Dear friends and colleagues,

As you know, Russia has started a full-scale war against Ukraine. Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Uman, Vinnytsia, and many other Ukrainian cities are being bombed by Russian occupiers; regular apartments, kindergartens, hospitals, even ambulance cars – and not only military infrastructure – are under shelling. Yesterday, Putin ordered his military to put Russia's nuclearforces on high alert.  Because of the invasion, our team has had to postpone the 19th Docudays UA festival, which was scheduled to run between 25th March and 3rd April, until martial law is suspended and Russian aggression on the territory of Ukraine stops. Here you can find our official statement.

Meanwhile, on behalf of Ukrainian citizens, we would like to ask for international support.

• We ask you to push your government to order a no-fly zone over Ukraine. This practice was used in Libya in 2011 when NATO suspended all flights over the country’s territory. This measure should be introduced to protect Ukrainian civilians from Russian jets, drones, and missiles.
  
  

• We ask you to lobby for devastating sanctions on Russia, including a cut-off of the SWIFT banking system, an embargo on the import of Russian oil and gas, the freezing of Russian state assets abroad, and the closure of sea- and airports to Russian ships and planes. To stop the war, the world needs to introduce sanctions with immediate effects.
  
  

• The National Bank of Ukraine has opened a special account to raise funds for the Ukrainian Army. Anyone from any country can donate: any amount would be very helpful, as will spreading this information. Under this link, you can find bank details for many currencies, including US dollars and euros. Also, you can donate to the International Charitable Foundation 'Come Back Alive'; you can find details of it here.
  
  

• We call upon all our partners, colleagues and friends to support Russia’s isolation until its troops leave the territory of Ukraine within its borders according to international law, and until Russia pays compensation for all the damage done to the people of Ukraine by their criminal actions. We ask you to abstain from participating in any film or other event hosted or funded, directly or indirectly, by the Russian Federation: any participation will indirectly legitimise all the horrors Ukraine is withstanding now. We are asking you not to be silent, and to vocally support Ukraine whenever it’s possible. 
  
  

• Any foreigners willing to defend Ukraine and the global order as part of the International Legion of the Territorial Defence of Ukraine can contact Ukraine’s foreign diplomatic missions in your respective countries.
  

NB: Many people are fleeing from the war-torn cities to countries near Ukraine; they do not have shelters, many of them are stressed out, and it’s complicated for them to find out what to do. If you have any opportunities to help them to find a temporary place to stay, to find transport or to organise transfers from the border crossing points, please contact us.

Any of these actions would be helpful. Please spread this message around as widely as you can.

This website gives all the info about Russian aggression towards Ukraine, and all the options to help our country.

Another website with additional information on how everyone can help: 

We hope for your support. Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin, too.

#stoprussia #stopputin #standwithukraine #supportukraine