It was a dark and stormy night….

Caroline did the same trip last year but as part of a convoy under the umbrella of Driving Ukraine which has so far delivered nearly 300 vehicles to Lviv where they are converted into field ambulances, extraction vehicles and other front line useful bits of kit. All the vehicles are repainted with camouflage on arrival and recreated into the relevant category.

Richard and I donated his elderly L R Discovery which we had filled with a combination of medical kit and netting. The latter was very popular both as a disguise when suspended from branches with vehicles underneath as well as a form of trapping drones. Drone warfare being a new science to me this was intriguing.

 Our Lviv contact was a university student who also created and flew drones as well, impressive as he is 22 years old….

 Richard and I spent several days visiting different vineyards in France, Austria and Hungary on our way across to Ukraine from Slovakia.

We approached the Slovakian /Ukrainian border, and our arrival surprised the customs officer, police border guard and security team as they had not previously seen Brits entering Ukraine with a full load of unlikely cargo to deliver. The relevant passes were not available so our 14 boxes were unloaded, opened and inspected before crossing no man’s land and before undergoing the same procedure to enter Ukraine. The crossing took nearly 4 hours in total.

Crossing the country on our way to Lviv took another 3 hours but lovely countryside and only 2 more check points before climbing the Tatra mountains followed by the Carpathians. A relatively underpopulated and predominantly agricultural part of the world. Google maps navigated us to our hotel which we reached around 9.30 pm. Checked in and went out for supper before collapsing around midnight. The air raid siren kicked off at 4.00am so we went down to the air raid shelter in the basement for an hour. I had just gone back to bed when the siren went off for the second warning. Being knackered I took the view that my bedclothes were proof against incoming bomb damage  and went back to sleep.

We met the local coordinators in the morning and were shown the town. Rather surreal as the town operates normally with shops and markets open and a blend of uniforms and civilians going about their normal lives. Some visible bomb damage and the previous week had seen a 3 hour air raid over the town with some fatalities. We were introduced to our 50 year old driver, an ex soldier who was invalided out recently and showed us a cemetery with several thousand recent graves. Each one flying either national or regimental flags and hugely decorated with flowers, all very moving.

 Equally moving were some of the Lviv churches where local soldier’s funerals took place whilst we were there.  

 A local restaurant was suggested for dinner that night, a great success! Shots of vodka to welcome us before we reached our table, more shots from a neighbouring table of Swedes who had just delivered several fire engines and ambulances – as they had done regularly since 2022. We joined up with them and endless bottles were emptied before agreeing to meet at some stage, somewhere in the future. Luckily, no sirens disturbed the night .

 We handed over the Discovery in the morning and were driven to the Polish border which took 3 hours to cross but apart from a rather off hand luggage check all went smoothly.

 The Ukranians we met were all delightful and very appreciative of what we were doing. They are feeling rather neglected as Gaza is more in the headlines currently and as the 4th anniversary of the invasion approaches their determination not to succumb is humbling. Their fighting ability and creativity is extraordinary. Skill in drone warfare is amazing and they probably lead the field in innovation and adaptability. With continued support, particularly from Nato and Trump – they will win. Fingers crossed!