Grassroots fundraising for the Russian military slowed significantly during the third year of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to an analysis by the exiled news outlet Vyorstka.

In the early days of the invasion, support for the war effort surged across the country as reports of undersupplied and underequipped soldiers being sent to the front made national headlines. Over three years later, that momentum is fading even as the supply problems largely persist.

Vyorstka reviewed activity across 75 pro-war Telegram channels and volunteer groups and found that while the number of fundraising posts fell only slightly in 2024 compared to 2023, donations slowed to 11.8 billion rubles (roughly $150 million) in 2024, down from 39.1 billion rubles ($500 million) the previous year.

What once took hours to fund in the first two years of the war now takes weeks, according to Vyorstka. Fundraisers have turned to increasingly emotional — and sometimes guilt-laden — appeals to try to maintain engagement.

“A cup of coffee might seem like nothing, but 100 of them buys an evacuation bukhanka [army van] that can save 50-100 of our wounded,” read one recent post from the pro-war Telegram channel Troika.