It is almost impossible to do without camouflage nets on the frontlines. They cover our defenders’ positions, so it is harder for the enemy to target them. Our soldiers require these nets requesting thousands of square meters of these nets. Caring Ukrainians decided to make sure the army was supplied with this necessary protection.
Net as an amulet
In Kharkiv, weaving the nets became popular back in 2014. A few weaving centres appeared, and they all joined in this common cause. Since 24 February numbers of people willing to help weaving the nets have significantly increased. Sometimes they would need to work under very extreme conditions. Russians bombed the city mercilessly, while brave Kharkiv residents joined the territorial defence units, supplied humanitarian aid and worked to arrange evacuation. Meanwhile, people kept on weaving camouflage nets on the Freedom Square. When it became too dangerous, people just moved to the subway.
«I started weaving nets quite a long time ago,» says Victoria Lebedeva, a Kharkiv resident. «It was in 2014, my child was a medical student at that time. In May, they went both the friends to volunteer at a military hospital. They would spend there day after day, as there were a lot of seriously injured boys from the frontlines there. It was really hard, both mentally and physically. And I thought to myself, how is it that my child is working now, and I’m not doing anything?»
The woman found like-minded people online, through social media. Later on more and more people have joined the initiative and they started dividing into separate groups. Some time later, Victoria’s group broke up, so she decided to dedicate herself fully to her teaching job at school.
But everything has changed on 24 February this year, when her husband has packed his backpack and left to the military enlistment office. Later on he informed his wife that they needed the nets. So Victoria returned to work. According to her, it was really easy and fast to organize people who were already so motivated. The woman says,
«We’ve always had high demand for these nets. It’s consumables at war. I always add a part of my amulet to these nets, and do it not only for my husband but for everyone. When we just started in summer I posted on Facebook, «Girls, we need help!» And a few days later there’s been seven of us weaving the nets. Even complete strangers answered my call.»
To weave a net and establish a network
Villages and smaller towns would join the cause of weaving the nets. People organize themselves, build connections with other volunteers, arrange materials delivery. In some places people set up their working stations in schools and houses of culture, while in other places they would do it right in their yards.
«Since the first days of the war, we started helping our soldiers who would arrive here,» says Valentyna Korotetska, a resident of the town of Nova Vodolaga. «We’ve been trying to make sure they had everything they needed. They need not only weapons, ammo and equipment. They also need camouflage nets at war, as these nets provide some safety for them on the frontlines, especially in the places that can be hit by an enemy’s bullet or a missile. In addition to that, they also need axes, shovels, and crowbars at war. We are also taking care about it. Everyday more and more people get excited to weave the nets.»
The woman finds new volunteers through social media. Even regular daily conversations are often enough to attract more volunteers to the cause. For example, Valentina has inspired her entire street to start weaving the nets. Nobody said no so far.
Work is in full swing in Nova Vodolaga. According to the woman, their duty is quite easy and anybody can do it – their task is to take care of our defenders.
«The farther it goes, the more intense the battles become,» Valentyna says. «The situation is so tense in the country that we need more and more camouflage nets. We are trying our best to use every minute we have so that this work is fruitful. And we really want the results to satisfy the needs of our soldiers. I was especially surprised when I learned the story of the residents of the village of Mykhaylivka where literally every household is involved in nets weaving. Everybody tries their best: someone tears the fabric to threads, someone weaves these ribbons into nets. And these people are just like ants, and everyday they do more and more.»
We haven’t even thought about not weaving nets
Nina Forsenko, a resident of the village of Mykolayivka, has learned one day that volunteers would be bringing supplies for the nets weaving as far as Poltava region. That’s why she decided to organize nets weaving in her village. Mykhaylivka is a big village, so there was enough work for everyone there. And there were really a lot of volunteers. For some volunteers it is even a personal story. For example, there is a family from Kharkiv among them who had to evacuate from Kharkiv due to constant bombing. There are also women among them who’s husbands fight on the frontlines.
«Anybody who has some time and who can help comes and joins us,» says Nina Forsenko. «For me, net weaving is the least I can do to defend Ukraine.»
A settler from Kharkiv Natalia Fedyanina adds to that, «We couldn’t even think that we wouldn’t weave the nets. We were even happy that we got such an opportunity to help at least with something. We are retired people, and unfortunately there’s not a lot we can help with. And here we’ve got such an amazing opportunity to help.»
Serhii Korobochka from the town of Karlivka told us that they’ve been weaving the nets since the first days of the Russian invasion, and they’ve been working in schools. The man took care about the materials supplies and even traveled to Poltava to get more experience.
«We’ve been helping to just the Armed Forces, but entire Ukraine,» says Serhii. «The war united the country and all of us. Three schools and a local House of Culture are involved in nets weaving. Together with the local authorities, we’ve launched an initiative called «Weave a ribbon». There is clothes here in the House of Culture, donated for the people displaced by this war. A lot of them come here to get some help, and they see this initiative. And there are a lot of people who are eager to join us.»
Golden hands and hearts
A resident of Vysoke village Natalia Voronyanska thought a lot of how she could have helped the soldiers. That was how she came up with the idea of weaving camouflage nets and gathered around her other young women who also wanted to volunteer.
«I posted in a group that we would be weaving the nets. So the people came, and they understood that we had to help our boys. Our girls have golden hands. Sometimes it’s three volunteers weaving the nets, sometimes it’s ten.»
Natalia has organized nets weaving right in her yard. Now the volunteers are finishing their fourth net. Their work flows easily and fun, and they always have what to talk about. For instance, they talk a lot about pets. A lot of people come to weave together with their dogs. The woman herself has a pony at home. People are motivated to work, and in their spare time they are ready to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. During these conversations a lot of people switch to Ukrainian language, so now Natalia also has her own little speaking club.
People from these towns and villages know very well what war is. But residents of the village of Biskvitne had to experience the worst of it as they were under the Russian occupation. Now the village is under Ukrainian control. According to a local resident Marina Rozhkova, she understood who the enemy was back in 2014. However, a lot of her fellow villagers didn’t really realize what was going on even in Donbas. The war seemed to be something quite distant.
Now caring residents of Biskvitne village want to be helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and so does Marina. She treats her work very serious. She would be looking for different materials and researching different weaving techniques as well. Her main motivation always was and remains to bring victory closer.
As the war goes on, the demand for camouflage nets only grows. The volunteers motivate the newcomers with their example to join this noble cause as well.
Recommendations for the net weaving
- It’s better to start weaving the nets from below. Its base has to be stiff enough and well stretched.
- The colours have to be natural and correspond with the terrain. It is absolutely forbidden to add any bright coloured ribbons, such as blue, red and other colours.
- The net shouldn’t weigh too much. It is better to weave the nets from the natural materials. If caught on fire, the fabric shouldn’t melt, spark, smoke or drip down.
- Stick to the golden mean. The net should be woven not too tight but not too loose either. On one hand, the enemy shouldn’t be able to see our defenders. On another hand, they need to be able to see through the net everything that’s going on around them.
- It is a good practice to tighten the ribbons so that the fabric is not too loose when the net will be taken off the frame.
- There should be no distinct patterns and repetitions on the net. There are no perfect geometrical figures in the nature. It is also advised to mix the colours with each other for more diversity.
