End of the road…?

Apologies about my absence last week. I was in Latvia, and circumstances made it impossible to get anything written.

In fact, I am still in Latvia. However, this week, I have found a writing window.

Let me tell you what I am doing here. It is pretty bleak. It looks like my mission in Ukraine could be coming to an end.

The expedition

FIRSTLY, I will give you the primary reason that I am here in Latvia.

We (Legenda) have an expedition at the end of this month. I am out early to prepare for it.

Legenda’s Latvia organsiation was formed in 1999, and we recover around 1,000 WW2 soldiers every year, plus a huge amount of unexploded ordinance.

During an expediation like this one, we usually recover from 300 to 400 soldiers, and plenty of bombs and missiles.

Altogether, we have recovered over 23,0000 soldiers.

On Saturday, for example, we went out to test the site and found a German soldier from WW1 lying alongside his adjutant.

A big talk

HOWEVER, our work in Ukraine is going to dominate our AGM, which will be held in the coming days.

The conversation we will be having is one I hoped would never take place.

We are going to sit down and go through how much we have spent in Ukraine, with the ultimate aim of figuring out one basic, fundamental question: Is our
current position in Ukraine as dire as it seems?

It is increasingly looking like we have hit the end of the road in Ukraine. Personally, I cannot afford to do it anymore.

A depressing transition

I have handed the EOD team over to the government, who are now keeping them in operation.

I have been in Ukraine for one year, and it is no longer sustainable.

If I continue doing what I have been doing, I am on course to become a refugee.

To people at home, that probably jars. We tend not to think that Irish people cannot become refugees. However, as a penniless foreigner in the middle of a warzone, that is what I would become.

So, in essence, I have had to pull the pin on a lot of stuff, and it is incredibly depressing.

However, I have done my bit, and my conscience is clean.

We have done good work and I wish we could keep doing it.

However, there just aren’t not enough donations to keep us going.

War commentary

IT seems that in Bakhmut, the Ukrainians are pushing on the flanks, and that will likely lead to the city being encircled, in the long run.

But let’s see.

Everyone is talking about the Ukrainian counter-offensive – they have the equipment, they have the training – but when are they actually going to pull it off?

However, the UK have donated shadow missiles to Ukraine, giving them the capability of reaching all of the occupied territories of their own country with long-range cruise missiles.