin.

This is such a helpful list, thank you. Really have to rethink my beauty brands! Guess I'll go medik8/ Korean beauty?

I was slightly heartened by the recent report that some Town Hall meetings of republicans have been angry affairs for republican officials. It will be interesting to see what the impact of job cuts created by Doge is on the mid terms in two years’ time. My hope is that the extreme actions of Trump & co do not play well with moderate republican voters.

And democrats need to get their act together. They need to take a very big look at what made them unpopular. One of those issues clearly is the gender issue- and like the SNP here they’ve had their arses kicked over that. I am one of those women who would have been in a difficult situation if I’d been a US voter last year. Faced with the choice I might well have spoiled my ballot paper. Democrats need to get back to the sensible ground and not push a policy that risks the safety of women and girls and steals their chances of competing fairly.

And although I hate saying this, they need to pick a white male as their next candidate. Hard to admit, but almost certainly true.

Zelensky isn’t the hero people seem to make him out to be. He’s been haled a hero because of Russia, not because of what he’s done. Prior to the war he was already sought after for other crimes, Ukraine has an appalling human rights record and is considered to be one of the trafficking capitals of the world.

This is interesting. What crimes? Who was seeking him? Do you have a reputable link?

Sorry to hear that I agree with you, young people shouldn't be in firing line for anyone. All sides included

Basically Democrats need to go for what we in the UK used to call ‘Mondeo man’- Tony Blair understood that very well. It will need to be a white male, married with kids, with no skeletons in the closet or relatives with questionable business activities. I hope they are looking now.

Do you have evidence for what you are saying about Zelensky? Or are you parroting something you have read elsewhere?

I was slightly heartened by the recent report that some Town Hall meetings of republicans have been angry affairs for republican officials.

@Maray1967 I'm hearing that they're all being told to avoid any public meetings. I watched a video of Kevin Kiley being booed the other day (he's a Republican in California so obviously the things that he had to say were at odds with the views of the people in the state as a whole) but reading reports from Sacramento he's completely uncontactable as a representative.

I am highly suspicious of this latest anti-Zelensky sentiment that is dripping into everything right now.

It plays right into Trump's hands. Don't forget Trump is the expert at "fake news". That coloured his presidency last time and he has come back far stronger this time.
If there is evidence that Zelensky is any way not what he seems I hope people who are criticising him can provide it.

He looks to me like a man who is doing all he can against a powerful aggressor who is trying to take his country by force.
And, no, he doesn't need to wear a bloody suit.

We need to hit America in the purse

No buying from Starbucks, Uber, Amazon, Microsoft. Starlink, Tesla.
Stop using X and Facebook.
Sign petitions.
Donate if you can.

Imagine wanting to help the heart of child sex trafficking. That is what this war is really about.

I’d look into the corruption around Ukraines mineral mining industry, if you’d like to have a little more detail. Much of this “peace deal” was based on Trump gaining access to their hugely profitable mineral mining industry, and with that would have to come transparency and thus huge amounts of corruption and who is involved would be uncovered. I think that’s part of the reason this “deal” has been scuppered.

Indeed. His country faces an existential threat, there are more important things than appearances. Winston Churchill famously wore "siren suits" during WWII, a one-piece garment that you'd associate with a ship's engineer. He met Roosevelt and Stalin in one.

Mar-a-Lago?

It won't do much but you can try. The first answer on what Ukraine needs more of is correct. Who wants to do that

I guess donate to charities, what would you be asking MPs to do if you contacted them?