Run 29 – August – September 2024

Run 29 was planned to be a major step forwards for us in finding new people in Ukraine that need help! We are extremely grateful to Damon “Wozzer” Warren who suggested that we join his extended convoy and get to meet some of his key contacts – an epic trip was envisaged but it turned out to be even more so than we could ever have dreamed of!

Due to a shortage of funding, we had originally planned for this to be a solo run by Andy but Mike was able in the end to join him – this gave Mike a good opportunity to deal with the black smoke issue Andy had on the previous runs! With the help of a great little motor factors in Littlehampton, the cost of fixing this was reduced from some £500 (Citroen/Peugeot dealer pricing) to less than £30!

Whilst we couldn’t take a 2nd van, Mike was able to take 800k of aid to a collection point in Welwyn where it would go on a truck to Andrew Axon in Ukraine – his team will be distributing that aid to places where it is needed. Thanks to Andrew for doing this for us!

Andy’s van was also nearly full for the trip and Mike added some mobility aids and dog food to complete the load.

Because we would be delivering to multiple locations this time, we decided to do our traditional thank you video before we left the UK:

Then it was off to Dover and an expected RV with Damon and vehicles from UK, France & Switzerland. However, it wasn’t quite as straightforward as originally planned! Due to migrant activity in the Channel, not all of the teams made it onto their original sailing time and a new RV close to Antwerp was agreed!

Not everyone made it to that RV and we eventually met up with the rest further down the route!

For most of the run, our companions were Damon, Jake and Glenn in their van, Anna in a 4×4 being donated and Tetyana in another 4×4. (She left the convoy whilst in Lviv). Another couple of vans and cars made up the rest of the convoy and it was good to meet the folks from those teams too. This combined convoy was delivering a huge amount of aid!

We had an unscheduled stop in Germany as one of the drivers couldn’t continue – a hotel was found and as usual, Mike & I slept in the van! This added another unexpected delay. And then it was on towards the first vehicle handover point in Katowice until we had a tyre blow out on my van near Berlin. Fortunately, Mike was driving at the time and calmly got the van onto the hard shoulder and a nearby rastplatz. As we were all observing good convoy drills, Glenn in a 4×4 in front of us was able to get back and help with the tyre replacement!

We were soon back on the road heading to the next stop in Katowice. As regular readers will know, Mike & I do everything on a shoestring so hotels are not normally something we use. The rest of the team were somewhat appalled at the thought of 2 old men sleeping n the van whilst they had a bed and Damon spoke with one of his donors who kindly covered the cost of a room for us both here and at a later location. Huge thanks to Mick from the BAMK team for your generous help.

Fully refreshed, we headed the next day for the border – we used a different and smaller crossing point than we normally use and it did seem a little quicker. Next stop was Lviv where most of the aid from the non UK teams was being offloaded. This gave us some time to get to know those team members a little better – the French team kept trying to feed us with things they had grown and bought with them whilst Damon tasked Andy & Mike with putting covers on helmets and generally shifting boxes. (We’re good at that!).

Here, we met a couple who support 128 Brigade, a unit we have supported via Zaporizhia on previous runs so good to have another route in to that unit. We also met Andre who runs an aid group called UA Ants. More importantly, he drives an ambulance marked 200. If you ever see one of these in Ukraine, remove your hat, take the knee of some other show of respect as these vehicles bring back the bodies of soldiers from the front line. It was very sobering to see an empty van except for the stack of body bags. Andre then takes urgent medical aid back with him to the front line and there was a huge amount of this from the French/Swiss team. A lovely man who can only work alone on the 200 service.

We had a bit of time in Lviv and were close to the Opera House:

And then on to the famous “Secret Bar” where you need to know the password to get in and the doorman gives you a shot when you are successful! We had a good meal together here as this was where we parted company with the non UK contingent. Great to meet you guys, look forward to doing so again some time!.

Another feature of this bar is a small shooting range where Andy & Mike took out a well known figure – sadly not for real!

All of the above might make you think Lviv is 100% safe place to be. Sadly, that is not always the case. The day after we left, just a few hundred metres away, a father lost his wife and 3 daughters in a rocket attack. This was a family that is well known in Lviv but the story barely made the news in the UK. Here’s Jake on the roof of our hotel showing how close this was:

We have become more security aware of late – news reached us of aid vehicles being targeted with devices such as shown below and aid trucks that had passed us at one point during the run were also targeted by drones. For this reason, exact locations and names of people we meet will often not be disclosed. Pictures and videos on our Facebook page will also be delayed where needed.

Our next stop was in Ternopil where we pulled into a tyre repair shop to get a replacement spare tyre – Ukrainian roads are worse than anything we have in the UK so this was a vital precaution! We chose wisely as the garage not only put a good used tyre on but also swapped the wheels around – Andy’s spare was a different size to the rest of the tyres and so this redressed the balance. And then, when Andy went to pay, they wouldn’t accept any money! We were taken into the office and were also given a large cam net and some coffee and cakes for front line troops!
Ukrainians really do appreciate the work of foreign aid workers and this was such a nice gesture. Thanks guys!

Our next port of call was to meet another aid worker and soldier, Igor. Damon has been supporting Igor for some time and it was once again good for us to make another contact. Igor supports 110 Brigade whom we have also supported in the past via our dear friend Maryna.
This was another night in a hotel – Mike enjoyed this less than others as we were on the 10th floor and lifts didn’t work during the blackout period. Having injured his knee prior to the run, the climb up the stairs was most unwelcome!

We had another security reminder here – whilst having a pizza with our hosts, we were approached by a man who appeared to be a Russian sympathiser. Our hosts were very uncomfortable about this guy and the restaurant threw him out. Suffice to say, we checked our vehicles thoroughly the next day.

From here, we went to meet the first recipient of our load – a wonderful organisation called Combat Bees in Vinnytsia. They had also acted as the main recipient for our customs declaration for which we thanks them too! The van was unloaded and they decided which items they could use with the remainder staying on board for our other destinations. All of the technology from Dee Johnson, including 14 laptops went to the Drone Academy and other items such as walking aids, dog food etc will be distributed out to where it is needed the most.

Dee Johnson, from Uckfield Church, gave me some wooden crosses which were made in Bethlehem from Olive wood. Our next drop point was the first recipient of some of these. We met an amazing priest, Taras, who in addition to having his own church, is also a military padre as well. He supports a military hospital where the patients arrive with only what they have on their backs. We were privileged to be able to meet some of them when we distributed basic hygiene items and clothing.

We also met some of his flock at a dinner they kindly provided for us in the magnificent setting of an old Cossack hall!

He also supports front line troops and a tent from Michael in Uckfield was one of the items we were able to leave with him.

Whilst we were there, Taras was due to conduct a military funeral and we were asked to attend and pay our respects. This was a very moving experience for us all – all of us paid our respects at the grave and those with a military background also saluted – something I haven’t done since I left the army. The widow was touched by our attendance and invited us to join them at the wake.

We were able to get some sleep in a very cheap hotel – just over £11 per night for a twin room and left refreshed after a quick visit to a local market:

We were also able during the run to go to Kyiv where Damon had a meeting and we were able to stay with our dear friends Slava & Lena for a night – with the added bonus that Maryna was also there!

Our penultimate drop was in the middle of nowhere where we met the most amazing guy, Malik, who is a wizard with electronics, making honey and moonshine! We will be supplying him in the future with used vapes – he turns these into very effective explosives and hopefully, selling the honey to help fund drone detection devices which are a big life saver. To help purchase more of these life saving devices, there are QR codes in the first image below:

During the run, we passed through many towns – a now common but sad feature is often to be found in the main squares: Tributes to local fallen hero’s:

Our final destination was to Damon’s church – this team do a lot of work with refugees and were the recipients of the clothing and bedding that we had on board. The church also has accommodation so we once again had a good nights sleep ahead of starting the long trek home.

What happened next was totally unexpected! We left the church and were heading back towards Vinnytsia when the van engine decided to give up – we later found out it was the timing chain. This occurred near a military airbase and and more importantly, only 15 mins drive from another of Damon’s network. Anton runs an aid organisation which includes importing vehicles from the UK for the military. Despite it being his birthday and being at a party, he came out to the van, diagnosed the base issue, dealt with the airfield security keeping an eye on the van and then finding us a cheap hotel before returning to his party. An absolutely amazing man!

Sadly, the van looks to be beyond economical repair and we had to leave it with Anton to see what he could do with it. He also kindly arranged our train tickets back to Lviv. Out of this tragedy though we have met another extremely useful recipient of aid and we will be supporting him whenever possible. Andy has since decided to donate the van to Anton to make whatever use he can out of it for the military, be that putting an old or recon engine in it or using it for spare parts – it can still serve a useful purpose.

Sometimes it is a small world – I was looking out of the window of our hotel there and spotted a Luton Airport bus in the barracks opposite! This vehicle was one of a number sent out by our friends at Swindon Humanitarian Aid Partnership:

And we finally had time for a beer:

14 hours on a train was no joke – although we had upper bunks in a sleeper, getting into them was a challenge for both of us. Our good friend Roman met us at Lviv station and helped us locate a very cheap air BnB that we had booked. Unfortunately, we had to hang around for 3 nights as there were no EasyJet flights with free seats available from Krakow. It was an interesting old building!:

Crossing the border by train was a little more, comfortable as we had a cabin to ourselves with lower bunks all free. The delay whilst the Ukrainians did their passport checks was reasonable but we were unfortunate to be on the same train as a US delegation and so on arrival in Poland, where they decamped, we were kept on board for over an hour until that was complete and our connecting flight to Krakow with 5 mins to spare!

We had a bit of time in Krakow before heading out for our flight – of course, the flight was delayed but we were soon back in the UK and already planning runs 30 & 31!

Our huge thanks to Damon Warren for allowing us to be a part of his run and for the introductions to some very special people in Ukraine. We will be supporting them on future runs.

Thank you for everything Wozza!