A voice from Ukraine – new weekly column

Jonathan Baynard is an Omaghman who has been in Ukraine since shortly after the bloody conflict began on February 24, 2022.

When we spoke with Jonathan in July he was stationed in Kyiv where he was risking his life as an EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) volunteer, detecting and disposing of Russian bombs.

At that time he told us, “I may be one step away from death, but doing nothing is not an option.”

But in the two months which have elapsed since our first conversation, Jonathan’s role has evolved into an even more direct and dangerous one, playing a part in the evacuation of civilians from besieged towns and cities in the north east of the country.

The former Omagh Integrated College pupil has agreed to diary his life in Ukraine for the readers of the UlsterHerald. This week you’ll find out how Jonathan has been part of a team that kept clear safe passageways in and out of Russian occupied areas, in order to rescue trapped civilians, people who the war has made hostages in their own homes.

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The Russian propaganda machine

Last week I had the surreal experience of becoming a protagonist in a Russian propaganda video.

As part of the Russian state’s attempts to smear any and all who are cooperating with the Ukrainians, the team and I were labeled neo-nazis and our faces appeared on Russian television. It was one of the most bizzare feelings I’ve ever had.

Clearing and evacuating

We were almost hit by a heavy artillery the other day as we evacuated people from Soledar.

I don’t really remember hearing the whistle, but remember the bang, and a house just exploded in front of us.

The Russian Army soldiers who were trying to hit our vehicles had fired a bit too early.

I was shoulder to shoulder with people who had served before, many of them in Afghanistan and Iraq and se commented that this was much more intense than what the Taliban were throwing at them.

When something like that happens you have that fight or flight thing. You needed to go to the toilet. You realise, “God, that was pretty close”.

But when you get out of the contact line and see the kids you got out, it all hits home.

“Yes,” you think to yourself, “it was worth putting my life at risk for theirs, because their lives are just as important as anyone else’s.”

That little girl

That little blonde-haired girl you see in the photograph was one of the 311 people we ferried out of Soledar (North East Ukraine).

She came out of her house with her mother. They were all distraught. For weeks they have been living with no electricity, no water, no amenities.

I think her story is representative of a lot of people from that same area.This war has traumatised a whole generation of kids

Russian cluster munitions

We became involved in that operation when we were invited down by a Ukrainian evacuation team to help keep clear the roads of Russian laid cluster munitions and get people out in our vehicles.

They fire things called butterfly mines which have no fragmentation, are about the size of a cigarette, and if you drive over them they will take out your car. They are dropped in rocket style canisters and pollute the area.

These things were blocking supplies going into the town and also blocking people from leaving.

We have been coming under all sorts of fire but it is a risk that I was willing to take for those kids – it is worth it, everything is worth it.

The road ahead

There might be a stalemate on the front at the moment but the Ukrainians are still holding the line and in some cases retaking towns that had fell a few months ago.

In the south right now there is a counter offensive, and if the Ukrainians manage to take back Kherson, we will have seen a big turning point in the war before the winter hits, and that just looks good for the Ukrainians.