Dear {{First Name | Reader}},

It’s that “back to school” feeling time and I’m writing from my old stomping ground Berlin, collecting donated computers, buying an SUV for the Kharkiv front, and getting packed up to start the long drive to Kyiv tomorrow at 4AM. Before I hit the road, here’s a little bit of what I was up to over the summer, how I’m seeing the situation on the ground, and what I’m working on next.

You might remember from the last update that we shipped a truckload of donated fitness and rehabilitation equipment from Dublin to Dnipro. Well, we did it again. This time, we fully equipped the 3rd Assault Brigade’s wounded troops’ rehabilitation centre in Izium, plus sent some other necessities—and a whole lot of toys for the kids still living in frontline areas.

Here’s a partial list of what was in the truck:

This is going really well—with Misneach Ukraine in Dublin we have a great partner with basically unlimited supply of donated items. That, combined with a bit of our cash and a lot of our local knowledge about where the need is in Ukraine, it’s a match made in heaven.

My goal is to set up two more wounded soldiers’ rehabilitation centres before Christmas, for a total of four this year. 🦾

Speaking of the 3rd Assault Brigade—we are seed supporters of its new battlefield innovation initiative called Snake Island Institute. As Snake Island puts it:

“Across Ukraine, frustration is growing among combat units over the slow pace of defense tech development by civilian companies detached from frontline realities. A growing number of soldiers are taking matters into their own hands — designing, testing, and deploying custom solutions from the ground up.”

I served as a judge for Snake Island’s inaugural soldier-originated battlefield innovations and helped select the recipients of its first funding. Snake Island Institute and my Czech-based NGO Invest in Bravery are now close partners, with a co-hosted event coming up on September 25 in Lviv.

The foundation now has a “fleet” of two old SUVs, which we bought for €5,000 each in Vienna. Austria is a great place to buy old vehicles like this for two reasons: one, they must be inspected every single year so even very old vehicles tend to be in good shape; and two, because resale prices are quite low on these things as insurance, fuel, and motor tax favour more efficient vehicles. As a charitable foundation, we can bring these into Ukraine tax- and duty-free. Annual insurance on each of them costs about €100 (C$162), if you can believe it. Yes, I said annual. 🙂

These vehicles will be used by myself and volunteers to crisscross the country making deliveries and taking part in everything from defensetech conferences to special operations.

2004 Mercedes-Benz ML400

2010 Volkswagen Tiguan

Pickup truck #1: drone team

One of the drone teams we support had a close call with their pickup truck, which took a direct hit (no dead or wounded, thankfully). While it’s in the shop getting fixed up we’re going to take the opportunity to expand their capabilities by supplying another pickup truck. I will aim to source it from our friends in the UK at Driving Ukraine, as they get them very cheaply and bring them in through convoys.

Pickup truck #2: 2nd Battalion of 3rd Assault Brigade

Once again, our friends at the 3rd Assault Brigade come into the picture. They’re doing much of the heaviest lifting holding the line against the disorganized but numerous russian attacks around Pokrovsk. This means their medevac vehicles are also working overtime. The combat medic “Rem” gave us a little tour of what she’s working with and asked if we could help with a replacement pickup, as theirs is no longer reliable. So I’m on the case, and will try to buy this through our friends at Driving Ukraine.

My favourite thing to do is to get on the road and make deliveries myself, catch up with the people we’re supporting, and create new connections across geographies and sectors. Last month I put on my army chaplain uniform and headed East with a car full of tourniquets, hemostatic bandages, chest seals, drone jammers, and much more.

Here’s a little thank you video from my good pal Max from Austria, who runs a medevac team in the Pokrovsk direction.

For the third time, I brought together a mix of some of my favourite “doers” at a favourite Crimean restaurant in Kyiv. At each of these mixer dinners I have only one formal part of the program: everyone goes around the table and introduces themselves and says two things: what they can offer, and what they need. This has been super effective as a way to cross-pollinate different networks of people and every time leads to great new cooperations.

Here’s what I wrote about it in my post on LinkedIn:

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As ever, I am struck by the gap between the headlines and what I see and hear on the ground. Here are a few videos, photos I thought may fill a few gaps in the regular coverage:

I still can’t believe how horrible a job media outlets like New York Times, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, etc. cover this war. It’s sound byte headlines almost always focused on things that go boom. The front line and the aerial attacks on Ukrainians civilians is only one small part of the picture. I maintain that the war will be won as a result of Ukraine holding the line while russia burns itself out in every possible way domestically. To hear the deeper story, like this one, here’s where I suggest looking:

I’ll cross the border back into Ukraine tomorrow and have a busy fall ahead of me. Here are some of my priorities:

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All the best,

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