Israel-Hamas War Is Getting Ukrainians Frustrated. What About Russia?

Tymofii Postoiuk, a Netherlands-based development manager for the Way to Ukraine fund, said donations poured in from around the globe when the online fundraising effort was set up.

But as the Ukraine war dragged on, war fatigue set in and donations slowed down. But money continued to come in steadily. Then the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out in October.

For the first time in the history of the fund, donations from within Ukraine have been more than those from abroad, he noted. The decline in donations has been substantial.

“Russia Is Very Happy With This War”: Zelensky

With the start of another major clash, social media networks were inundated with news from the Middle East. “Our fundraising posts and updates simply get lost,” Postoiuk added.

Ukrainians are worried. They fear a combination of global fatigue, competing political agendas and limited resources will result in less aid for their military.

The Gaza war also presents an opportunity to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Of course, Russia is very happy with this war,” Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier in November.

“That Doesn’t Mean That Nothing Is Happening”

According to Ivan Mahuriak, who lives in Lviv in western Ukraine, the fatigue arises from the fact that dynamics on the ground are significantly less than in 2022.

Last year, Ukrainian troops managed to completely or partially push Russians out of several regions. “But that doesn’t mean that nothing is happening,” he added.

This year’s highly-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive, which took off in June, has been progressing at a much slower pace, although a potentially major advance surfaced this week.

US’s Support For Ukraine Amid Israel-Gaza War

Divisions over Ukraine have emerged in the EU, which says it cannot provide all the munitions it promised. EU summits now tend to focus on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Additional US funding for Ukraine is jeopardised by political struggles in Washington, where the war in the Middle East consumes attention at the highest levels.

But President Joe Biden’s secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg, paid an official visit to Kyiv on November 8 to show the US commitment has not wavered.