Two years.

February 24 marks two years since russia launched its deranged full-scale war of erasure on Ukraine. In (dis)honor of this disgusting anniversary, we're offering two items this week: a symbol of Ukrainian defiance and a unqiue souvenir of russian defeat.

Pendant: Bucha

A pendant handmade from epoxy and sunflower seeds. The embedded sunflower seeds were a gift from Ukrainian friends.

The seeds were harvested from a field close to Bucha, beside a road which became known as the "Road of Death" when countless invading russians were slaughtered along it.

Though the corpses and destroyed vehicles are long gone, life is still difficult for the farmers there.

There are still minefields, sometimes undocumented ones, laid by retreating russians. Sadly, there are defensive Ukrainian minefields, too. The area is also in the flight path of drones and cruise missiles attacking Kyiv. This litters the field with debris and unexploded ordnance on top of the mines.

As a result, some fields can’t be harvested at all. Getting even a few sunflower heads can be a threat to a Ukrainian life.

The seeds in this pendant come from such a field.

Money raised by the pendant will support Ukraine Front Line's mission to fulfill soldiers' direct requests.

"Not today!" The lucky charm that doomed a russian attack on a Ukrainian position

Yurii, this shirt's former owner, only got to wear it once. After the first wearing, he washed it in his trench and then hung it on a clothesline to dry.

The simple act of hanging his shirt to dry might have saved his life.

While the shirt dried in the Ukrainian sun, an enemy raiding party entered the trench system. One adrenaline-filled attacker mistook the shirt for enemy movement and opened fire, alerting the defenders to the enemy's presence.

The Ukrainian side suffered one tragic loss in the ensuing firefight: this shirt, which was pierced by four bullets.

The attackers were not so lucky.

Yurii kept this shirt as his lucky charm. The luck ran out while his squad was disembarking from an APC. An artillery strike cost Yurii his left arm, his eyesight in his left eye, and almost all hearing in his left ear. As he is also approaching his 60th birthday, he came to the conclusion that this shirt might do one last good deed for his unit by raising money to benefit his brothers in arms.

Money raised from Yurii's shirt will benefit the 54th Brigade's K2 combat group. In light of the fact that this is very much one of a kind, we're breaking with tradition: tickets to enter the raffle for this shirt are $5 rather than $2.

The shirt is size XL.

If you want to know more about the K2 combat group, please check out this link!

Please note

Though the event description mentions a livestream, there will be none. And while we do deeply appreciate those of you who choose to donate as well as buying raffle tickets, we want to make it clear that donations are not required to enter the raffle.

$2 Tuesday Raffle: Ukrainian Defiance and russian Defeat