On the road
„Valdai, we need a pick-up truck,“ says Raimondas Urvikis, who is fighting in Ukraine. „We will“, I reply. „It doesn't matter what the condition of the body is, what matters is a good frame and a good engine,„ adds Raimondas, “Maybe a Nissan Navara is better, because there are parts.“ (Turns out you have to pick one up at the base.)
I am starting to raise money and arrange the timing of the mission, because my friends have activities, so not everyone can go at any time, especially one of them - Aurimas Navys, who is also running for the European Parliament, and the other one - Gintaras Bagdonas, a retired officer, is working as a lecturer at the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy.
First wheel - Aurimas Navys, military expert, Vilnius City Councillor, retired military officer, worked for the SOP, running for the EP. He was in Ukraine at the start of the large-scale invasion and this is his second mission this year. A patriot and an excellent writer. An idealist like me.
I'm looking for funding for a car and I get a Facebook ban for a month. I have to turn around and create a new account, because the Russian fascists not only want to restrict my distribution, but also to deactivate my account.
Text after text, day after day, and we have money for one car. But we need another cheap one, as Oleg Dunda, a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, asked his friends in the 72nd Brigade.
Cheap, any kind. One such is offered by Lina, a.k.a. Tado's wife, an Opel Zafira, which she doesn't need, but which, once sorted out, will be suitable for undemanding soldiers. I buy a battery and take it to a Russian expatriate garage, who promises to fix it for free, taking money only for the parts. A Ukrainian locksmith, who has already finished his war and was commissioned after six gunshot wounds, works with me. He came to Lithuania to live with his family who had fled the war. This is the circle of good against evil.
Pavel Kovtunets is at the helm. Probably the youngest of our group, an athlete and a communication specialist. This is his 16th or 17th mission to Ukraine, the first was to Bakhmut with food delivery convoys, and now he has become a „Furist“ like me. He is driving the Avis Car Rental loan car that we will be using to get home.
People have donated a little more money than Raimonds' car needs, so I decide to take another one for another Lithuanian at the front. I continue collecting money, and the collection is brought to an unexpected end by Andrius Tapinas's transfer of €1,200 from Remigijus Žemaitis under a court order. The very next day, I go to the farmer Rima in Kaišiadorys to pick up the car. Unfortunately, even after changing the fuel tank, the car's fuel system is on strike, and the car has to be repaired - it is technically really good, so it is not worth returning to the seller, especially as it is in perfect order and has a new TA.
Third wheel. Gintaras Bagdonas is a retired military officer and former Director of Intelligence at the EU Military Staff. He has worked not only in Brussels but also in Afghanistan. A man with an impressive biography. He received the General's call during his tour.
One day a Ukrainian, Eldar, calls and asks if we can take the VW transporter to Lutsk, where it will be repaired and handed over to him at the front. He himself is at the front near Avdiivka, and he needs the car badly. I agree to help, even forgetting to ask what condition the car is in. When I pick up the car, I find out that there is a major fault. Despite this, I take it and promise to deliver it, and I answer the soldier's question as to how much it will cost: „Not your problem.“
I go ahead and do it, even though I know it's not very rational, but who is if not us?
Fourth wheel - Vytis Maleckas. He called the day before I left for Kaunas in the Zafira, and when I got the right-hand drive car, I already knew who was going to drive it to Ukraine. Mr Vytis has lived in Ireland for many years, so I suggested that we go with him. He agrees. I cannot even describe his life experiences in a few sentences, so I call him a visionary.
As the mission approaches, the number of cars and tyres to be delivered to the home front increases. Pickup trucks are well suited for this. „Adventika is donating a new 3D printer that will be very useful for drone manufacturers. The other one didn't fit in the crowded vehicles, so we will have to think about how to transport it.
Asta Martišiūtė donates 104 jars of honey. A friend of my brother's asks us to take the parcel to our mother in Poltava, and if it is not on the way, Nova Poshta will do it for us. Someone asks me to take a passenger, and I unthinkingly agree, although I regret it afterwards. The cars are loaded with things, and the Kaunas Foundation, based in the Church of the Resurrection, whose courtyard has become the main departure point.
Ričardas Grigas is a member of the Lithuanian Union of Journalists. „Freelancer from Kaišiadorys, travels regularly to Ukraine, has been on the frontline many times. His job is to immortalise and document our journey.
During the delivery of the Opel Zafira to Kaunas, Vilma Pelytė calls and asks if it is possible to take the donated SUV to Lithuanian soldiers in Kramatorsk. „Of course,“ I reply. We leave the Opel and head to Vilma's place, meeting her in person for the first time after almost two years of friendship on Facebook and the Lithuanian Legion's Telegram group. It seems that we have known each other for a hundred years.
The steering wheel is on the right. It's not sure if there will be a driver who is used to it.
Fifth wheel - Modestas Šlapšinskas. Vilnius resident, carpenter. As the construction season gets into full swing, he chooses to drive his own car to Ukraine, paying for his own fuel, to help carry the load and bring people home. It is not his first mission to Ukraine, and it will certainly not be his last.
When it is clear that the convoy will be long, Laurynas Baltrūnas-Oblius from the Lithuanian Legion calls. I won't go into a discussion about who he is and how everything is, but the request is clear - to drive the SUV to the Lithuanian instructor. The car is in Vilijampolė, fuel will be available (provided by Blue Yelow), so please deliver it to the base in Kaunas. The car has not been customs cleared, so I will drive it myself across the border, because there are risks, and I don't want to pass them on to others. Only later do I find out that Lukas is getting it for temporary use, as his Opel is broken, and Romeo, who was driving the pick-up, is receiving treatment for his injuries in Lithuania. We are driving a pick-up truck, so we will take more tyres and pack them with dry rations for the soldiers and sacks to make camouflage clothing for snipers.
Sixth wheel - Ričardas Savickas. Communication specialist and entrepreneur. He has been to Ukraine at least 30 times since the start of the large-scale invasion. He is an active participant in off-road rallies, so fate has brought him to me for a reason, because he drives the most problematic car - a VW Transporter, the engine of which is barely alive, and the Ukrainians themselves promise to repair it.
The mission starts at 6pm on 18 May. We leave Vilnius in two cars to return to Lithuania. The first crew is Modestas„ mitsubishi and the second is a toyota driven by Pavelis. We are gathering everyone from different parts of Vilnius and its region. We drive like herring in a barrel to Kaunas. In Kaunas, local volunteers, led by Tatyana Narkeviciene, are waiting for us, and instead of a pick-up truck destined for Lithuania, we will be driving a Nissan X-trail, which is also destined for Ukraine, but needs to be left for repairs in Warsaw. The Ford is left for another mission.
Žilvinas Svitojus is at the helm. A communication specialist, well-known blogger and volunteer, he has been living between Lithuania and Ukraine for the last two years. More than 36 missions!
We finish loading the parcels, the drivers check the lubricants, and we discuss the communication methods and route. The convoy is uncomfortable, with some cars moving faster and others slower. Stopping at the last Lithuanian petrol station near Kalvarija, we take a shorter and slower route via Bialystok. We have to reach the Ukrainian border even with a flat engine. Everyone gets to the petrol station without problems. A group photo of the mission participants, and we move on. With a day for the road and a night for sleep, we have to arrive in Lviv by curfew.
The first incident is in Poland, when the rover runs out of fuel. Modestas pulls the pickup truck driven by Vytis to a petrol station. When filling up to the top, the tank turns out to be defective - the fuel has leaked somewhere at the top. Uncritical. Without any major incidents, the first group reaches Zamoste, we, albeit slowly, also roll away, the folksvagen is already humming with pre-death sounds. There is still a little way to go, about 50 kilometres to the border. We pray for success. The car is consuming more oil than diesel, and the engine stalls just 20 kilometres from the border. We hang on with a very short rope and keep going until it gets dark. We hope the Poles will allow us to cross the border this way.
There are no queues, and we soon line up in a column at the border checkpoint. Just a few minutes before 8pm, and the border guard is shouting at us in undisguised anger for not stopping at the STOP line. She goes on grumbling and finds 4 FPV drones, luckily not at the start line, yet she won't let me and Vicky drive, as they don't have Irish licences. Miracle of miracles though, she realises they are valid throughout the EU. Richard is taken away by other officers because he looks like something. They laugh and let him go. We cross the border. The wheel of Aurimas's pick-up truck is beating more and more, and we don't quite understand what the Kaunas garage has been doing.
Customs procedures on the Ukrainian side take a bit longer, but it's only a matter of time, because nobody even looks at what we're carrying and trusts the declarations.
We leave the Volkswagen at the first petrol station, as it is difficult to get to Lviv at night, especially since the road is not ideal, and the distance to the accommodation is 67 kilometres, reaching it after midnight.
Kaunas volunteers. Ukrainian Tatyana Narkevichiene has been in the aid supply chain for ten years, since the Maidan Honor Revolution, when she was there to support the protesters. She sewed a Ukrainian flag for Mikhail Zhyznevsky, the first Ukrainian to die there, and covered his coffin with it.
Sunday morning. Although the scheduled departure from the hotel is not until 9:00, many of us are already on our feet. At least half of the group got to know each other during the crew changes yesterday, and the others will have to experience it on the second day of the trip.
John Ohman calls and says: "I'll be right there, I need to deliver something to Kyiv, because he and his people are already moving towards home. It's a pleasant surprise for the team, and we stop for a group photo with John and his volunteers.
We move on to unload textiles and canned goods at Nazar's nearby Lviv parking lot. We keep only the tyres with the rations, although space is still limited. The sun is shining and the day promises to be beautiful.
Kaunas volunteers. Agnė Jociūvienė. We met on the phone in the first winter after the start of the large-scale invasion, when she asked me to deliver a stove to Ukraine. A year later, we had shipped over 30 of them. Agnė works non-stop in aid mobilisation, and does it for a living. For Victory.
First stop in Rivne, where we need to leave the Lithuanian Legion car for Lukas. He works as an instructor somewhere near Lutsk, and on this occasion he was visiting his colleagues, so we are greeted not only by him, but also by his brothers in arms. The war is going on all over the country, and it is a mistake to think that only those in the trenches are heroes. The war is not just about trenches on the front line; it is also about training, logistics, air defence, special rescue operations and the construction of fortifications. A lot of everything.
My friend Oleksandr Alikseychuk, Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is also attending the meeting. He loves Lithuania very much, as even his T-shirt shows. He is a member of the inter-parliamentary group Lithuania-Ukraine. It is lunchtime, and he quickly finds a restaurant with the best borscht, not only makes a reservation but also pays the bill.
We drive on.
Kaunas volunteers. Mermaid. A sincere girl who not only volunteers but also works on her farm. I don't know when she works there, because every time I go to Kaunas, I see her in the basement of the Basilica with her donations.
Halfway between Rivne and Zhytomyr, Aurimas Navys, who is driving faster, calls. The wheel has burst. It was him, not the gimbal, and the salesman was right when he said the wheels were bad. In a message to the general chat he writes: no spare wheel. Hell, to be honest, I didn't even look when I bought it, so I write and ask the seller: how come?
We are probably the first to arrive. Aurimas and Ričards are waiting neatly at the bus stop. I crawl under the car, I know where the spare should be. No need to panic, just unscrew it. I've never done it in a car like this before, but together we manage. Black hands and just a little bit anxiety. The results of teamwork are excellent. We're moving on!
Kyiv, it's Vytis, he didn't stop at the bus stop, but was stopped by a blown front wheel.
We arrive first again, it's not worth it for the others. There is a spare, but there are also cookies, and it takes us a long time to find the key to unscrew them. I don't panic, but I call Vilma - maybe she knows? I do the first „search“, but I can't find the key. The second one is Pavel. Valio, there it is! Changing a wheel on a small SUV is nothing. It's evening, and Kyiv is near. There, at the hotel, the printer and the tyres sent by the Ukrainian embassy attaché are waiting. We are still in a hurry for our first meeting with our friend Anton, while the others stay rest. Tomorrow we will move on.
Kaunas volunteers. Vilma Pelytė. I knew her only from Facebook, and in real life she is just as small, but her work is the work of a Man with a capital letter. All Lithuanian soldiers worship her like a goddess because she works for them and in their name. Such respect is rare. She has never even been to Ukraine, because she works in the national defence system.
Day 3. At 8 a.m. soldiers from the 72nd Brigade arrive to pick up Tado's Opel, we have a short chat about the day's events, I tell them about the car See the story at. See you later.
Vytis completes his mission and goes home. And we move towards Kharkiv, where Raimondas Urvikis is waiting for the car, and the next delivery will be in Kramatorsk, because Lithuanian soldiers are coming to pick it up. On the way, Pavel takes REB, and I go to the centre of Poltava to deliver a small parcel from a Ukrainian woman living in Lithuania, for whom I found a home in the first days of the invasion. Her mother is unable to leave her two disabled parents behind, and living conditions are not good because the city is under constant enemy attack. We decide to have lunch in town. Gogol Street is still there. I have noticed that the more Russian world signs there are in cities, the more heavily they are bombed.
Kaunas volunteers. Aiva Maliauskienė. Before the large-scale invasion, she was doing her normal job. When was launched for war Life has turned 360 degrees and will never be the same again. A new life of boxes and road dust, cars with a plus sign on the windscreen and rear window.
Kharkiv is not far from Poltava. As we approach, signs of war become more and more visible. We hand over the car to Raimonds in the area of the factory destroyed by rockets. Finding the point is difficult, as GPS signals are suppressed almost all over the city. The soldiers' everyday life is simple: the yard is littered with wrecked cars, explosives and home-made missiles. A short tour. Conversations and general photographs, distribution of food rations. Time to go to the hostel, the day passes quickly and the rover still has to be handed over. In fact, it is dangerous to stay in one place for a long time, because there are so many collaborators in the city, and any group is a target and a threat. By. In the name of Tos!
Kaunas volunteers. Sigitas Maliauskas - former soldier, In the Lithuanian army since 1995. Missions in Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, training Sweden. Instructor in Ukraine at the start of the large-scale invasion. So many things that it is impossible to list, and his experience in the Iron Wolf Motorised Battalion made him a good „Furist“. For the sake of the Fatherland!
Navigation is not working in the city centre either, but it's easy to find a place to stay. There is not a single intact window on the facade of the building. The view is exactly the same around the building, as it is next to the mayor's office, which was hit by a missile. The apartments on the healthy side of the building are not bad, but someone can't find the air-conditioning remote control... How mundane. We go out for dinner down an empty and dark street. We are waiting for the Lithuanian soldiers. Raimondas sends a pickup truck loaded with photomines - it's on its way to the mission.
Lithuanian soldiers. A toddler, eight months at war. Before that, he worked in logistics, and now he is doing the same in Ukraine, but under war conditions.
We party until the inn closes. We talk about life before the war, about the reality here, about relationships with people, about bad roads in the dead of night, on the way to and from an assignment, about drones and the death they sow. And about a future without war. We all make plans, often dreams that are not destined to come true. We leave the car with food rations, with gifts from the homeland, with children's tricolour drawings stuck on them. In the name of the Motherland! Damn it, the children of Lithuania are drawing war! I'll see you again. Maybe tomorrow.
Lithuanian soldiers. Ronin, or simply Darius, has travelled halfway around the world, seen it all and, as if that wasn't enough, arrived in Ukraine in the first days of the invasion. The battles for Kiev, then Bakhmut, and in between, endless marches into the dark, into places from which many never return. He shows pictures of friends who are no longer there. The best of the best.
At 6:50am on the morning of the fourth day, everyone is woken up by an explosion that hits a logistics warehouse. Another group completes the mission and moves towards Kyiv. Before that, they visit a sub-front with Eldorado Butrim at Russia walls. Almost the very settlement of Lipcai.
And Žilvinas and I are going to Slaviansk to take „biscuits“ to the Kartvels. Our General Gintaras Bagdonas and Captain Aurimas Navis are also going together. There are always conscripts in the carriage, and the General looks like one, because he only checked our documents at one checkpoint, even though we crossed dozens of them.
Just after leaving, Darius calls - we forgot to put the car's documents, so we agree to meet in Kramatorsk. Leaving Kharkiv, it takes us a long time to find the road to Slaviansk, because the signs are all painted over and the GPS signal is suppressed. The ring road is like an obstacle course with block posts and fortifications under construction, there is little civilian traffic, and almost none as we approach Izium. Izium has been destroyed and there is no reconstruction work going on, the bridges have been blown up. Only stray dogs and military vehicles on the streets. We are driving towards Slaviansk as if we were driving on the surface of the moon, with minefields on both sides, with no signs of life, and in some places the remains of tanks or cars that have long since been smashed. There is no civilian transport at all.
Upon entering Slaviansk, we are greeted by „posters“ reminding us that this is Ukraine.
In the station square, we are met by Kartvelian guides, and everything around us is reminiscent of Kabul's bazaar. Sirens wail and cannons boom in the distance. We have a coffee and move towards the deployment site. Please stop by the lake, I want to have a swim.
The volunteer car has had an accident, but is still running, and we are trying to keep up. At the lake people few, and even then only military personnel. There's a shower because the lake water salty, it's a local dead sea.
Thunderous explosions. Sirens wail. They say they've flown to the beach too. No one has heard the sirens for a long time. We take a swim. We go to the soldiers.
Lithuanian soldiers. Raimondas Urvikis, who spent seventeen years in the Lithuanian army. He is fighting in Ukraine because he understands what lies ahead if we do not stop the enemy. His job is to drive, and he does it well.
A.a. Tadas served with him and escorted him on the mission. In the name of Tos.
We follow a battered Opel through a forest full of military vehicles. It's a training ground on the frontline and also a military camp. We bring food and a piece of Lithuania. The Kartvelian commander is from occupied Abkhazia, he is a sergeant for life and has been at war for 30 years. We talk and take photos in front of the buildings of the Soviet farm. A motorbike crashes as it passes by. A soldier! All right, he's all right. Where did you come from? He answers in Spanish: Colombia.
Time to go. We'll be back.
On the way, we stop at a garage where soldiers repair their cars. The foreman asks for an engine for the same Rover we brought, the same one with Lithuanian plates. At least a third of the cars on the front have the latter.
We need a lot of machines, much more than we can imagine living in Lithuania. I will try to find such an engine. Remind me, because I may forget. We drive on.
Lithuanian journalist Eldorado Butrimas. A „freelancer“ whose articles are picked up by LRT. He used to work for Lietuvos rytas, speaks Estonian because he worked in Estonia. He has worked even more in Poland, so he still receives many calls from there, telling Poles about what is happening in Ukraine and in Kharkiv, where he has been living for the last two years.
Kramatorsk welcomes you not only with its ruined factory buildings, but also with beautifully mowed lawns and a tidy and lifeless town square.
Darius arrives with a Hungarian soldier, who has been in the war like him since the early days. I took a picture with him, promising not to post it on social networks, because his family is still in Belarus. He recommends a meal at a nearby inn, so we say goodbye and go there. On the terrace outside, it's all soldiers. When you ask for a beer, the waitress angrily offers a non-alcoholic one - a dry law in the whole Donetsk region. The food is cheap and quite good, despite the waitress's bad mood. Who knows what happened, but with sirens wailing and guns echoing, a smile would look strange. This is not a US-made film.
After finishing my meal, I am standing in the street and a young man comes and smiles and says hello - he recognised me. He's seen you somewhere, maybe a taxi driver? I reply that I am from Vilnius. He laughs and thanks me for the anti-humanist manifesto outside the Russian Embassy. He really recognised me. Not everyone remembers the faces, but the news has spread widely. Great,„ says the soldier from Chernihiv. A short conversation, the message went on about an “anti-humanist" speaking Ukrainian.
The way back will be a bit boring, and there are other things to do in Kiev. Another overnight in Kharkiv, with sirens and explosions.
Eighth wheel. Valdas Bartkevičius. Father of four children. Former emigrant. Somewhat entrepreneur and activist. Dreamer and idealist. He loves to drive not because he has read Jack Kerouac's „On the Road“, but because the road is an emotion that is otherwise impossible to catch. It's people meeting for the last time. It is life.
