24 Hours Supporting Ukrainian Units In Southeast Ukraine
Last time I was in Ukraine I worked alongside a team of volunteers bringing body armor, medical supplies, and other essentials to Ukrainian defenders along the front line. Our team was lead by Igor Tracz, a Polish professional athlete and the founder of Fundacja Igora Tracza. We supplied Ukrainian defenders in Kherson, the embattled Pokrovsk, and forward positioned units in Kharkiv.
One Days Work: Missiles, Muffins, And Medical Training
Our team arrived late at night in the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv in the middle of a Russian attack. Our Ukrainian point man greeted us with a smile and a hand shake, “Welcome to Mykolaiv. You can see the Russians greet you as well.” We went to sleep with the air raid sirens blaring through the open third floor window of the old apartment building we bunked in that night.
The next morning, the combat medicine instructor on our team ran a tac-med course for a nearby police unit. The officers looked like they stepped right out of one of those 70s police sit coms; each one was a character. These men and women had been part of the first response team in defense of the region when the Russian soldiers punched deep into Ukraine.
A volunteer tactical medicine instructor teaches MARCH protocol (massive hemorrhage, airway, respirations, circulation, head injury/hypothermia) to a Ukrainian unit in southeast Ukraine. Image/Honor Phillips
One of our team told me these guys learned how to fire mortars at Russian invaders by watching how-to videos on YouTube. Their resourcefulness and bravery was striking, especially in circumstances where a lot of other people would have run away in fear. The “home town” reality set in again though when it was clear that, even two plus years into this war, a lot of them needed training in the most basic emergency medical procedures. It’s a strange world where you know how to fire a mortar at enemy troops, but you are not sure how to put a tourniquet on. One moment you are handing out traffic tickets, and the next your community is looking to you to save them from foreign annexation and military occupation.
Fun fact, when you are not avoiding Russian ballistic missiles or Iranian long range drones, you can find some lovely bakeries and cafes in town with some excellent Ukrainian pastries, you can even catch a showing of Deadpool at the local theater.
A few hours later and a bit of a drive, our team was unloading body armor, helmets, and medical supplies just a few kilometers from enemy occupied positions in Kherson. The odd normalcy of the previous city was gone. It had been traded for an eery quiet that inadvertently had us all speaking in hushed tones. Every now and then, you could hear the sound of an explosion as a munition made impact. There are no off days in this war.
Map of Kherson, Ukraine. Liberated territory in green, Russian occupied Kherson in red. Map/DeepStateMap
The situation here was completely different. The only thing that stood between the Russians and this part of Kherson was the Dniper River and the Ukrainian defenders on this side of it. The city sits right on the Dniper and is virtually divided by it as it leads to the Black Sea. At the start of the war, it had been over run by the Russians; the occupation was the stuff of movies. After eight months of Russian occupation, a Ukrainian counter offensive forced the Russians over the river, and they left destruction behind them as well as at least 20 well established torture facilities throughout the region.
Few places are safe in Kherson as the Russian attack drones fly over it daily, dropping explosives on anyone they can. The Russians literally call it “the human safari” on their own social media channels. This means that the closer you get to the river that stands between free and occupied Kherson, the fewer cars you see and the quieter it gets. The thousands of Ukrainians in the area know to drive quickly and stay out of the open if they want to escape the Russian attacks and make it home. I spoke with one man about what it would mean to liberate the other half of the region and all the Ukrainians under occupation on the other side. The Ukrainians in Kherson don’t have to wonder what a life occupied by Russia would mean. They live it. They know that this war is not simply about conquest, but ideology and worldview. They want nothing to do with the darkness that the Russian Federation brings.
Destroyed Russian MT-LB armored fighting vehicle in Mykolaiv, Ukraine Image/Honor Phillips
After dashing into the safety of a bunker near forward positions, we had a few minutes for the usual small talk with the unit commander we were coordinating with. He offered us coffee, cracked a few jokes, and even pulled out the prize trophy guns captured from the enemy. We delivered the equipment we brought, and it came time to leave town and head past the partially cleared mine fields and quiet little villages back the way we came. Several hours later, we were sitting in a hip restaurant listening to a cover band perform 1980s rock tunes. It was an odd switch to the previous events of the day, but that is life in Ukraine. Things can change in a moment. On another day, the restaurant might be empty and air raid sirens could be warning an impending attack, but right then it was peaceful. As far as our team was concerned, the day’s mission was accomplished.
