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| Inside the Fearless Volunteer Convoy Supplying Ukrainian Fighters With Everything From Body Armor to Cigarettes |
| 2022-05-09 |
| [RollingStone] DONBAS, Ukraine — Just outside the city limits of Slovyansk, an Eastern Ukrainian city not far from the frontlines, the driver in the lead van switches on the hazard lights and pulls over. "They’re going to put on their [bulletproof] vests," says Ihor Koval, pulling in behind them. Ihor is the driver of the van I’m in and the organizer of this trip to deliver supplies to the Ukrainian Army Forces, among them volunteers who have signed up to fight one of the largest armies in the world. It’s the last leg of a 20-hour drive across nearly the entire width of Ukraine, and we’ve long since entered the Donbas, the flashpoint region in the east. Despite the billions in heavy weaponry and materiels pouring into Ukraine, many fighters tasked with holding the line are still lacking in necessary supplies like body armor, consumer drones, and nighttime optics. So-called volunteers and informal networks like those organized by Ihor have taken it upon themselves to raise donations and sort out these logistics, sourcing supplies from all over the world. And as Russian forces now regroup and focus their efforts here in the east, Ihor is feverishly trying to ensure that those fighting them, including his cousin, are not left wanting for anything that could give them an advantage or save their lives. Right now, though, Ihor is dead-set on making sure the Ukrainian volunteers awaiting this push from Russian forces at the very least have their share of traditional sausages and pastries for Easter this weekend. "I don’t care, man. I feel like I owe these guys big time," Ihor leans over to me and says, referring to the fighters at the front. "And I don’t care what’s gonna happen to me. One way or the other I’m gonna die, why not die doing this?" The last few weeks have seen the Russian invasion of Ukraine begin a shift to a new stage. After failing to encroach on multiple fronts and encircle Kyiv due to strong resistance from Ukrainian forces, the Russian military has pulled back to concentrate their shattered forces in an effort to fully capture and annex the Donbas region, where the initial invasion began eight years earlier. This is where many fear the war will enter a new, even more brutal phase as two entrenched armies fight a modern day war of attrition with tanks and artillery blitzing everything in their path. It will be grinding, and it will be bloody, and there will be destruction and death visited on these lands that will take generations to heal. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #1 Supporting Ukraine requires supporting cigarette smoking is going to twist the minds of some of the people I know waving the avatar. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-05-09 11:22 |