A friend in need is a friend indeed - a well-worn saying, but today it is of great importance. Practically from the first minutes of the treacherous attack by Vladimir Putin's army on Ukraine, Poles rushed to help their eastern neighbor. In addition to the government and humanitarian organizations, the broadly understood military community, including stores with weapons, equipment and tactical equipment, joined in helping Ukrainians. In the following post, we would like to present the initiatives we know to honor these people and inform you where to go if you want to help. At the moment, we are not able to make a list of all initiatives and fundraisers, we only inform about those we know about. If you know about others, write in the comments.

- The Helikon Tex and Direct Action companies have announced the transfer of PLN 235,000 to the National Bank of Ukraine and the ending of sales of products to Russia and Belarus on February 24, 2022.

- Orkan Tactical, on February 26m has announced a collection of gifts for those fighting in Ukraine. The list of the most necessary items includes: helmets and ballistic plates, bandages (especially military), sleeping bags, thermal underwear, knee pads, ballistic glasses and goggles, tactical slings, tactical gloves AA, AAA, CR123 batteries. Collection address: Konarski 7, Warsaw.

- KHAKI Shop in Krakow, on February 28, started collecting tactical and medical equipment for those fighting in Ukraine. The shop on its FB profile has published the following list of equipment that Ukrainians need and which, after collection, is to be delivered directly to Kiev:

- tactical vests - generally gear
- personal first aid kits - full and just medical pouches
- plate carrier vests
- ballistic inserts
- Kevlar helmets
- uniforms (olive, Multicam - from the information obtained, the Russians change into Polish and Ukrainian uniforms, so these camouflages are off)
- Gore-tex (BW is also welcomed)
- warm clothing - fleece, sweatshirts, olive jackets
- socks
- thermoactive underwear
- sleeping bags
- sleeping mats
- backpacks (especially medical)
Equipment:
- radio (due to the universality of the possibility of communication with others, it is more about the PMR band than FRS/GMRS, but for sure each will be useful!)
- tactical flashlights
- headlamps
- binoculars
- night vision devices
- thermal imagers
Medical aid:
- Israeli bandages
- personal dressings
- general bandages
- Celox dressings and powders
- stasis
- decompression needles
- cricothyroidotomy kit
- nasopharyngeal tubes
- hydrogel dressings

The store urges to bring only items from the list. Collection address: Rynek Główny 7, Kraków.

In Lublin, Warsaw and Świdnik, a fundraiser was organized at the initiative of Legia Akademicka, Braterstwo.eu, the M Tac company, the 5.11 clothing store - 4Tactical.pl and the Arsenal weapon store.

The list includes mainly medications (list below). You can also make payments, and the collected funds are to be used to finance the purchase of tactical equipment, battlefield medicine, means of communication:
Liga Proobronna Foundation (KRS number 0000561912) belonging to Braterstwo.eu social movement 
BNP Paribas 35 2030 0045 1110 0000 0410 7910
PAYMENTS TITLE -  AID FOR UKRAINE.
List of medicaments and medical equipment collected by the above-mentioned entities:
TCCC measures
- hemostatic dressings (Celox, Bloodstop, Klotpad, Surgicel, Tachosil, HemCom, QuickClot, Floseal)
- individual dressing (OLAES different sizes, Israeli dressing)
- tourniquet (CAT, SOFT, SICH)
- Bolin Chest Seal BCS, SAM Chest Seal, BCS, Asherman, HyFin
- nasopharyngeal tubes
- Tactical Compressed Gauze
- Chest puncture needle to decompress tension pneumothorax 14GA 3.25IN (2.1x83mm)
- tactical equipment (flashlights, shoes, sleeping bags, mats, uniforms, helmets, vests, etc.)
- medications and dressings
- STERILE AND NON-STERILE GASES AND DRESSINGS (AT LEAST 10 BY 10 CM) - smaller ones are not suitable!
- SYRINGES AND NEEDLES (ALL SIZES)
- ANALGESICS: Tramal (Poltram), Ketonal, Dexak (Ketonal and Dexak can be bought without a prescription!)
- Antidiarrheal drugs
- Saline
- Hydrogel and silver dressings for burns

Addresses for bringing items for the above collection:

- 4Tacticalpl store
Lublin, Al. Piłsudskiego 18

- M-Tac.EU store
Stefan Starzyński 87
05-090 Dawidy Bankowe near Warsaw

- Arsenal Store Store
ul. Traugutta 29, 21-040 Świdnik

The BARDO Hunting Center and the Omnis Arma organization decided to start collecting funds for the purchase of grenade launchers for the defenders of Ukraine. The goal is to buy 300 AK GN.

The weapons will be shipped through official government channels for donation. The BARDO Center is also to personally take care of the "power supply" to the above-mentioned weapons. Link to the collection: https://zrzutka.pl/mr9bm4/

Templars Gear has announced that its production capacity will be redirected to supply the armed forces of Poland and Ukraine.

More information was not given, but knowing the guys' gesture, it can be presumed that they are not idle and help as much as they can, without making too much hustle.
As already mentioned in the introduction, if you know about other similar initiatives, write in the comments.

And to sum up, looking at all initiatives, we Poles know for sure that another famous quote does not apply to us: "Among loving friends, dogs ate the hare ..."