Grant Coursey–Kyiv

October 9, 2023

While aid shipments from Sunflower Seeds Ukraine (SFSU), the military-focused initiative of the non-profit Ukrainians of Colorado, reach soldiers up and down the front lines of the war in Ukraine, the end of the proverbial road for September’s shipment was Kharkiv.

There, Master Sergeant Andriy Khrapal, who is in charge of supply for an anti-air unit based near Kharkiv, picked up the shipment. The aid he was so happy to receive for his men? Rain ponchos.

Khrapal explained that the standard-issue rain suits consisting of pants and jackets provided by the Ukrainian military worked but were not designed to be worn over a soldier's body armor, helmet, and ammunition, Khrapal said. The rain ponchos given to him by SFSU are better able to keep soldiers dry during day and night watches in inclement weather, helping Khrapal’s men fulfill their goal of providing consistent anti-air measures by means of mobile, anti-air units.

While rain gear might not come to mind as the biggest need for frontline troops, similarly uninspiring aid is frequently requested from SFSU.

According to SFSU founder Andriy Zakutayev, pants, shirts, boots, camelbacks, and rain covers are not the most tantalizing pieces of aid to raise money for, but they make a huge difference for combat troops.

Andriy asked to be referred to by his first name, which is Ukrainian in origin, preferring it to his surname, which is of Russian origin.

Especially early in the war, new recruits were often expected to provide pieces of their own equipment and uniforms when they enlisted with Ukraine’s armed forces. By providing this basic gear, SFSU helped poor Ukrainians put together what they needed to join the fight, Andriy said.

Unfortunately, it is also common for deployed soldiers to request replacements for pieces of their uniforms damaged on the front.

According to Khrapal, the reason they are forced to ask SFSU for these components is because of the Ukrainian military's cumbersome administration.

“Because of the military bureaucracy, it is really difficult for me to replace [a] pair of boots with a new one,” Khrapal said. “When something happens, you have to fix the event in special registration forms, reports, and various military books. Then you have to write a report about it. You have to make an investigation. You have to create a commission just to assess the incident. And whether it is a pair of boots or a damaged weapon–the procedure is the same. I cannot go to the supply office and say ‘OK, my guy lost the boots and give me another [pair]–there is a request form. No, it doesn’t work like that.”

Any equipment considered state property (even a napkin, Khrapal joked) requires extensive paperwork to be released to troops, Khrapal said. Replacing equipment damaged in battle through military channels can take weeks or even months–time soldiers remain in the field, in combat.

Instead, a request to SFSU can get a soldier a new pair of boots or a piece of uniform within a week if they have it in stock, which they often do.

According to one of SFSU’s co-founders, Oksana Shadyi, SFSU received numerous thank-you messages from soldiers for American-made uniform pants. During the wet, muddy conditions of spring and autumn, the soldiers either did not have the time or the facilities to clean their uniforms. Receiving timely deliveries of uniform pants that kept them drier longer and were not destroyed by brutal field conditions created a simple but important improvement to their quality of life, she explained.

Another example came from a soldier in Khrapal’s unit named Alex. Alex’s boots were destroyed when he came under enemy artillery fire and a hot piece of shrapnel shredded the top of his right boot. Luckily, the boot somehow saved his foot, but the incident left him with an unusable pair of boots. After attempting to get a new pair of boots for Alex from the supply office, Krappal went to SFSU and received a lightweight pair of combat boots from SFSU that Alex said he was very pleased with.

According to Khrapal, further attempting to replace Alex’s boots with a new, military-issued pair would have taken roughly three weeks.

Unfortunately, Alex soon needed another piece of SFSU aid. In late September, shrapnel from Russian artillery fire severely injured Alex’s shoulder, head, and neck. He was “miraculously carried out” of the field between Russian fire series by a nearby medevac, Khrapal said, an evacuation that would likely not have been possible without the lightweight stretcher used to carry him out, a stretcher provided by SFSU.

Andriy does sometimes question why the Ukrainian government needs organizations like SFSU to provide the boots, pants, and medical stretchers defenders use every day, but he said the delay caused by the military’s bureaucratic process is understandable if regrettable.

“Scaling an army in the matter of a year and a half from one hundred thousand, maybe, to a million for any government would not be a trivial endeavor,” Andriy said. “Increasing by 20 percent in the matter of a year may be something that every government, whether it be Ukraine or Russia or the U.S., anyone, should be able to pull off. [Increasing by] 10x in the matter of a year, it’s just hard…Despite of all [sic] the good intentions and hard work by the Ukrainian government, that’s why there are gaps and holes remaining in matters of military supply and logistics.”

Khrapal said he hopes this will change over time as the Ukrainian military continues to improve its bureaucracy. But for the time being, aid donated to individual units, directly to frontline soldiers, is the most effective way for non-profits and donors to make a difference.

Videos from soldiers fighting on the front drives this point home. Shadyi has received videos that show injured soldiers being carried out of combat on lightweight stretchers provided by SFSU. Other videos are thank-you messages from soldiers explaining how a hemostatic bandage or tourniquet provided by SFSU saved their life or the life of a fellow soldier.

Khrapal said one of the reasons medical supplies are constantly in demand is due to the nature of the most common injuries received by frontline soldiers. He explained that explosions from suicide drones or drones dropping impact grenades can riddle a soldier's lower body with tiny pieces of shrapnel that can be difficult to see but, if they hit an artery or vein, can be deadly.

In this case, the best practice is to instantly use a tourniquet on any limb that took shrapnel, because it can be difficult to determine the extent of the damage in the field.

A large part of what SFSU prides itself on is providing what soldiers truly need by staying in close contact with frontline defenders so they can understand the challenges and shortages they face.

According to Shadyi, last year defenders from a radio reconnaissance team approached SFSU looking for help purchasing specific equipment that would allow them to set up consistent communication on the ground in Kherson. At the time, Russian troops occupied Kherson and Ukrainian forces were in the middle of an offensive to retake the city.

The radio reconnaissance team said heavy rains and other bad weather made Starlink and other modes of communication inoperable for large periods of time. The defenders had devised a special method to counter this communication problem but needed special equipment to make it a reality.

SFSU was able to purchase the equipment and quickly provide it to the Kherson defenders, who were grateful to finally have consistent communication available, Shadyi said.

Ukraine’s military is forced to operate with a deficit of supplies across the front. This makes requesting aid, even from large organizations, a careful balance between what a unit needs and what it can survive without, Khrapal said. Any supplies his men can do without or buy for themselves are supplies that can go to other units

With this in mind Khrapal said that he tries to use the help offered by donors and nonprofits sparingly, requesting only the aid his men absolutely require.

“Always, I request the minimum quantity I need. Like recently, I sent a request to one of the well-known foundations in Ukraine, the Serhiy Prytula Foundation,” Khrapal said. “I just asked them [for] six thermal visors… Because I know the price of any donation and I don’t want to misuse it. That’s my key point.”

Khrapal also explained that having been on the supply side of volunteering before he enlisted in the army impacts how he discusses the supplies he receives from donors with members of his unit.

“It’s not for free.” Khrapal said. “[I say to the new men] ‘You should understand the chain. How did it get to you? Every penny, every Hryvnia of this donation–all the logistics and supply chain–it’s a lot of effort and a lot of sweat. It’s a lot of money just to get it to you. So you should not take it [as] free. You should be grateful, and you should appreciate it.’”

As part of Khrapal’s mission to show that he and his unit understand the value of the donations they receive, the men of his unit pool a portion of their salaries to help fundraise for the things they need. Khrapal said he sees this as a way to show donors the importance of whatever the unit needs to purchase, a way of showing that the unit would buy it with their own means if they could, but their means are not enough.