UKRAINKA, Ukraine – The cyborgs of Donetsk Airport earned fame and gratitude for their brave defense of Ukrainian sovereignty. Yet there are others, little known in quieter roles, who also toil in ways most of us would not.
Imagine making 35 trips to the war in Ukraine’s east – once a week every week since early last June — dodging shells and small-arms fire and passing numerous military checkpoints.
A number of Kyiv volunteers hauling food, clothing and medicines to the soldiers at the front have been doing just that, and among them is Valerii Subota.
Soft-spoken and 48, a father and Kyiv souvenir shop owner who likes a good laugh and enjoys a smoke, Subota has made about 35 round trips of 1,400-kilometer to supply the troops defending the nation against Russian forces. His last one put him in a hospital in Ukrainka near Kyiv with a concussion and neck injury after his van hit an icy patch and rolled in a ditch.
He and his volunteer colleague Sergey Golub, 46, who has made 22 trips, are both EuroMaidan veterans. They had delivered food and clothing to battalions at Debaltseve when they crashed on their way home about 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 27. With them were two refugee women and a boy of 10 they were helping flee from the fighting, plus a soldier going home on leave who was driving at the time.
The boy suffered a broken collarbone while Golub, wearing a seat belt, and the women emerged unscathed.
“Yes, I feel lucky to have escaped more serious injury” in the backseat, Subota says, chuckling that his hard head dented the roof. The van flipped and landed on its wheels.
The accident was nobody’s fault, but “just bad luck” according to police.
Other volunteers have stepped up with 9,000 hryvnias in donations to help pay for the van’s repairs, estimated at 15,000. The red Opel (who a friend calls a “noble and valiant steed”) was not insured. Subota stressed he is not asking for money. He shuns publicity and had to be talked into agreeing to this article. But the fact is he also has to pay for hospital medicines. And once he and the van are fixed, he plans to resume the work.
“The war is not over,” he said. “Even the soldiers who are injured and recover return to the front. It is my duty as a volunteer to help the soldiers.”
It’s hard to say how much money Subota has spent on diesel fuel and other expenses, but one thing is certain: hundreds of soldiers have eaten good meals, stayed warm and had medicines because of donated supplies he has driven in. Having traveled with him twice, this reporter has seen their gratitude.
Born in Moscow to Ukrainian parents, the father of grown children (and four dogs and a cat) said he started doing the trips after being invited to by friends he met in the EuroMaidan protests last winter. A van and driver were needed and Subota realized the government couldn’t supply everything the soldiers require. After the first trip he was hooked.
He is aware of groups that are profiting from providing supplies, but refused to join. He is also aware that civilian access to a war zone is a rarity, and may not last forever.
Despite the shelling and small-arms fire, nothing has hit his van yet, touch wood.
And what does his wife think of his work?
“She supports me and helps me. She now runs the business.”
Brad Bird is a Canadian journalist who has returned to Ukraine for a second round of reporting on Russia’s war against the nation. His friend and blogger Ievgenii Sinielnikov interpreted for this story.
