Dear all

I wrote to the Wikimedia UK membership on Saturday to outline some of the activities that are taking place in relation to the terrible events in Ukraine. In that email, I asked members to contact me if they are able to offer accommodation for people seeking refuge from the war, and three people have already been in touch. These offers are listed on this page https://uk.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4472720 and I've been in touch with the Chair of Wikimedia Ukraine in case he is able to help connect us to people.

Early on in the conflict, I signed CILIP's Statement of Solidarity https://www.cilip.org.uk/news/597028/Statement-of-solidarity-with-librarians-archivists-and-information-professionals-in-Ukraine.htm on behalf of Wikimedia UK in support of Librarian and Information professionals across Ukraine. The Ukrainian Library Association responded immediately, saying that “the support of the CILIP community, Government and people of the UK is highly appreciated in Ukraine.”

As you will probably already know, the wider Wikimedia community has self-organised extremely quickly to ensure that information related to the conflict on Wikipedia is as accurate, up-to-date and comprehensive as possible. In my email to the membership I highlighted the main meta page https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine about Wikimedia's response to the invasion, as well as the meta page https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Saving_Ukrainian_Cultural_Heritage_Online outlining ways to get involved with the campaign to save Ukrainian’s cultural heritage.

Thank you to everyone who is continuing to stand in solidarity with Ukraine. If you have any suggestions for other things that Wikimedia UK could be doing (within the bounds of our charitable remit), please do let me know.

With warm wishes

Lucy