It has once again been a long time since we last talked, and in that time a lot has happened.
There is much to cover, so sit down, get comfortable and let’s begin.
I personally think that the 28th February will remain with me forever. The day the world held its breath, as President Zelenskyy met up with the orange Oompa Loompa that is pretending to be President of the United States.
He had been promising the world for months that he would end the war in a day, and stupidly, I was hopeful that something amazing would happen.
With bated breath, I watched the meeting live on Sky and sat rooted to my seat in a profound state of shock as I saw the President of the bravest country in the world be berated like a school child by something grotesque and absurd.
That night, as I pondered what happened, one of my friends from the US messaged me.
I had known Kev for many years, we have a shared love and interest in Aviation, specifically the SR-71 (do you get the title now!) and also Chernobyl. We had chatted online for many years, but never met or even spoken!
He asked me one question.
“How can I help”
He had sat through the same debacle at the same time as me, and had come to the conclusion that most Americans do not believe in the same perverted world view that Trump holds.
Mission 16 was in the early stages of planning at that point, we already had two cars to take over, and by a happy coincidence I had just been offered first refusal on a very cheap L200 pickup truck.
Somehow the stars had aligned.
I explained the situation to Kev and to my amazement, he committed to funding the purchase of the truck by selling one of his drones, another shared interest we have!
He also asked if possible, could he bring his best friend Zach with him, as he wanted to deliver the car himself!
Zach had never even left the US, so this makes this trip even more incredible.
Now, this sounds easy, but to get us to April took many hours of planning, fixing problems and nashing of teeth. Each Mission we do is a commitment of many many hours of work to get to the point where we are ready to leave. Supplies need to be sourced to fill the cars, money needs to be raised for the costs, and there is a staggering amount of admin and paperwork to do.
However we got there and on a sunny and pleasant morning, less than 24 hours before we were due to leave for Dover, I drove up to Heathrow to pick up these two amazing people from the USA.
Having been worried about finding Kev and Zach, I needn’t have worried, Zach cuts a very imposing figure standing well over 6ft tall, dressed from head to toe in black and sporting the most amazing red and black mohawk! A choice that would later cause him some concerns.
But for now, before I regale you with tales from Mission 16, let us get on with some updates from Ukraine UK Aid.
Our first bit of news is Camouflage netting. As I mentioned on Facebook, this is right at the top of every military units requests. It is an absolute lifesaver for the guys, it keeps them and their equipment hidden from the air, and as I am sure you are all aware, this is very much a drone war now, so they absolutely need as many of these nets as they can get.
We have two places we can help with financially.
The first is the Middle School of Ulaniv. Our friend Nick Fomin comes from Ulaniv, he was educated in this very school, his mother works in the school as a cleaner, and his Auntie (Andriy’s Mum) works as a Teacher. We have been to this school many times and have seen with our own eyes, the industrious nature of the net production. They have two frames in operation, and I have never seen a time where there were not Ladies working.
Since the start of the Full scale invasion, these ladies have produced over 1070 nets. When you see the effort and time these nets take to produce, you can see what a massive achievement this is.
We also help various groups that our dear friend Olena knows. Again, they are just as industrious as the school in Ulaniv. This is something that is happening all over Ukraine, in schools, village halls and community centres.
We have made a commitment to the school in Ulaniv to continue to support them financially to ensure they do not run out of the materials needed to keep working. The camouflage material and the base net costs are around £250 and this will keep them busy for around 3-4 weeks.
We would like to think that we can help a few other groups as well.
Going forward we will run various fundraisers very much like the Blood and Steel Candle campaign, which raised nearly £500!!
Thank you to everyone who bought one!
Your support is always appreciated.
Since we arrived back, we have been busy helping, closing many collections for our friends Olena and Anna. We most recently purchased a Starlink for a unit fighting in one of the hottest regions near Sumy.
And we are working on a larger donation which we hope to be able to announce very soon.
Just because we are not in Ukraine does not mean the help stops.
And talking about being in Ukraine, one thing that is not is another huge delivery of items from Olena, gathered from her massive network of volunteers and crafts people. I am hard at work photographing and listing the items on the store and I hope you will be as pleased and amazed as I am at the variety and quality of the items.
This store update will be one to watch for.
Father’s Day is coming up soon, and we have just added a new collection to the store to help you buy something for the most important man in your life!
Don’t get him boring socks unless they come from our store!!!
That is the end of the breaking news!
So I guess you all want to know how Mission 16 went?
I have been very quiet, and this is not because anything went wrong. In fact, everything was perfect aside from one of the cars making what I can only describe as a smoke screen every time it pulled off!
The most surprising thing about the Mission was the weather again. Part of the reason why I picked April was because I wanted to avoid the cold and snow that can often plague Ukraine in March. Every time I have been in April, it has been beautiful, Sunny, warm and no flying insects.
However this time, Ukraine got the better of me. A few snow flurries a few 100KM from the border from Ukraine, whilst still in Poland was an ominous sign!
However the following morning, leaving Lviv towards Ulaniv, a full on snowstorm was really not what we wanted, and this weather stayed for the whole week. I wasn’t until the last day that the temperatures started to rise, but when I say rise, I mean rocketed. We went from temperatures of around 2-3C to nearly 20C in the space of two days.
But in the end, we managed to achieve all objectives, everything was a huge success, and the 3 cars made it all the way!
One story of note, is that one of the cars, the X-Trail was being donated to a soldier we have not met before. He turned up at Olena’s house about an hour after we arrived. It turned out, that a few hours earlier he had got married! And that evening he was returning to the front in his new car.
This all made us stop and think about how life still goes on, but in some respects is utterly alien to us. We regretted not knowing in advance, as we could have made more effort to decorate the car for the Newly Weds, but we did what would could and gave the couple a good send off!
Now, I usually have a few stories to tell and this is no exception!
The first story I have already eluded to, those of you who paid attention will remember my comment about Zach’s mohawk hair colour!
But first we have to tell the back story as to why we were where we were!
For the longest time, I have wanted to forge a relationship between my home town and Ulaniv. It seemed the right thing to do, but always it is not what you know but who you know that makes these things happen.
And we were waiting for the right person to come along, which just so happened a few months ago, when a local lady called Lysette purchased a few items off our store and also offered a military sleeping bag to us. A few conversations later, and it turned out she is a teacher at a school very near to where I live.
Nick’s Auntie teaches in a school in Ulaniv, I now had a friend on a local school and an idea was born!
What would it be like if we could get the students from both schools to make friends, communicate and learn about each others lives.
And this is what we have been working on in the background for the past months. We have spoken to the students in Ulaniv, and they are very keen on this idea, they have written postcards to the students in my local school and in a weeks time, I will be visiting my local school to present them with paintings and talk to them. My hope is the students from the UK will contact the students in Ulaniv, become friends and support each other.
Almost all of the students in Ulaniv have relatives who are fighting on the front, we spoke to one girl who has not seen her father for years.
I am sure we will talk about this more in the months to come.
So onto the story!
In April, we went to the school in Ulaniv, to present some students with rucksacks filled with items for relatives who are fighting. We also took some photos, did a small presentation about the work we do, and then a Q&A at the end. To start with, the students were somewhat shy, but then one young man put his hand in the air and asked a question.
Looking at Zach, or more to the point, his hair, he asked the question “Did you choose your hair colour deliberately?”
Now, most people would have no idea about this, but having spent some time in Ukraine and in Poland, I know the Red and Black combination is relevant.
Wherever you go in Ukraine, it is quite common to see this colour combination, and without going into the history and politics of this, which are quite contentious, Red and Black in Ukraine is the symbol of nation and pride. It is said that when the Ukrainian colours of Blue and Yellow are soaked in blood this is what the flag looks like.
Conversely, in Poland, this colour combination is not looked on so favourably, shall we say.
We explained to Zach the meaning of the colours, and his face dropped. “But I have to travel back through Poland knowing this!”
He dyed his mohawk all black before leaving Ukraine, but he was the rock star of this mission. Everywhere we went, people wanted to speak to him, hug him and take photos of him. I sort of felt rather sorry for Kev as he was very much in the background whenever Zach was around!
But, my own mission was accomplished in that I wanted to show Ukraine that the USA still supports and cares what happens to them.
Trump may go around spouting his nothing talk, but true Americans still care about the world and what happens in it.
Thank you Kev and Zach, for your support, your help, your company but most of all the laughs we had.
Now, not all stories will be about Zach, but actually they all are!
And of course the second and last tale involves him as well.
The last car to drop off was the L200 Pickup truck that Kev had purchased. It was going to our dear friend Kristina. For the longest time, she has served in the Army as a front line Medic. However she has changed direction and was at the time training to be a frontline recon drone pilot!
The L200 would go with her to the front as their transport. We were hoping to meet up with Kristina in Kyiv for a day, take her out for dinner and have a proper catch up, but unfortunately the war got in the way of our plans, and instead we would meet up with her, a couple of KM from the 30KM checkpoint to the Chernobyl zone, a place we all know very well!
So early on the last Saturday of the mission, myself Zach and Kev left Irpin for the 90 minute drive to meet Kristina.
For your imagination! It is 6:30AM, cold and bright, I have not had coffee yet, I am driving and Zach is in the front seat next to me, his red and black mohawk resplendent in the early morning sunshine, although somewhat squashed against the roof of the car!
I am navigating the early morning traffic whilst trying to remember to drive on the correct side of the road, when Zach suddenly, out of the blue said…
“Hey Elliott, if you could somehow speak to Animals, what Animal would you speak to and what three questions would you ask it”
Now, this question, at the best of times, with my full attention and a functioning brain would take me some time to answer!
At 6:30 in the morning, whilst driving and having had no coffee, there was zero chance.
I looked him in the eye, and said “I have no fucking clue!”
Thank you Zach, I will remember that moment for the rest of my days!
You, Sir, are a legend!
So, to finish off this blog, a final update for you.
For the time being, we have no plans to take further cars. However, never say never, and I am sure that will change!
I am going over to Ukraine in July to spend some time with Nick. It will be his birthday on the 5th July. I have never seen him on his birthday, so this year, I want to make the effort.
Because I am flying, I am limited to what I can take, but I do want to fill one rucksack full of goodies to donate to either Andriy or Oleh (Nicks brother) both of whom are currently in position.
So I will start up the Amazon wish list in a few weeks, mostly socks and gloves to keep within the 20KG limit.
I hope you can help us with that.
Going forward your greatest help is to continue to support us via the store. We are always able to get new stock from Olena in Ukraine, so we can continue to help this way.
Money sent quickly when needed for specific tasks is the biggest help we can offer Ukraine at the moment.
Olena and Anna are very happy with this way of helping, and in fact, at this very moment, I have to stop writing to speak to Olena about supplying chest seals to her guys. This way of supporting Ukraine works very well, and remember we can only continue to help if you buy from our store.
Every penny raised from each and every sale goes back to Ukraine, 100% We pay and run the store for free, we use our time and often our own money to supplement this.
We are in this for the long haul. These are dark times we live in, and very much more so for our friends in Ukraine.
The uncertainty for the future and the worry for one’s own safety and the safety of loved ones I cannot imagine.
Let’s keep up the work, let’s do all we can, and hope for the best. In the end that is all we can do.
With love and hugs from Ukraine UK Aid
Pre-Mission Beer and Burger with the drivers
Early morning repair to the X-Trail before we set off!
Port of Dover Mission Photo.
Lays Ketchup Crisps!
We have arrived in Ukraine
And a coffee to keep us going for the last few KM
Behold, the price of Eggs!
Ulaniv School and Ukraine UK Aid
Handing over Bags donated from Lytchett School in Dorset to students of Ulaniv
A snowy start to the day
And an Icy end to the day!
The renovation of Borodyanka always astounds me. Not so long ago, this building was in two parts
Our meeting with Volunteer groups of Ivankiv region. A very emotional day.
Where ever we went, being with Zach was like being in the presence of a superstar!
Kev and Zach with the L200 they purchased in Olyzarivka.
Craig and Jay with the X-Trail they drove over in. This is the last of Gerald's cars, and is know as the Turbo-Trail as it blew its turbo within minutes of being purchased.
Turbo-Trail being handed over. The Soldier pictured was married that morning!
L200 Truck being donated to Kristina, a few KM from the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Kev really wanted to go all the way! But this time it was just not possible.
Memorial to the Fallen Heros in Independence Square. Each flag represents a fallen defender of Ukraine. Each time I visit this place it grows.
