OWs in Ukraine

The Kharkiv & Przemyśl Project

Visit www.KHARPP.com to learn more about Alex’s charity and support his work.

Bulletproof Vests & Hula Shirts

“That won’t do much good if you get caught in an air strike,” Alex commented.

He pointed to the bulletproof vest I was wearing. It suddenly felt like a ridiculous proposition if facing a wayward missile. No more ridiculous, though, than the floral hula shirt I was wearing beneath it, hoping to break the ice with the famously stony-faced Ukrainian border guards by telling them we were headed for a beach holiday in the Crimea.

It was early morning on Friday 2 September in Przemyśl, a small border town in south-eastern Poland. Alex Thomas (I, 2004-09) was helping me and my co-pilot Oliver pack our ambulance at his charity’s warehouse, ready to cross the border into Western Ukraine. The 8-hour trip to the Ukrainian city of Lviv would be the last leg of the journey for us; Alex would then take over and drive the significantly more perilous route directly to Kharkiv on the eastern frontline. The last time he was there he had been woken at night by the sound of the neighbouring apartment block taking direct hits. The next morning, the bodies of its residents, ejected from their beds by explosions, still lay uncovered in the street. 

The full write-up of Conrad's trip to Ukraine and Alex's humanitarian work can be found in the November 2022 Issue of the Trusty Servant.