About us

From a private, ad-hoc initiative by friends and family, to a coordinated effort.

Protect Ukraine relies on the generous support of many volunteers who cover their own expenses, so our overhead costs remain minimal. Such as the selfless drivers who help us to drive pick-up trucks and essential goods to Ukraine.

From the onset of war, we realized we had to support the Ukrainians by any means available. We started off as a private initiative by friends and family, raising funds to buy essential first aid and protective materials for the Ukrainian Military. Not before long, this initiative turned into a coordinated effort and became “Protect Ukraine”, a non-profit organization entirely run by volunteers and governed by Dutch law.

We closely cooperate with our Ukrainian counterparts, such as Army units and the TRO, the Ukrainian Volunteer Army. They tell us what they need, we buy it or fund it, ship it or bring it.

Our Mission

We believe that the enduring Russian crime of targeted bombing of Ukrainian cities, kindergartens, schools, libraries, hospitals has to stop as soon as possible.

The Ukrainian defenders are the only ones who can halt the killing, raping and torturing of Ukrainian citizens.

For that reason, Protect Ukraine focuses on supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine with defensive materials: helmets, ballistic vests, cars, trauma kits, reconnaissance drones and pilot training.

We are in direct contact with brigades and medics in the field. With a dedicated group of Dutch volunteers we deliver the demanded materials. Traveling to Ukraine we bring not only tools to defend, but also hope and solidarity to people who need to know they do not stand alone.

We will continue our work till the Russian aggression in Ukraine is stopped, the damage recovered and the mines cleared.

Board Members

Jaap Scholten

Chairman

Based in Budapest, Hungary since 2003. Novelist, anthropologist, former columnist of NRC Handelsblad and travel writer.

Dirck Smits van Oyen

quaestor

Based in Kyiv, Ukraine since 1999. Former marketing director at ABInBev in Ukraine. Since 2010, Dirck serves as a co-founder and CEO of Farmgate Ukraine.

Pieter Wesselman

secretary

Based in The Netherlands. Studied in Groningen and Edinburgh, currently development officer at the Wildlife Justice Commission.

Godfried van Lanschot

Member

Based in the Netherlands, 1992-2005 ABN AMRO, member supervisory board Van Lanschot Kempen (2006-2018), currently private investor.

Maarten Krijgsman

Member

Based in Amsterdam, worked from 1984 till 2020 in the high-tech industry, currently private investor in the crypto market.

Support and advice group

Joris Barendregt

Daan Gunning

Jan Petit

Marije Bedaux

Thysa Gunning

Communications

Jan van Helden

Press

Arjen Joustra

Cars

Daniel de Rijke

Blood bank

Sijmen Philips

Rugby players 4 Rugby players

Like all organizations such as ours, we could not function without our volunteers who spend limitless time and efforts, without any material compensation, to help to prepare and to get materials to the front lines in Ukraine. Like all of us they share the conviction that this battle is as much ours as it is that of the Ukrainians.

Volunteers

Oscar Appeldoorn, Julia Atovka, Diederik Beelaerts, Wiebe Beckman, Dima Bekirov, Farid Bekirov, Maria Berlinska, Andrey Bezugliy, Taras Bondarenko, Jelle Brandt Corstius, John den Brave, Maurits Chabot, Maarten Doorman, Santiago Eder, Daan Gunning, Daan Heerma van Voss, Zita Hietink, Sergey Hizhnyak, Mees Hoff, Wilco Huizing, Olesya Huzar, Florian Jacobs, Ilona Jankovich, Zita Jankovich, Froukje de Jong, Roland de Jong, Martijn Kempe, Olaf Koens, Iris Koppe, Minze Kr2wszvamer, Mariam Lambert, Robbert van Leeuwen, Ingeborg Lurvink, Oleg Lysenko, Aart Marcus, Khristina Matvienko, Jack Meier, Alex Nahorna, Liza Nahorna, Lana Niland, Roos Offerhaus, Jan Willem van Oldeneel, Hubert Oostenbroek, Martijn Otten, Sijmen Philips, Coen Potters, Toscha van Randwijck, Lex Reiff, Maarten Richel, Patrick van Rossum, Jozsi Scholten, Michiel Schwencke, Lyuba Shipovich, Dmytro Shynkarchuk, Tijs Stoof, Jan Peter van Suchtelen, Filipp Stultiens Peresadilo, Ilya Tandur, Dimitriy Tarabakin, Willem van Verschuer, Pieter Waterdrinker, Lisa Weeda, Marc van Weede, Hans Wesseling, Bas Westerhout, Ravenna Westerhout, Tommy Wieringa, Alexander Yurkov, Daryna Plekhova.

About us

From a private, ad-hoc initiative by friends and family, to a coordinated effort.

Our Mission

We believe that the enduring Russian crime of targeted bombing of Ukrainian cities, kindergartens, schools, libraries, hospitals has to stop as soon as possible.