Appreciate you covering such an important ethical topic which is incredibly hard! And you've got my utmost respect and gratitude for all your hard work supporting justice and human lives. 🙏🏻💪🏻❤️
Sorry Anna, but your efforts are misguided. You even admitted that you might be encouraging people to stay, who should evacuate. That creates problems for the AFU, when the Russians inevitably infiltrate civilian areas. You should be helping the millions of displaced citizens, but that’s not as “sexy” as being on the front lines, with a helmet and flak jacket, is it?
Not sure you are aware of the situation at the front
Many civilians that don’t leave, fear leaving because they have no other place to go. Many stay put because they don’t have fam or friends they can take a bus/train to Lviv to stay with
It’s often the volunteers helping the AFU at the front who end up evacuating these civilians at the last minute as their or their neighbors house is on fire from shelling landing closer and closer to the civilians homes and at this point they simply have no choice but to evacuate. It’s not a simple black / white situation
I’m aware some people will have this opinion, and that there are justifications for it, as the blog post acknowledges. Going by your profile you’re a former fighter pilot, so are likely more informed than most. If you have in-country experience of Ukraine, I’d love to hear about it; but it seems more likely you fought in Afghanistan or Iraq. And I have no experience of either, but I have talked to plenty of people who do, and what I hear over and over again is that things are different when there is no Western army involved.
How many members of the AFU have you talked to about the problems they experience? Probably fewer than I have. They won’t start by complaining about babushki, they’ll talk about lack of supplies. The most serious problems are a) lack of manpower and b) lack of thermal underwear, sleeping bags, generators and a thousand other basics. Unfortunately that’s not something most Western NGOs can address, because of strict rules that limit them to humanitarian aid, but it creates a different ecosystem. A messy, porous one, where the woman in the house 200 yards from the front line might be providing you with the woolly socks that stop your toes freezing off while you fight. One of my upcoming posts talks about a foreign volunteer helping to dig trenches on his own time, because the army lack the manpower to do it. Presumably you wouldn’t think he was misguided, even if it's rather less than ideal that he has to do so.
"You should be helping the millions of displaced citizens..."
If all volunteers exclusively did this, the system would collapse because the situation in the pre-front areas is so precarious in multiple ways. Unfortunately all I can say here is that ‘I know things I can’t tell you’, which is obviously a rubbish argument, but if you’re a former soldier you’ll understand that it’s true.
UAU and most similar groups also do evacuations - UAU are doing one today - which I hope to be able to cover in a future post. That seems to fit pretty closely with your sentiment that Ukrainians should leave the frontline areas. Nobody else will do these evacuations; the government is overstretched, and elderly people with no resources are hardly able to get themselves out. If an NGO is in the area for that reason, should they then refuse when a village headman reaches out to them for food or medicines? I guess you think so, but you don’t live here (nor do I, long-term, of course).
"You should be helping the millions of displaced citizens, but that’s not as “sexy” as being on the front lines, with a helmet and flak jacket, is it?"
Have you actually read my journal? Just looking at my previous five posts, they cover: an interview with a local Ukrainian volunteer who makes dry showers and mosquito spray for the AFU; an interview with a Ukrainian who left Ukraine for the UK; taking stoves to people living in a now-habitable village far from occupied territory with grant money I sourced; an interview with the organiser of a hostel and extended network helping displaced people in Dnipro; and an interview with teachers in Zaporizhzhia trying to continue educating pupils with Down Syndrome online. If those subjects have sex appeal, it eludes me. Donating 20% of my personal income to Ukrainian grassroots causes doesn't enhance my sex appeal either.
I don’t intend to get involved in a protracted debate about this, as I have other things to do, but you’re welcome to continue commenting critically as long as you’re polite.
It's not an area I expected to move into either! But I'm really glad to have the chance. And to shine some light on the work independents are doing over here.
It is such an outrageous atrocity that Putin and his murderous regime are permitted by the free world to continue to murder Ukrainians and pillage their country. Clearly human decency and dignity have evaded the Russian culture for centuries but to continue to follow a pathetic little man such as Putin as he attempts to compensate for being such an irredeemable cretin is unforgivable. Russia is a blight on mankind and world history. Your work in Ukraine Anna is incredible. The Ukrainian people have my undying admiration for they are true global heroes fighting the blackness of Russian evil. Stay safe Anna.
Poppycock. Putin warned Ukraine to stop killing ethnic Russian Ukrainians in Donbas and Donetsk. (They killed 14,000). He saw the buildup of the AFU (with enormous western assistance) as a threat. He witnessed the western political interference, the corrupt oligarchs and the Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion. Putin has been very careful to avoid civilian casualties, but if they stay in the villages, with AFU around them, shooting at Russians, they will get caught in the crossfire. It’s time to end this war, not pretend Ukraine can win it. (Of course Blackrock and the MIC don’t want that, do they?)
Meanwhile the Kramatorsk railway station attack targeted civilians trying to flee as refugees. The strike killed 63 civilians (including 9 children) and wounded 150 (including 34 children). A train station that was nothing but hundreds of civilians waiting for room on trains leaving out so they could flee the war zone, and while they waited a missile was dropped right in the center of the civilian crowd
Just a few months ago they dropped a missile directly on top of a kids cancer hospital, for fk sake… Avoid civilians?!? Putin intentionally targets civilians, sometimes even more so than military targets
Appreciate you covering such an important ethical topic which is incredibly hard! And you've got my utmost respect and gratitude for all your hard work supporting justice and human lives. 🙏🏻💪🏻❤️
Thank you!
Sorry Anna, but your efforts are misguided. You even admitted that you might be encouraging people to stay, who should evacuate. That creates problems for the AFU, when the Russians inevitably infiltrate civilian areas. You should be helping the millions of displaced citizens, but that’s not as “sexy” as being on the front lines, with a helmet and flak jacket, is it?
Not sure you are aware of the situation at the front
Many civilians that don’t leave, fear leaving because they have no other place to go. Many stay put because they don’t have fam or friends they can take a bus/train to Lviv to stay with
It’s often the volunteers helping the AFU at the front who end up evacuating these civilians at the last minute as their or their neighbors house is on fire from shelling landing closer and closer to the civilians homes and at this point they simply have no choice but to evacuate. It’s not a simple black / white situation
I’m aware some people will have this opinion, and that there are justifications for it, as the blog post acknowledges. Going by your profile you’re a former fighter pilot, so are likely more informed than most. If you have in-country experience of Ukraine, I’d love to hear about it; but it seems more likely you fought in Afghanistan or Iraq. And I have no experience of either, but I have talked to plenty of people who do, and what I hear over and over again is that things are different when there is no Western army involved.
How many members of the AFU have you talked to about the problems they experience? Probably fewer than I have. They won’t start by complaining about babushki, they’ll talk about lack of supplies. The most serious problems are a) lack of manpower and b) lack of thermal underwear, sleeping bags, generators and a thousand other basics. Unfortunately that’s not something most Western NGOs can address, because of strict rules that limit them to humanitarian aid, but it creates a different ecosystem. A messy, porous one, where the woman in the house 200 yards from the front line might be providing you with the woolly socks that stop your toes freezing off while you fight. One of my upcoming posts talks about a foreign volunteer helping to dig trenches on his own time, because the army lack the manpower to do it. Presumably you wouldn’t think he was misguided, even if it's rather less than ideal that he has to do so.
"You should be helping the millions of displaced citizens..."
If all volunteers exclusively did this, the system would collapse because the situation in the pre-front areas is so precarious in multiple ways. Unfortunately all I can say here is that ‘I know things I can’t tell you’, which is obviously a rubbish argument, but if you’re a former soldier you’ll understand that it’s true.
UAU and most similar groups also do evacuations - UAU are doing one today - which I hope to be able to cover in a future post. That seems to fit pretty closely with your sentiment that Ukrainians should leave the frontline areas. Nobody else will do these evacuations; the government is overstretched, and elderly people with no resources are hardly able to get themselves out. If an NGO is in the area for that reason, should they then refuse when a village headman reaches out to them for food or medicines? I guess you think so, but you don’t live here (nor do I, long-term, of course).
"You should be helping the millions of displaced citizens, but that’s not as “sexy” as being on the front lines, with a helmet and flak jacket, is it?"
Have you actually read my journal? Just looking at my previous five posts, they cover: an interview with a local Ukrainian volunteer who makes dry showers and mosquito spray for the AFU; an interview with a Ukrainian who left Ukraine for the UK; taking stoves to people living in a now-habitable village far from occupied territory with grant money I sourced; an interview with the organiser of a hostel and extended network helping displaced people in Dnipro; and an interview with teachers in Zaporizhzhia trying to continue educating pupils with Down Syndrome online. If those subjects have sex appeal, it eludes me. Donating 20% of my personal income to Ukrainian grassroots causes doesn't enhance my sex appeal either.
I don’t intend to get involved in a protracted debate about this, as I have other things to do, but you’re welcome to continue commenting critically as long as you’re polite.
The deeper you go in, the worse it is... =(
How comes that humans can both/either be stellar in helping each other, or criminals who raise the need for help in the first place?!
I do always feel a bit inadequate that I’m not volunteering for groups like this - but thanks to you for stepping up
It's not an area I expected to move into either! But I'm really glad to have the chance. And to shine some light on the work independents are doing over here.
Absolutely - maybe I’ll be able to do more with groups like this once I have done my book and got a bit more time for other kinds of help
Oh wow, I just checked your social media and realised you're a Proper Famous Person. Cool that you have so much reach and can use it for Ukraine!
It is such an outrageous atrocity that Putin and his murderous regime are permitted by the free world to continue to murder Ukrainians and pillage their country. Clearly human decency and dignity have evaded the Russian culture for centuries but to continue to follow a pathetic little man such as Putin as he attempts to compensate for being such an irredeemable cretin is unforgivable. Russia is a blight on mankind and world history. Your work in Ukraine Anna is incredible. The Ukrainian people have my undying admiration for they are true global heroes fighting the blackness of Russian evil. Stay safe Anna.
Poppycock. Putin warned Ukraine to stop killing ethnic Russian Ukrainians in Donbas and Donetsk. (They killed 14,000). He saw the buildup of the AFU (with enormous western assistance) as a threat. He witnessed the western political interference, the corrupt oligarchs and the Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion. Putin has been very careful to avoid civilian casualties, but if they stay in the villages, with AFU around them, shooting at Russians, they will get caught in the crossfire. It’s time to end this war, not pretend Ukraine can win it. (Of course Blackrock and the MIC don’t want that, do they?)
“Careful to avoid civilian casualties”
Meanwhile the Kramatorsk railway station attack targeted civilians trying to flee as refugees. The strike killed 63 civilians (including 9 children) and wounded 150 (including 34 children). A train station that was nothing but hundreds of civilians waiting for room on trains leaving out so they could flee the war zone, and while they waited a missile was dropped right in the center of the civilian crowd
Just a few months ago they dropped a missile directly on top of a kids cancer hospital, for fk sake… Avoid civilians?!? Putin intentionally targets civilians, sometimes even more so than military targets