I'm a Brit who spends a lot of time volunteering in Ukraine, especially the east, which is worst affected by the war. I travel, conduct interviews, dodge missiles and try to see the situation with minimal filter so I can help people back home do the same.
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There are many foreigners fighting for Russia, often having been duped into frontline positions with promises of relatively safe roles in the rear. Ukrainian soldier Max captured a Cuban mercenary.
Entertaining the troops is a serious matter. Let morale drop and you soon won't have an army. At one Kramatorsk hospital a Cultural Forces band played while local volunteers provided home-cooked food.
Eventually. He really did NOT want to get into the van. But in Ukraine you learn that animal rescue is 10% dramatic action and 90% patience...
In the real world, not much can be done without money. We can all give a bit, but how do you scale up? Ryan Little provides extensive support to multiple causes in Ukraine, and this is how he does it.
To avoid terrible roads at night, sometimes it's necessary to stay over with soldiers in whatever digs they have managed to find for themselves. And to eat too many potatoes.
There are a lot of dynamic volunteer duos in Ukraine but Powerhouse Ukrainian and Laconic Knackered Brit is a particularly winning combination. Read on for an exclusive scoop of them in action!
while we pelt along the highway 10km from the front line keeping an eye out for killer drones. Just another day in wartime Donetsk oblast.
You might remember from previous posts that 3Druk print quite a lot of things, gratis, for the Ukrainian army. One of them shoots holes...
You can now engage me to give a talk about the civilian situation on the ground along the eastern front line.
The Church of the Victors left Druzhkivka after their building was bombed. Another Church of the Victors, in Sloviansk, has been bombed out as well. They've pooled resources and are still working...
Back in Kramatorsk in April, I visited a military hospital and had the chance to speak with two of the guys recuperating there...
In addition to their ham pursuits, Zaporizhzhia Radio Club recondition second-hand gadgets to give a displaced children in east Ukraine access to education, and help their parents find work.
It’s a typical Millenial/Gen Z setup: a house share in a modest suburb. But the city is under fire and the youth are a medical platoon in the Rage brigade: police who fight alongside the army.
Borys Krylov anad Oles Sidoruk are distinguished sculptors, working Ukrainian identity into monuments that defy the Russian onslaught.
The front in this area has been stable for years, but there is still huge demand for local NGO Artak's support with evacuation and shelter for IDPs.
My biennial cafe check-in with Volodymyr Nikulin, reluctant hero of Mariupol and the Ukrainian answer to Terry Pratchett's Sam Vimes. The message this time: Kramatorsk lives.
For now...
Part of Donbas – the area comprising Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts – is still free. Help it stay that way by channelling aid to where it's most needed.
I accompanied Bohdan Zuyakov and Ben Kochenburger on one more evacuation trip to Druzhkivka, where we found something (officially) unexpected.
The Art-Lab Club in Mykolay-Polye is a place where new residents and old can mingle and support each other. Freefilmers brought them eleven professional-grade easels as well as lots of art supplies.
