27–28 MAR: LVIV BOMBED | BUS FROM MARIUPOL (Roger’s Story)
This story is from Roger Scott, Dan’s good mate and partner in legendary humanitarian support:
“At least three missiles struck Lviv on the day Yulia and I were scheduled to arrive. Rusty was on the ground there at the time, and reported back that while people were a bit shaken, it would still be safe to come.
About 5,000 PLN ($1.5K AUD) worth of supplies delivered!
In Warsaw, we loaded the bus with donations and nearly filled the entire cargo hold! Time was tight and I did not get time to properly thank [all the incredible people] for the effort they put in to get 4 carloads of goods to the bus at very short notice.
We arrived in Lviv at 4am, and unloaded the goods at the sorting center, having woken up the security guard there. It turns out that this task could’ve waited until the morning after we’d had a sleep, and by doing it so early, I’d de-railed a Channel 9 News live broadcast 😀 But the goods reached the right place and people.
Refugee transport: Mariupol-Lviv-Warsaw
The next part of the day we spent waiting for a bus-load of 50 refugees escaping Mariupol and surrounding areas. They’d been delayed due to the volatility of humanitarian corridors in the area, but finally reached us in Lviv at 14:00. Rusty got a hold of 50 hot, packaged meals for them, which was well-received.
Channel 9 reporter, @Carrie Greenbank, was also on the scene to interview some of the passengers — one of whom had actually witnessed the destruction of the Mariupol theatre, and others knew people who were inside at the time.
Story aired on Channel 9 |Today on 28-Mar (Carrie Greenbank):
Not everyone was travelling on to Warsaw. I helped a very fiery and energetic old lady find her family at the Lviv Train Station. She entertained me for 15 minutes with stories and opinions on the war, albeit occasionally with a tear or two. She even insisted that she saw my episode of Давай Поженимся back in 2015, because “she never misses a chance to see Larissa” 😂
Generally, she could not understand why her brother and sister Slavs — Russia — is attacking her and her countrymen. None of it makes any sense in her mind. But she is determined to defend Ukraine. I would pity any enemy soldier that crosses her path.
We loaded up the bus with people and we departed for Warsaw.
Along the way I spoke to several of our travelers. Interestingly, they seemed to be all Russian-speaking. Some of them even strongly identified as ethnically Russian. Others were firmly Ukrainian but grew up only speaking Russian. Both of these groups expressed utter bewilderment at the whole situation. The Russians had simply had enough of endless conflict, some having lost loved ones in the Donbass war. They wanted to get as far away as possible from this — another senseless violent conflict in a long line. The Russian-speaking Ukrainians all say they had never felt any sort of oppression or discrimination in Ukraine on account of them being Russian speaking, and had no idea why anyone would think they need “saving”. To confuse things even more — it is their city and region — Mariupol/Berdyansk — that has been turned to rubble. So again, none of any of this makes any sense…
These people had been without water, gas and electricity for over week. But they shared stories about having to go outside and cook their food over campfires with other residents in their apartment blocks, and they said this experience really brought everyone together. They made lasting bonds with neighbours they would otherwise never speak to. This seems to be a theme among Ukrainians now, they have a renewed and more strong sense of unity than ever before. Almost like a re-birth of national identity.
In common scenes, the Ukraine border service (a bastion of absurd and unnecessary bureaucracy) refused to allow some of our passengers to leave the country, including two very young children.
Thankfully Rusty and Yulia managed to pick them up and deliver them safely back to Lviv. Hopefully they do manage to escape one day…
We eventually dropped everyone off at the Warsaw Expo Center at about 4am, where an extremely impressive shelter has been set up, and is equipped with everything our people needed (including those with severe disabilities). We were met with several great volunteers who took care of everyone.
Anna K returned to see them all the next day, in order to consult on what options they have for settling inside the EU. I wish them the best of luck.
Side note: we have been helping [The Ukraine Territorial Defense Force’s] Black Raven unit equip themselves. Most recently, with the help of special donations from Rory Scott and Rusty, I bought them a 4x4 Pajero off-roader for use on various missions. It is already in use. They sent a nice letter of thanks to us for all the supplies we’ve sent in the last month.”
Dan’s brief version of events (30-Mar):
Tears start running each time. Each bus we meet in Lviv has rescued refugees from devastated areas such as Mariupol, Kiev, Kharkiv and Irpin.
These people refused to take our money and apologized for the inconvenience, after escaping and traveling whilst under fire for up to 1 week. Yet they reach us in Lviv with humor and a little stamina left and they all begin to explain there stories… “Have not heard from their mum in 6 days”, “I watched the missiles hit the theater where my family were sleeping”, “I can not find my 5 year old daughter anywhere” …and yet they all speak these stories willingly, but with no where in mind to go. They have not prepared a new place to live and are sitting on busses having left everything behind are now wondering what the fu^k to do.
We meet them in Lviv in this state…
We need YOUR MONEY to give these triumphant survivors a new hope, they need to get to new beginnings underway.
We will not let them escape such horrific events to only get part-way and wither into dust as the world forgets about them. Because then, they may as well have not come…
DONATE & SHARE
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As always, the biggest love.
Next up: 29-MAR: LVIV ORPHANAGE VISIST THE ZOO
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