Life on the frontline: 'British fighters with selfie sticks are idiots' in Ukraine

Jack Ross is a British volunteer aid worker helping to deliver supplies to the Ukrainian front line. He and the other members of the British-led charity brave countless dangers as they travel along bombed-out roads.

En route, he meets 'Nug', a British security advisor whose job is to extract Ukrainian civilians from dangerous situations. He uses military strategies and intelligence to transport people over the border to safety.

'Nug' says there are different types of British fighters on the Ukraine frontline. The ones he respects prioritise combat, unconcerned about social media.

He ridicules the 'fools' who've travelled to warzones for all the wrong reasons. "All these clowns getting attention on the internet are idiots," he says. Adding, "Clowns with selfie sticks instead of covering their arcs."

Jack and his team head to Vinnytsia to give aid to a Down syndrome charity. He says his brother has Down syndrome, and helping this vulnerable community amid war in Ukraine is a cause close this his heart. Jack fought back tears as they visited the memorial of a four-year-old girl with Down syndrome, tragically killed by Russian shelling.

Vans Without Borders Crowdfunder link: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/vans-without-borders---saving-ukrainian-lives

As the Vans Without Border team's stint in Ukraine draws to a close, they stop at an army barracks to talk to Colonel Pavlo Palisa of the 5th Assault Regiment.

Colonel Palisa has granted the team checkpoint access documentation in Ukraine for their aid work. Speaking of family life during the war, the Colonel says his wife is also in the army fighting on the frontline.

Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, he says it's no longer unusual for women to join men in the trenches. "Sometimes I can say that they’re doing their job even better than men," he says.

Jack and his team head back to the UK after this visit due to return for the next aid drops in November.

Read related articles: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/08/20/life-frontline-volunteers-risk-lives-help-soldiers-civilians/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/08/27/chance-meeting-satan-daily-danger-life-road-british-aid-volunteers/

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