Story
24th February 2022, when the most recent Russian barbaric invasion began, Dimko Zhluktenko decided to quit his IT job and dedicate himself solely to volunteering. He resolved to support various units where he had friends by activating his military ties – so they could fight better. Drones, StarLinks, night vision, radios, generators, EOD equipment – all of that he initially bought using his own savings, realizing that this is a war for the survival of the Ukrainian nation. Dimko started publicly sharing his efforts on his Twitter page. People instantly began donating to his work after witnessing how honest and genuine it is and how it has a real impact. Over a few months, Dimko collected more than 150,000 USD from small PayPal donations while sending more than 30 parcels to his friends in the military.
Fast forward to June 2022, Dimko already has a team of pals who have consistently helped him all the way through and are willing to commit their efforts moving forward. Dimko Zhluktenko has decided to put his own dreams on pause and dedicate one year of his life solely to volunteering efforts. Supported by his fellow friends and his dog Dzyga who is always cross-checking each and every parcel that the team sends to the frontlines, Dimko wants to see how much impact his work can do.
That’s how Dzyga’s Paw originated/came to be – a charity fund aimed at supplying the Ukrainian military in the Russo-Ukrainian war, in the name of Dzyga, а dog who wants to live in free and independent Ukraine and, therefore, gives her paw of help to Ukrainian fighters!
Dimko Zhluktenko established the charity foundation in 2022 and named it Dzyga after his dog, who has always been by his side. All to fight the Russian invasion. We will stand our ground.
And here is how to pronounce Dzyga 🙂
Philosophy
We are supporting the war effort instead of humanitarian. As Ukrainians, most of us know that if Russia had not invaded, there would not be a humanitarian crisis. Ukraine is fine. But with Russia’s barbaric war crimes, it becomes much harder to live here.
We want to address the root cause of the need for humanitarian aid in the first place. The main idea is to push Russian invaders off Ukrainian borders so they do not wish to come back here. Then, we believe the humanitarian problem becomes much easier to tackle, and we would be happy to put our efforts into that.
Thus, we are putting most of our resources into military aid, particularly technology that gives a tactical edge over enemies. Air recon drones, StarLinks, long-range encrypted radios, radio repeaters, advanced night vision, thermal cameras, etc. Most of our crew comes from an IT background, and we know a thing or two about advanced technologies. That makes it possible for us to optimally validate, source, test, and suggest usages of technologies to Ukrainian military units.
Also, as we chat daily with the military units, we know that there is always a demand for consumables such as sweets, cigarettes, trekking socks, tactical gloves, and batteries – all these things are GOLD. We happily pack those into each “care package” we send – because our fighters should know – we also think about them and their comfort.
Letters of gratitude
Dzyga’s team
Initially, it all started as a one-man army or one-man-and-a-dog army
Now, there is a whole team behind Dzyga’s Paw!
Frequently Asked Questions
General
We only offer assistance to people we know. As a result, we can guarantee that no supplies are lost in the chain of middlemen. We ensure that the requests make sense, only then do we put forth our best efforts to fulfil those requests that have been 100% validated.
You can find a list of all the Heroes we support here.
We only offer assistance to people we know. As a result, we can guarantee that no supplies are lost in the chain of middlemen. We ensure that the requests make sense, only then do we put forth our best efforts to fulfil those requests that have been 100% validated.
You can find a list of all the Heroes we support here.
Dzyga’s Paw was started by a former IT specialist, Dimko Zhluktenko. On February 24, 2022, Dimko quit his job in IT and dedicated himself solely to volunteering. In the beginning, he bought various high-tech equipment for military needs using his savings. After sharing these efforts on his Twitter page, people immediately started donating to his work after seeing that it was honest and genuine and had a real impact.
Now, Dzyga’s Paw has a team of volunteers, who share our philosophy and dedicate their time to helping Ukraine win the war.
All jokes aside, the foundation’s actual leader is Dzyga dog, who has rallied an entire team behind her paw!
To get in touch with us, send an email to hello@dzygaspaw.com.
No, we do not buy weapons. We only focus on providing high-tech equipment for which we have the necessary competence. However, there are exceptional cases where we can offer units that have a license for buying weapons financial support.
As a team of Ukrainians, we believe the world can only reach peace by supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Payment
We have a convenient website payment system that allows you to select your currency, amount, and donation frequency! Although we prefer this payment type the most, we keep additional donation options such as direct bank transfer via SWIFT or SEPA and international money transfer systems (PayPal) in cases of the system’s failure. Additionally, you can support us with cryptocurrency!
We also have an option of matching donations via Benevity!
Our team is open to helping you with other ways of accepting donations at hello@dzygaspaw.com. You can learn more about how you can support us.
Every penny counts! No amount is too small to give! Together we can build a strong, well-equipped, motivated army to fight the Russian invasion — bit by bit, parcel by parcel, unit by unit.
We have a convenient website payment system that allows you to select your currency, amount, and donation frequency! Although we prefer this payment type the most, we keep additional donation options such as direct bank transfer via SWIFT or SEPA and international money transfer systems (PayPal) in cases of the system’s failure. Additionally, you can support us with cryptocurrency!
We also have an option of matching donations via Benevity!
Our team is open to helping you with other ways of accepting donations at hello@dzygaspaw.com. You can learn more about how you can support us.
Every penny counts! No amount is too small to give! Together we can build a strong, well-equipped, motivated army to fight the Russian invasion — bit by bit, parcel by parcel, unit by unit.
You will receive a confirmation email if you indicate your email address while donating. Furthermore, you can find your donation on our Finance page in the Recent Donation chart. There are numerous ways to donate available here.
You will receive a confirmation email if you donate through PayPal.
If you donate through a credit card or bank transfer, you could write your email address in the transaction message to receive the confirmation email.
Furthermore, you can find your payment on our Finance page for a few hours after it was processed.
There are numerous ways to donate.
We recommend the foundations Come Back Alive, Serhiy Prytula’s Charity Foundation, and UAnimals. You can find more detailed information about these foundations on their official pages.
For now, 97% of donations have been spent purely on military needs and humanitarian aid. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we have been operating without overhead, which has only been possible thanks to volunteers. Still, some of the expeditions to the frontlines took up some operational budget for expenses like fuel and food.
Currently, we are working on making the foundation transparent for our donors. We are planning to launch a new page where you will be able to track all of our expenses, including operational ones as well as those that we have planned for 2023. You can learn more about this project here.
We receive donations from the USA, the UK, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Norway, Estonia, Finland, Switzerland, and more!
After subscribing to Dzyga’s Paw, you will receive an email with your account details. To cancel your subscription, sign in to your account on the Dzyga’s Paw website. You may also cancel your subscription by contacting us directly at hello@dzygaspaw.com.
We are sorry that the payment didn’t go through. Unfortunately, banks consider Ukraine a high-risk country, and based on our statistics, only 75% of payments are successful. It does not depend on the country but rather on the particular banks.
There is not much we can do on our side. We recommend using a card from a different bank or direct bank transfer via SWIFT or SEPA. You can also try other payment methods available on our Support page → Other donation options.
Due to war, the only legal way for our organization to charge donations in Ukraine is in UAH. This way, the government ensures the stability of our national currency.
As we are moving towards using only official charity fund accounts, we have launched our website payment system. Banks often require your legal name and ZIP code to process the payment, especially in the US and Canada. Otherwise, the system will mark the payment and user as “fraud”.
However, we as an organization do not require this information, so you may use whatever name or ZIP code you wish as long as the payment is successful. In other cases, we keep additional donation options such as direct bank transfer via SWIFT or SEPA and international money transfer systems (PayPal).
You can find all the details on our Support page → Other donation options.
Suppliance
Unfortunately, our resources are limited, and we cannot help everyone. We are focusing on providing adequate support to people we know.
Here you can find personal stories of our Heroes *link* and ways to support them directly.
Unfortunately, our resources are limited, and we cannot help everyone. We are focusing on providing adequate support to people we know.
Here you can find personal stories of our Heroes and ways to support them directly.
Even though we would love to assist every volunteer, our main focus remains on supporting our Heroes. Therefore, it takes time to respond to every such request.
Still, we would be happy to be of use to you, so please send your request to hello@dzygaspaw.com.
Brilliant!
Let us know how you can help at hello@dzygaspaw.com, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
We feel that technology provides us with a tactical advantage over Russian forces. It includes air recon drones, StarLinks, long-range encrypted radios, radio repeaters, advanced night vision, thermal cameras, and so on.
Also, as we speak with the military units on a daily basis, we know that consumables such as sweets, cigarettes, trekking socks, tactical gloves, and batteries are always in high demand.
We are willing to accept all sorts of help, so please email us at hello@dzygaspaw.com, and we will make sure your package reaches Ukraine.
Projects
With the help of our contributors, we were recently able to purchase 100 Starlinks for the Ukrainian army! We are still paying for some of the subscriptions, and your assistance is greatly appreciated.
We will transfer your donation to the Starlink subscription if you text “Starlink” in the transaction message.
With the help of our contributors, we were recently able to purchase 100 Starlinks for the Ukrainian army! We are still paying for some of the subscriptions, and your assistance is greatly appreciated.
We will transfer your donation to the Starlink subscription if you text “Starlink” in the transaction message.
Certainly!
You can buy Starlink on your own in the EU and send it to us along with the account. For support on this matter, contact hello@dzygaspaw.com.
Alternatively, you can donate to us and specify “Starlink” in the transaction message.
You can send your greeting or any other message to Russians on the 152mm round fired from the MSTA-B cannon! Here is how it is done:
1. You send a screenshot of your $300+ donation to our foundation at hello@dzygaspaw.com, along with the text you want on the shell.
2. We will send you a video of your shell going straight to Russians in a few days.
Also, our boys can say anything you want before or after the launch.
Here you can find some of our videos.
It largely depends on what you specifically want to receive and the customs restrictions on it. Send your request to hello@dzygaspow.com so we can try our best to fulfill it.
Want to support Dimko?
Since 24th February, I quit my IT job (here’s what I did before) and put all of my resources – both own savings and time into saving Ukraine from Russian invasion. Within those months, I have created a charity fund in the name of my dog Dzyga who is tirelessly helping me supplying Ukrainian military with high tech equipment.
I am a cycling geek, and we were planning to open a bike shop together with my partner in Lviv, Ukraine. What we wanted is to embrace cycling culture in Lviv, and make more people here love cycling the way I do it.
Dimko Zhluktenko
Founder of 🇺🇦 military charity fund
