Nobody denies that, but I don't think it's an "either or" situation. Resources spent on helping the fleeing and dislocated people to organize, like networking and bootstrapping communities in foreign countries, wouldn't have necessary been spent on Ukrainian developers help. They are likely to benefit from this too.
I just dont think there is much goodwill with russia right now and righly so, i understand the population is not to blame but who else kept and elected the dictator, at some point you just have to say No and thats what is happening now on a global scale so russians will actually feel their governments actions. In sorry this hits you but enough is enough..
This is the first, and most important thing I learned from my grandfather.
He was at pearl harbor when it was bombed, he was in a submarine under Tokyo bay during the war, he was part of many battles in the pacific, and finally nearly killed in a collision and received the purple heart among other medals. He was then part of the occupation of Japan after the war.
What did he decide to teach me after all that?
That the Japanese people are/were good people that were fooled and otherwise coerced (forced) into the war by evil leaders. Much like Russia today.
I've carried this with me my whole life. And will continue to try to spread it around (compassion).
My grand-grand father was sent on a train to Siberia during WW2 after spending two years in a solitary confinement at Matrosskaya Tishina[0].
Every once in a while the train stopped, and each stop they asked random people to step forward. These people were executed in front of others. However, majority of passenger have arrived to the final destination (prison camp) alive.
Those who made it alive were never the same, they were broken, psychologically.
Their families too. My grand-grand mother hang herself shortly after his arrest. My grandmother was deeply traumatized for the rest of her life by that (she was a little girl who found her mother hanging from the chandelier).
The history of Stalin times in Soviet Union is trully horrific. It's worth knowing just to be aware what kind of hell can be arranged on a mass scale by an evil dictator. It should be taught in all schools across the world, along with the deeds of other XX century evil mega mass murders.
For learning more, I personally recommend starting with "Kolyma Tales" by Varlam Shalamov. Aside from the educational part, it's a great piece of literature.
Man, not to start political flame here, but you have no idea how many tricks they use to bend your mind and force you to fear authority.
We had no real election over the last 18 years, even the one on 2000 was fueled by fear and manipulated people to vote for a certain candidate. It was all downhill from there.
We had constitution revised in a major way twice just by popular vote, with all edits being made to keep people in power staying in power and destroying institutions.
There is a huge Russian-speaking community in Ukraine. Most non-regional IT communities in Telegram have lots of Ukrainian people, many relocated back and forth between two countries in the past.
Long story short: this post has no aim to focus on helping only Russians, if you have resources to support any kind of IT relocation regardless of nationality, please step forward.