Hi! This is our public response to the statement of Solidarity | ОПЕРАЦІЯ СОЛІДАРНІСТЬ • OPERATION SOLIDARITY

Hi!
This is our public response to the statement of Solidarity Collectives (Collectives, SolCol) who have accused us of fraud, financial theft and blackmail.
UA
RU
We are convinced that every accusation must have evidence. SolCol has none and we are surprised at the number of people who believe their lies.

Our Perspective
We are outraged by the actions of yesterday's comrades who are now using slander and destroying our reputation. The conflict lasted for months, and all time we have tried to find a solution that suites everyone, rather than crushing comrades' initiative. But after 2 ultimatums, attempts to redirect the finances, blackmail and extortion by them; after making the conflict public, - we can’t cooperate anymore. Here is a brief chronology of events:

Late January - we put forward a proposal for a volunteer structure.
Early February - despite receiving little response and much skepticism, we began preparations and creation of Operation Solidarity. Even before the invasion began, we had an organization with its own internal and external objectives, functions, and strategy. OpSol wasn’t a spontaneous initiative.
February 24 - the invasion, the beginning of public activity.
End of February - new people coming into the organization.
March 7 - first conflict.
April 14 - the 1st ultimatum from Lviv: they demanded to give them financial and media resources, threatened to leave which meant cease of supply for fighters.
April 23 - misuse and redirection of resources of the organization by current SolCol members.
May 3 and 4 - we initiated meetings about separation, proposing an option for everyone to pursue their activities and not interfere with each other. In response, SolCol began blackmailing us (threatening to slander us in front of the international support network).
May 23 - we had a call with SolCol and the international support network. We faced public slander and coercion to give up resources. In response, we put forward a proposal that gave each initiative the opportunity to develop separately and insisted on it.
May 29 - we gave SolCol equipment, the van and ¾ of the funds in accordance with our proposal.
June 4 - 2nd ultimatum and blackmail. SolCol demanded to give them the remaining finances, threatened to make the conflict public.
June 26 - SolCol spread slander to the support network and foreign comrades, published the statement.

The whole story, the specific participants and proof of our words we’ve given in the large text, which you can get from us by request. Nevertheless, we urge you to refuse to cooperate with the authors of the statement and SolCol itself. We admit our mistakes and impulsive actions and take responsibility for them. But we are terribly ashamed that the conflict has become public, that instead of publishing reports about good actions we have to respond to the lies of yesterday's comrades. There are too many problems in Ukraine to stir up conflicts and make public proceedings. The repressive potential and the authoritarian nature of the state have increased in recent months; right wingers are still strong and only gaining popularity; the Movement is stagnating. Therefore, today more than ever, it’s necessary to develop and strengthen it.

A New Project
We don’t want to waste our time on pointless feuds. That is why the remaining funds were used to launch a new, non-public collective project, which will last for at least 1 year. During this time we plan to lay the theoretical and practical foundations of a sustainable and organized Movement in Ukraine; to systematize past activist and organizational experience, making it accessible for new generations of activists. We want to see liberated, self-govern and self-organized Ukraine.

Operation Solidarity team
26.7.22

Our contacts:
Bot - @operationsolidarity_bot
E-mail - asolidaritywithukraine@riseup.net