We started our last day by visiting a drone Pilot Program in Uzhhorod to present them with 30 Mavic reconnaissance drones purchased by DirectAidForUkraine.org for 100,000 Euros. The Drone Pilot program is run by a Ukrainian university professor Chandor Fegyir who joined the army when the Russians invaded. After spending 240 days on the front line he has become a celebrated Ukrainian drone fighter. The donated drones will be used to train drone pilots and also to provide reconnaissance support on the front line. Chandor gave us an impressive demonstration of the various drones they used and how they were deployed in the field. He explained how they trained soldiers to be trainers in drone piloting.
He opened the drone pilot training program together with a good friend as they were eager to pass on the skills that they had acquired at the front to soldiers who would then train others. Poignantly, we were to learn later that this friend had been killed in combat in 2023.
He explained how the reconnaissance drones that we had given them would be used to provide the troops of 12 brigades with advance warning of Russian attacks across 50 kilometers of the front line. It is also envisaged that these drones would play an important and highly effective role in mine clearance after the war by greatly mitigating against the risks involved to personnel in carrying out the clearance.
In the afternoon we accompanied Chandor Fegyir to Uzhhorod cemetery to pay our respects to the fallen at the War Graves section. The sight is so tragic, hundreds of fresh graves from Putin’s war festooned with Ukrainian flags blowing gently in the wind.
This was a very moving occasion in many ways. Members of our group who had been there on the last trip in January were greatly saddened to see so many new graves since the previous visit 8 months ago, the cost of this war is so high.
Chandor then led us on a tour of the graves, pausing at those with whom he had served or been a friend of: there were far too many. He gave us a moving description of each of them in turn. In one case he drew our attention to the fact that one group of headstones all bore the same date. This was a result of a single drone strike that killed seven soldiers from his battalion.
This cemetery is always our last stop before we cross the border back into the EU, it’s both incredibly moving and incredibly motivating for us. Moving to see such senseless loss of life, knowing the consequences that will be felt by the thousands of wives and children left behind.
Motivating because we know that our donations will both help the soldiers of this region survive this war and also help Ukraine recover from the senseless destruction. It’s that motivation that drives us to return again in 2025 and to hope that the west will wake up and give Ukraine the tools they need to end Putin’s War.
PS: this last picture we got on our Journey back to Austin, the first Mavic reconnaissance drones have reached the front in Poklovsk, where the fiercest fighting is taking place right now as the Russian’s seek to take the city, after 2 years of trying
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