MeetFighters News

Thank you!

Thank you. This is the time for real fighters. And real heroes.

Glad we have a place to share and contribute towards a current tragedy that's occurring in our world 🌎 that is man made and totally avoidable and unacceptable. May God and the the World 🌎 step in to help the UKRAINIAN 🇺🇦 People.

Agree 100%. Whatever one's political views, this is a major humanitarian crisis for the Ukrainian people who are being killed defending their homes against a brutal attack, forced to flee their homes, without potable water, food, light, heat, medical supplies...a lot of innocent men, women, and children victimized by senseless violence.
When a missile destroys your house, you don't think about politics.

I am no supporter of Russia in any way or form. I do suggest that the Administration of this site takes its own advice from the chat room and stay out of politics.
I know this is not a popular comment but I feel it must be made.

Expressing solidarity and support for the Ukrainian people is a humanitarian act. It is not intended as a political statement.

When you ask for donations to support for reason other than natural disasters you are injecting yourself in politics. That is in opposition to your admonitions in such places as the chat room.

Think about the innocent civilians affected in Ukraine right now. The donations are for them, and not for helping Ukraine fight against Russia. That's the difference between a humanitarian act and a political statement.

He is not injecting himself into politics. He is trying to help civilians who are currently in dire need. There’s a big difference. If you don’t like it you can move on elsewhere. It’s not going to stop or change just because you disagree.

Wow. You have the right to your opinion. Russian protesters are being thrown in jail for trying to voice their opinion. I don’t see anything “political” about that. What’s happening in Ukraine is a humanitarian crisis and so glad to see Meetfighters doing what they can to help people just trying to live life.

Everything can be political in the right/wrong context, including allowing openly gay guys like me (and you) to engage in erotic pursuit on here.

The difference is, chatting about contentious political topics in chat doesn't ostensibly benefit people, and definitely not enough to justify the discord. This Ukraine initiative is literally a benefit.

I strongly disagree Bobster. This isn't political at all. This is about defending freedom and peoples rights!! A peaceful nation was attacked by a despot, I only wish we as a community could do more. I commend the administrators for taking this stand!!

this type of comment definitely highlights the situation of no understanding of what is currently happening in the Ukrainian state. There is no right to compare the destruction caused by a natural disaster with the damage caused by brutal military aggression against civilians !!! I strongly recommend the humanitarian support expressed by the administration of this site.

There isn’t anything wrong with taking a humanitarian position on this. Your entitled to your opinion just as others whom you may disagree with. I don’t see this as political.

Well done meetfighters. The Ukrainians need this support so don’t let @bobster be an irritant

Your point was made in your first post. As this is a privately owned and operated website they may do as they wish. Those in disagreement have the option to delete their account.

Who is the 'you' you refer to? This is a community. Admin is simply reflecting the OVERWHELMING view of the membership, just as they do when excluding fractious political bickering from elsewhere on the site. This issue is simply about right and wrong - Putin himself isn't the enemy, WAR is the enemy

Then leave if you don't like it.

Absolutely right. To say that criticism of waging war on the Innocent in Ukraine is "political" is absurd in the extreme. No-one with a sense of morality could entertain such a view. Supporting human rights has nothing to do with politics.

I agree with you.

I applaud you for the courage to do this. This is not politics as usual. Putin is following in Hitler's footsteps in his march into sovereign country.

Just Dan - I agree with you 100%. This is no different from the lunatic in 1939 sending his army into Poland, and this lunatic sending his army into Ukraine. This is happening in 2022 when countries have cyber warfare and nuclear weapons at their disposal too. This is beyond politics now.

Thanks for making a sane and coherent argument. It is refreshing to know that people still care to do the right thing.

Here, Here!!!!

Absolutely right!!

Keep it up! We appreciate y'all.

I think you have an overwhelming support to this move and thank you for doing it!!!

🇺🇦❤️🇬🇧 Solidarity

My home town stands with Ukraine

Ridiculous comment.

Bobster is an {removed from admin}

Agreed. Girl bye.

I think we all now that Travelnwrestle 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

Pardon, why calling him an {removed from admin}? He expressed his opinion in a polite manner. You can simply agree or disagree without insulting him. Try to show more tolerance to people and their (different) opinions otherwise you are exactly like Putin.

Well said I don't agree with him YET a mature 'democracy' means he does have the right to say it (even on mf ) and we have the choice not to act like a bully towards this as perhaps the current Russian leader seems to be doing .

That you can’t distinguish between politics and humanitarian aid only proves the point that the American educational system is {removed from admin}.

i am with you, and feel the same

There's really important to show solidarity with people who are attacked by crazy dictator.

Слава Україні!

Bravo Meetfighters pour cette initiative et cette solidarité 👍👍

Faced with such catastrophic world events it is easy to feel more or less powerless. This small gesture from our community is entirely laudable. Well done, Meetfighters Admin, for your humanity.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace" Jimi Hendrix

Solidarity with Ukraine !

Meant the comment by Bobster was ridiculous.

Let is know how else we can assist.

if war in Europe, right on our doorstep, shouldn't be a reason to do something, then when? Comments like Bobster are unworthy and pathetic! Frightening how callous some are and live with blinkers....

Well done Meetfighters

Will be donating
🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

Hope fund raising goes well.

God bless you for doing this

Forgive my ignorance but, how can I contribute?

Just a few thoughts.
1) Thank you MF etc for your charitable and humanitarian fundraising. I am proud to be on your site.
2) If people want to add their support, then why not have a look at established organisations. From the Red Cross to UNHCR (refugees) and UNICEF (children) and MSF (medical) these organisations and more big organisations have the buying power and people to really make a difference.
3) If you want to donate please also consider other less publicised vulnerable groups. From older people having to survive a war to disabled people trying to do the same. Also animals left to fend for themselves can be all be helped by people with donations. Oftentimes main charities in your countries will be launching support campaigns.
4) I leave you with this thought from the Band Aid song, "Do they know its Christmas". The more things change...
"And tonight thank God it's them instead of you"...

Thanks for doing this!🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

🇺🇦🕊🌍
Thank you for doing this

Just made a donation. Also had a look at the members from Ukraine. Hoping they are safe, hard to imagine what they are going through. Putin is a madman.

I'm sorry to say this, but if we all isolate the Russian people, perhaps the Russian people will be filled with courage and remove Putin, I blocked Russia's profiles, I'm sorry, but we can't allow another crazy person to make our lives impossible, already we have too many problems, for a guy who doesn't have any to create more problems for us.

I know the temptation to feel ire toward those nationalities in whose name egotistical junkies (like our own George Bush) abuse their positions, making others suffer just to get a ego high for themselves. But, most of the Russian people are as clueless as Americans were about events two decades back. And recall, that the harsh conditions in which Germans lived after WWI, were not blamed on their leadership (as should have been done), but instead was blamed on foreigners, setting the stage for another maniacal ego junkie to pursue his own personal needs.

Or as clueless as you are about what Joe Biden did in Afghanistan & to our military. You're going back to George Bush? LOL take some responsibility.

Biden got our military out of Afghanistan and let the Afghans take responsibility for their own country. If Afghans couldn't handle it, that's on them.

Ignorant comment. Biden evacuated Bagram Airforce base, abandoning billions of dollars in equipment & thousands of innocent people. There are still people trapped there. Imagine if Ukraine had all the equipment Biden gave to the Taliban? Wake up.

Over two trillion American tax dollars spent. Over two thousand American lives lost. For what? For the Afghans to just give up and let the Taliban do whatever they wanted. The Afghan army quit. They gave the Taliban the equipment that the US gave to them because they would not fight for Afghanistan. Now they just have to deal with whatever the Taliban decides to do. Maybe if Trump hadn't released 5,000 Taliban prisoners. Maybe if Trump hadn't made his deal with the Taliban for US withdrawal. Maybe if Afghans cared about their country. But they don't care. Go back to sleep.

{removed from admin} Ukraine is not Afghanistan and is not near go back to school {removed from admin}

{removed from admin}

{removed from admin}

Bull shit you are a {removed from admin} like the Russians!!! Come to Ukraine I'll {removed from admin}

Hilarious. Completely lost individual. Have no idea what I'm saying at all.

lmmfao i just looked at your profile. Deranged 57 year old man threatening people 5000 miles away.

That's the problem with Trumpism. You've got no connection to reality. Like Trump, anything you don't want to hear is fake news. But reality is there WHETHER YOU ADMIT IT OR NOT.

{removed from admin}

Ignorant doesn’t even cover that comment.

that's just silly. what's the point of blocking individuals? surely engaging more with russian fighters is more likely to have a positive effect?

There are times when expressing support shouldn’t invite debate. This is one. It’s a humanitarian no brainer. Bravo to the site. If you’re the type to play the ‘there are fine people on both sides’ when one side is Putin you are showing your own demons - not your support for democracy. The same as those that want players to shut up and play cause they want their mindless Sunday. Too bad. When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

Update on the donation:
In short:

• Click here to donate - regardless of your current donation status.
• Or make a gift donation to one of your friends, on the profile click on More->Gift
• You can also donate directly to one of the many funds supporting Ukraine out there.

Long version:
Thank you for the overwhelmingly positive feedback and everyone who donated in the past hours.
I received a few questions 'How to contribute'.
Our three websites' incomes will be dedicated to Ukraine/FightersAid.

We are not an officially listed charity organization; we are a private website, and we decided to send our income to Ukraine.

Suppose you have an active donation on our site. Normally you cannot donate again until your donations expire. Because of the current situation, we disabled this check. Meaning you can donate to us even if you have an active donation. You will not lose any days. Your donation gets extended by +365 days. Feel free to use the tip function on the donation to spend even more.
100% of your donation (and revenue created by WatchFighters) between 1st of January and 6th of March will be assigned to FightersAid/Ukraine.

Thank you for this initiative, it is important that the funds are ready, just in case, for MF affiliated individuals, but please keep in mind that all males 18-60 are called up to arms, and our Ukrainian MF friends may not even be in a position to read about this, let alone use this money, because they need to join up…and fight!

Meanwhile, we have tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees mainly women and children crossing the border into Poland every hour, and they are welcome by the Poles and taken care of by government and local authorities with volunteers.

I would therefore suggest donating to the International Red Cross or Caritas International or to any reliable (double check that!) local Ukrainian community organization nearest to you!!

They know best how to administer and channel funds and where they would be helping the most effectively.

Thank you again MF, proud to be associated with you !

Attached: Red Cross Poland account to help Ukraine !

Thank you for this initiative. We must help our freedom-loving ukrainian friends.

Ahuge commendation to Meetifghters for taking this initiative. I've just donated and encourage all of you to do what you can to help our fellow wrestlers who are in a terrible situation.

If you organize a MeetFighters brigade to go fight, I'm on board. They need fighters more than money, since our U.S. leaders will only commit military if oil, lucrative government contracts for associates, and personal ego is involved.

This is a great community.
Solidarity with our Ukrainian brothers 🇺🇦

May God be with you and keep you safe. 🇺🇸🇺🇦 🙏🏽! Long Live The Ukraine!!!🇺🇸🇺🇦

Two things:
- To all Ukrainians out there, stay strong. I am very frustrated at how powerless all of us are while watching an unfair war unfold right at our steps, with Europe doing nothing but sanctions. I am really sorry for you. 🇺🇦🇺🇦

- For most Russians, who did not ask for this war, who live in constant terror under a ruthless dictatorship, with no say on the matter, having some been arrested for simply expressing their views. And now, they’re the first to feel the sanctions, not the monster who caused all this.

I wished there was peace on the world, but I am not sure such is possible.

I do applaud this fetish site for having an erratic or populist humane side and being bigger than individual peccadillos , Ive seen some hypocrisy here on the broader social justice themes (since just before the covid years) and solidarity with other oppressed group or county on this occasion take a bow , rather than a brickbat !
donator be ware , though !

I do applaud this fetish site for having an erratic or populist humane side and being bigger than individual peccadillos , I've seen some hypocrisy here on the broader social justice themes
(since just before the covid years)
and GLB + solidarity with other oppressed groups or a smaller county...on this occasion take a bow , rather than a brickbat !

~Donator be ware , though ! ~

Made a donation, not much I'm afraid. But wanted to do something, feel so angry and helpless.
Like to think I would be as brave and heroic as the Ukrainian population and the anti war Russian demonstrators, not sure I would though!
Again it's not much, but everyone I know is appalled, scared and angry about this invasion. Thank you meetfighters for providing this facility.

donation made and I would encourage everybody who can, to do so too.
great initiative - great community and i am very proud to be a small part of this, thank you.
good luck for our friends in the Ukraine.

I applaud this.

There is lady who works for me in my firm. Her stepmother travelled to Eastern Ukraine two weeks ago to attend the funeral of her daughter who had died of cancer, aged 32. She left two small children under 5.

On Friday, I heard the sounds of shouting in one of the rooms in my office. My colleagues were gathered round a mobile phone on loudspeaker. This lady and her two young grandchildren were in a basement, screaming because bombs were falling.

Bobster, if you read this, reflect on your comments and tell me if you stand by them.

This is not political. If it were, families with young kids would not be screaming in cold cellars.

We have a moral duty to help. Thanks Admin, for doing this.

Agree very even I can't actually donate from this site ? Though it's best to use the established groups like the Polish Red Cross etc, etc , as responsive or sensible men here have mentioned . I think the last two years of an MF edict not to seem broader or fear of the 'political' polarisations has effected perhaps a few like the Bobster guy , compassion and thoughtful humanitarism is the only way to go , in this crisis for Ukraine which is closer to Europe .. We are all needing to handle this latest dictator of this time.

May I respectfully suggest that Care International might be another suitable target for our donations?

P.S. Let's not take this out on Russian individuals who are members of this site.

Putin's self-imposed isolation from acceptable moral standards puts LGBT people at risk of persecution. If anything ordinary Russian people need the hand of friendship more than ever and MF is a place where it can be extended.

This is not political its supporting people who have been attacked by a monster. Thank you for supporting this and I will help any way I can! To those that have tried to make this into a political issue, I will pray for you as you need it.

Just a few more points.
1) Please don't think you only have to give to charities in the Ukraine area. Eg if you give to the Red Cross in your own country, the Ukranian and Polish Red Cross will request world support. Your money and support will then be sent there to support people. Similar situation with other large entities like UN High Commission for Refugees, UNICEF, MSF, etc.
2) I echo the request not to hate all Russians. They live in a society with no respect for difference. Any Russian who stands up in protest gets my support.
3) Because I luckily live in a country where difference is respected, I am a bit dismayed with what has been said about Bobster. I know and have wrestled the man. He is decent and kind. I do not agree with him in this context. However, please realise there is a real human behind the profile name. Let's show respect for if not agreement with others points of view. It is true freedom of speech.

To be honest, I am all for Ukraine given the current situation but I am kinda disturbed by how this wrestling/fetish community is turning into politics. I don’t think the owner of this site should really share his/her views by changing the font colours of “meetfighters” to Ukraine flag.

Why is Ukraine invasion (2022) given more importance than the Saudi invasion of Yemen (2014)? Or why did the owner of the site did not change Meetfighters text font colours to Lebanese flag (2020) when Beirut port explosion happened. This all reflects the biased humanitarian claims of the site owner. Ok I get it maybe the owner lives in Europe and more impacted by Europe current affairs. Anyways no harm is done but I hope this message will help the owner of the site to reflect on the direction of this site on where it is headed.

Piece of advise: “Don’t bring politics here”

Bro your comment is full of irrelevant "Whataboutism", try and have some empathy for Ukrainian people as human beings and if it pisses you off bad enough I guess leave? On one hand your comment actually sounds like you are calling for more politics, like people should care more about Yemen or Lebanon, but then you say don't get into anything political. Which is it?

Do you think people should have rejected solidarity with Lebanon because there wasn't enough solidary with Yemen?
Do you think people should have rejected solidary with Yemen because there wasn't enough solidary with Iraq?

This way of thinking perpetuates suffering, and people like to reject politics but a lot of politics is channeling disagreement so we don't have death and destruction like we're seeing. I question the whole thing of 'rejecting politics', I know we don't want to talk about it 24/7, but if you put your fingers in your ears and reject all politics it makes all of this violence actually more likely.

You did not get my point at all, I'm just stating facts, all I'm saying it's all biased,

Ukraine war (2022)
Per Ukraine: 198 civilians killed, 1,115 wounded

Saudi invasion of Yemen (2014)
377,000 deaths (223,000 from indirect causes) overall at the end of 2021 according to the UN

I'm not discounting Ukraine event, but my argument why did the site owner went above and beyond for Ukraine and not other nations?

My solution is not to bring anything Political here, No Ukraine No Yemen No Lebanon, just keep it @ meetfighters.
By doing this every nation world wide gets same treatment in solidarity and no one is left out.

I get your point, I'm just saying it's a form of an argument called "Whataboutism" which is not a great perspective to have now or ever.

What we care about today should not have to be either justified or discounted based on the body counts of past events. That's incredibly cynical at a moment where being more human is the way towards a solution. The immense scale of past tragedy would mean we can never care about anything.

Politics is about trying to disagree without violence, so politics is not actually bad once we start seeing the alternative like we have in the last week. At the end of the day the people who own this site can do whatever they want with it, and I respect not discussing politics in the main chat and I also respect that they are saying we have entered a humanitarian moment which is not in the same league as an everyday political discussion.

If you care about that loss of life, the solution to prevent more of that isn't to become so jaded that any expressions like this just make you want to shut everything down cause of all the shit that has gone down in the past.

There is no harm done by helping another human in Ukraine but all I am asking will this same privilege still exist if China invades Taiwan?

I would feel terrible if Taiwan won't get the same support & treatment as Ukraine if crisis happen.

All I am saying, humanitarian efforts should not pick and choose based on hyped media.

This is NOT hyped media. This is very real, and the ramifications of this conflict affects all of us in many different ways.

I agree Taiwan should get the same support and consideration. On one level I get what you are saying about caring about everyone and that is commendable, but this moment is to support people in Ukraine.

Media responds to the audience, this tragedy has a narrative which is about pure bullying by a dictator who doesn't even have the backing of his own people so it makes people care maybe in a different way. Treating this different than politics as usual situation I think is justified.

Maybe it wasn't hyped that much in media and he didn't know about it? For example I didn't know about anything because I usually do not follow the news. I only noticed it because some videos popped up on my youtube recommendations and some friends told me, which doesn't happen usually.

I don't know much about politics but another reason why people feel for ukraine might be because it's an attack against democracy and our liberal lifestyle. It's between democracy and dictation. Putin basically threatens all of us and putin is really dangerous.

People aren't perfect, and the admin of this page isn't either but even if he doesn't manage to support every country, any support he does is helpful, right?

I'm sure the reason you feel empowered to criticize the people who are donating fully two months of their income to a good cause is that you gave not one, not two, but at least THREE months of your income in full to an even worthier cause. Because otherwise you'd be a useless hypocrite, wouldn't you?

Are you kidding me? Try thinking this over again. This humanitarian effort is for a country that was attacked by a brutal commie dictator. The brave Ukrainians are fighting against all odds. And the outpouring worldwide of humanitarian help bypasses politics. I applaud the effort of the MF Admin to do what they have done. Shame on you for bringing politics into this.

Sharing this from Facebook

I don't care if anyone consider this politics. Whoever is questioning this sites support for ukraine, can't be taken seriously...

Humanitarian or political, I fully support ANY action that fights this Russian tyranny. God speed to Ukrainians in this time of crisis.

Why does anyone make this about politics? Because for the people who believe that politics controls the future of a country, everything is political. If one side supports Ukraine, the other side has to support Russia. If one side supports vaccination, the other side has to oppose it. If one side supports BLM and CRT, the other side is against it. That's just the way it is in a polarized world where the truth and one's opinion depends completely upon where you choose to find it.

So cool of you do be doing this. Thank you.

Can I start by saying that we shouldn't turn on each other, and be nasty to one and other, just because our opinions may be different. That would make us no better than Putin!!

I think the sentiment from the administrators offering support to the Ukrainian members is a very noble one. Especially as the rest of the world is not really doing enough to help (just my opinion though). However, as someone has mentioned, this becomes dangerous grounds in regards to When, How and Who decides which causes we (Meetfighters Site) support. Especially when it's taken directly from the donations made to this website. The statement on the donation page reads "MeetFighters is a free site, run by volunteers. You can, if you wish, donate money to support the site. Your money will be spent on maintenance and upgrades of MeetFighters." Nowhere does it say that this money can also be donated to various Charites or causes.

Yes, a few of you are reading this and probably thinking I'm some sort of idiot or uncompassionate fool and I can assure you I am neither. Instead, I would prefer to see an option to donate to these specific causes via a link on the site and then let the Administrators forward the funds on. This way all of us as individuals (including Administrators) have the choice on if we want to donate or not.

This is only an idea, so please respect it, even if you don't agree with it.

I would like to take the opportunity to say what a great job I think the Administrators do and thanks for all your hard work.

Excellent point, fully concur!

Glad to see the international community that makes up the west show their outrage to this invasion, just like they did during the Iraq war, along with the solidarity of taking in refugees from war torn middle eastern countries and also banning the invaders from financial markets and sporting events.

A great idea! So thank you verry much!!!

This is enlightening in the best and worst ways. Best because you see lots of empathy front and center. Worst because you see people, who live black and white lives in their faith and politics and beliefs without any due diligence or sense of duty beyond themselves, now discover nuance through this relief effort. Unbelievable. Where I’m from, we just had a selfish petulant set of protesters play a victim card and have an entitlement hissy hit. 80yo Baba in Ukraine has a bigger set than all y’all.

Thanks to Meetfighters

I'm in Ukraine as a soldier and we need help for the products necessary!!! Medicine Tec!

This is a tremendous idea. Well done!

What do you know {removed from admin} are you military because if you are you need to go and live in North corree might do you some good!!

I appreciate and applaude this non political iniciative from MeetFighters. I'm feeling proud for being a member of this community now. I browsed the list of Ukraine members just the other day and felt sorry for them. I believe they are all scared and having to fight a different fight now. Some may not be with us anymore as we speak.

By the way way 47 years old old and I'm in the military and currently in Kiev we do need help to win

"Never, never, never give up." Winston Churchill

Fellow Americans, try to remember that this is an international website with members from dozens of countries. Not everyone cares about the US and its politics, though you may think so. Respect the topic at hand and take your squabbles private.

Respect to admins for their humanitarian efforts.

I have to say that I don't wish to be a member of a site where vicious personal attacks are given space.

I want to help Ukraine but not to the point of losing one of the most courteous online international communities that I know.

My thoughts remain with the Ukrainian people.

Thanks man

Agreed - totally. This should be about supporting Ukraine, not personal animosities.

Well writ , the members or the couple of admins here can co-ordinate with recognised charities to help all or as many as possible Ukrainian refugees. Personal attacks should not be given space it misses the general good intention to be a human or humanitarian as much as possible at this time . Yes its a bit of a seas change on here , I agree try to help end this war or help the brave Ukrainian people. There will be much real need over the coming year .

Ukraine - With so many things currently disempowering us, may I suggest that we focus on things that bring tangible, positive changes to people in tragic circumstances?

1) Money and volunteering are going to be needed by humanitarian charities to get us through this crisis. I have drawn up a brief list. Why not add other charity URLs from your country on this forum to help with the current emergency in the Ukraine?

I can spend a few minutes of my time doing this, why can't you?

Worldwide Red Cross www.Icrc.org
American Red Cross www.redcross.org
Canada Red Cross www.redcross.ca
UK Red Cross www.redcross.org.uk
Irish Red Cross www.redcross.ie
German Red Cross www.drk.de
French Red Cross https://www.croix-rouge.fr

Fundraising is so important and so is volunteering. Ukrainian refugees will soon be spread across the world and will need local people to help them adjust with new languages, needs for transport and so much more. Why not see about volunteering locally too?

2) If you MUST see this war with a political rather than a humanitarian focus, why not get in touch with your local and national politicians to inform yourself on the policies in place to help Ukranian refugees? Would you be ok with what is planned? If not, maybe work with locally based Ukranian supporters to make a better change? Why not keep us informed of your work and progress on here.

3) Finally, thinking of ourselves for a moment. Watching daily horrors in Ukraine with a feeling of powerlessness is very tough for us all. Why not post songs and quotations to make us all feel that bit more positive, it’s very easy to do also. I will start, you next…

Song “Stand by Me” Oasis
Quotation “If you’re going through hell, keep going” Winston Churchill

Talk is cheap, we now have a lot to do. Is it that you can’t or won’t make an effort to support others in their time of need?

These are people in need of our support. Thank you for taking the initiative. ❤️

notcom and others have suggested many worthy intl organizations that are trying to help the Ukrainian people. My understanding is that the money raised here will go specifically to Ukrainian wrestlers on this site, and I have donated with that in mind. I believe that we should try to help those wrestlers as best as we can – that doesn't preclude anyone from ALSO donating to other organizations. So if you want to help fellow wrestlers during a terrible time in their lives, please donate here.

Thanks Alain

"With shock, we follow the news and the evolving situation in Ukraine"
Why is the situation shocking? That this disaster could happen has been known for many years. The U.S. government helped create the situation pushing Russia to intervene, so no reason to be shocked. Now the U.S. can enjoy ring-side seats while the great people of Ukraine suffer.

Before we all start giving opinions can we start donating dollars, euros, pounds etc along with maybe supporting by getting up off our bottoms, with our sleeves rolled up ready to volunteer work.
I notice for example Canada and Australia NZ seem non existent in charity urls on here. I know Canadians Aussies and Kiwis are very kind people, so can we have some of their Ukranian charity urls for donations?
Thanks!

This is amazing! Thank you for doing this

Update:
Thank you all for your donations! Over 11.000EUR got already sent out to Ukrainian members of our community.

Until the 6th of March, all our income (MeetFighters, WatchFighters, ChatFighters) will still be assigned to FightersAid.

Ukrainian members can request help even after the 6th of March. Everything not requested from our members will be transferred to charities helping Ukrainians over the following days.

Thank You!

Слава Україні

This is so worthwhile - and generous.

Thankyou very much

Ok regarding the ‘vicious’ personal attacks members have received after lobbing out their equally weighty thoughts. Are you serious?! People in Ukraine under actual attack and you want civil discourse online? More accurately you want to voice your opinion but then take issue with tone when someone accurately and appropriately responds ‘personally’?!
Bullies are often wimps but always the ones who can’t handle accountability . Do better.
Thanks again Meetfighters.

1) Thank you MF and all linked sites! Great effort as you have collected real world money to help real people facing real problems. I am super proud to be a member of MF.
2) For people in the UK, just a word to let you know that the DEC (a coalition of 15 UK aid agencies) launched their Ukraine appeal this week. The UK government has agreed to match every pound donated up a value of 20 million pounds. https://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal
3) There are so many vulnerable people damaged by this current situation in the Ukraine, it becomes all too easy to overlook animals. Another charity for your consideration might be Peta Germany, here’s a link to the work they are doing for animals with local charities on the Ukraine border https://www.peta.org.uk/blog/peta-germany-ukraine-help/
4) Fine words and viewpoints on geopolitics etc are building blocks of democratic society. So are compassion and support for people in a position of precarity and vulnerability. Earlier this week, I asked people from Canada, Australia and New Zealand to come back with URL’s to campaigns in their countries raising funds for the Ukraine. I know the funds are being raised, heck I even put some Canadian URLs up myself. I am not Canadian and have negligible knowledge of Canada! But local people in those countries (and the others) and on this site have preferred to talk about geopolitics rather than raising money. Once again, if you want to help people caught in this terrible state of affairs please help by raising money and ensuring everything is going to be ok for the Ukrainian refugees soon to be finding sanctuary across the world and probably in your country. Abstruse and rhetorical arguments have their place but let’s get the sleeves rolled up and let’s put the horse before the cart please? Thanks!

I would like to express my appreciation for you. As I am born in Ukraine man who lives in Canada now, can feel the pain. Ukrainian civilians are suffering from the bombing of russian army. Thank you for your support.

Interesting. I wonder if members in Yemen are also eligible for this aid.

There is something else we can do to help Ukraine. We can make sure that our fellow wrestlers who live in Russia are hearing the truth about what is happening in Ukraine.

Putin has shut down as much actual news as he can and replaced it with propaganda regarding his "successes" in Ukraine. Nearly 70% of the Russian population still believe that the invasion is a just cause to root out so called Nazis.

Those of you who have friends in Russia please provide them access to the truth. Do not assume that they have the benefit of the information we know is factual.

I've heard from a young Russian. He doesn't understand what's happening and he doesn't want to talk about it. Outside of Moscow and the SW corner of the country, most Russians probably don't know or care what's going on in Ukraine. They probably figure there's nothing they can do about it.

They will care when the Russian corpses come home. Getting the truth to them will discredit Putin, and turn the country against the war.

Getting the truth to the people who aren't hearing it is exactly the reason why we should do it.

In Russia the truth is a crime. I'm sure they're being told that their army is dying to defend the Russian population of Ukraine. If Putin escalates the war to biological or nuclear weapons that would be the excuse the oligarchs would need to unite and replace Putin. They're not going to risk their fortunes over this war.

I'm trying to encourage my United States Senators and Congressman to spend the money on aid to Ukraine that they have impounded from the Russian oligarchs including Putin.

If they spend a billion dollars a day of the oligarchs money the oligarchs will see that their money is quickly evaporating. Let's not wait until Putin escalates with biological or nuclear weapons to convince the oligarchs that the time to act in their own best interest is now.

If you agree please reach out to your politicians and press to get the word out.

Another way to assist Ukraine

Another way to assist Ukraine is to make sure that the citizens of Russia know the truth about what is happening in Ukraine rather than the propaganda Putin keeps pushing.

If you have friends or wrestling partners in Russia and can still reach them through this forum take a few minutes to inform them of what is actually happening in Ukraine. Don't assume that they know that Russian army is murdering non-combatant civilians including women and children.

Let them know what the truth is. Nearly 70% of Russian citizens still believe that the invasion of Ukraine is a just cause because that's all they hear from Putin's propaganda channels.