Day 4. Our aid convoy travelled 500 km through Ukraine today, from near Lviv to the heart of urban Chernihiv, showed how Ukraine is constantly rebuilding, from stately main roads to major bridges to each bombed house – discarded but built again nearby. Revived.
For a stretch – while we swapped vans to piggyback on the best phone provider for calls abroad – I was with Alan Hilliar, the lead volunteer, where I had an enlightening conversation. Alan co-founded UK-aid (the hyphen he tells me is needed) in 2003, along with his wife Pauline Craven
This is Alan’s 90th aid trip to Ukraine since 2000, when he went with British Humanitarian Aid. Pauline has been to Ukraine about 65 times and was in the first group to go to the “Revival Centre” in Chernihiv, where I currently am.
It has been a difficult few years for the registered charity. During COVID, Alan was sending lorries to the centre but they could not get in. Then after the war started in February 2022 until October 2022, the focus was on sending convoys to the refugee camp in Moldova.
Alan, 71, is now on his fifth Ukraine trip since the war started, and explained how the charities ethos has shifted with the war. “The main thing is, we have someone we can trust,” he explains. This is because in 2022, at the start of the war, a lot of aid disappeared on the black market.
Now, about 18% of aid stays at the centre, with Alan and volunteers such as myself, giving the rest of the aid directly to villages – which is our plan for the next few days.
Networking is the main lesson Alan has learnt, which “only comes with time”. But without long-established contacts, there would be no way to complete aid trips, particularly in wartime.
Alan works more than full time, being a trustee, co-founder, and volunteer. Like everyone, he does not get paid at all, and goes out of pocket for hotel and food expenses. When I asked about his and the volunteers’ ages – ranging from 64 to 77 – Alan says: “We are from a generation of people that seem to care”.
Approaching the capital city, Kyiv, with bombed buildings scattered every so often along the roadside, I was just glad that even a few, but highly brave, people like Alan had cared.
As Alan passionately said in the conclusion of his toast later at the Revival Centre: “This is for the mothers and the children”.
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I was extremely busy today, taking thousands of photos on my Canon camera, and soaking in the tragic sight of every bombed building on the side of the road.
Left behind – and almost preserved – these buildings could have been any age, especially beyond Kyiv where the Russians had advanced to, back in February 2022. Hollow, empty houses and large buildings which looked like factories, were left to the side, as we drove north around Kyiv.
The outskirts of Kyiv had very few bombed or damaged buildings – which may not be representative of the city as a whole, as commented on by several people. The Soviet-era tower blocks were very severe-looking and often extremely neglected – but the general sentiment was that the busy roads did not feel like a ‘war zone’. The relatively high density and traffic on the outskirts also made it clear how huge Kyiv is – both a European and international capital I want to discover more of.
Leaving Kyiv, the main road to Chernihiv was straight, shiny, and sparkling new. In 2022, it was the battlefront for Russia’s attempted siege of Kyiv, but now due to strategic and generous EU funding, it was a silent ride for all three vans.
Another symbol of restoration and optimism has been the rebuilding of the ‘Kyiv Bridge’ over the River Desna, also known as the road bridge from Chernihiv. We checked to see if there was a new route for us to go across, as the permanent bridge is expected to be built sometimes in 2024. Though we were turned around, we witnessed builders and supervisors attending to the replacement bridge. Destroyed in late March 2022 during Russia’s second offensive strike, it was a positive sight to see.
Before I decided to go on this trip, I had only vaguely heard of Chernihiv, but it has been an instrumental part of the war. While we drove through its bustling city centre, it did not show that 70% of the city had been destroyed during a siege. Being so close to the Russian border, just 40 miles away, it was surrounded by Russian forces on 24 February 2022, but quickly liberated on 4 April.
On the route to the Revival Centre, I noticed freshly painted restaurants, businesses, a multiplex cinema and other brand new stores – all defiantly pristine. But just to the side, were houses and homes which were derelict – a city and country of extreme contrasts.
Arriving in the Chernihiv centre at 5.30pm, we were greeted with red wine, vodka, and plenty of stories from the staff – there are over 200 of them, the majority of them women.
The itinerary properly kicks in tomorrow. There is much more to tell.
