St Andrews to the Frontline: A Student Journey to Ukraine

“I find myself, since having left Ukraine, unable to think about anything else. The people I met, the personal stories that they shared, and interacting with soldiers and people who are going through a lot, it really sticks with you,” said Brody Wilkes, a second-year student studying Modern History, who spent 23 to 27 October on a journey in a four-by-four vehicle from the UK to Ukraine, so it could be used by first responders on the frontlines. 

Originally from Los Angeles, Wilkes has a strong interest in military history and politics. Since the war started, he’s always been very passionate about understanding the conflict. Wilkes keeps up to date on battlefield updates and is an avid reader of news outlets that analyse different ongoing conflicts. “Advances, retreats […] there's a lot of really, really good journalists that cover everything in real time, doing daily updates,” he said. 

“It's been an issue that I've been wanting to get involved in for a few years now,” said Wilkes. He worked with an organisation called Driving Ukraine. “It presented the perfect opportunity for me. It checked all the right boxes,” said Wilkes. Driving Ukraine is a non-profit that provides vehicles to combat medics working on the frontlines. They aid in evacuating wounded soldiers, as well as regular army units that require new equipment, either for combat casualty evacuations or supplies transport. 

He started the journey from Oxfordshire, waking up at 6am on Thursday, and was on the road by 7:30am. They ended up in Dortmund, Germany, after their first day of driving. The next morning, they went from Dortmund to Katowice, Poland. And, on the third day of the mission, they drove from Katowice across the border to Lviv, the largest city in Western Ukraine. 

“It was a short time in the country,” Wilkes explained. He had to catch a flight back to the UK to resume his studies. Upon arrival, Wilkes was greeted with ceremonies for the volunteers. He visited the city centre and officially dropped off the vehicles. He hopes to return and stay longer next time. “It's very strange,” he said. “I have gone from a war zone, for lack of a better term, to St Andrews, the Bubble.”

Even before arriving at university, Wilkes journaled that he was going to go to Ukraine on a humanitarian aid mission. “I signed it, dated it, and it was nice to bring that to reality,” he said. “Coming to school in Scotland, I'm in a unique position to be able to help in this specific issue with Ukraine.” 

The University even aided Wilkes through its proximity to the conflict, but also with the community's moral ethos. “[St Andrews] attracts a very worldly, international student body that's curious and wants to help […] There's just a lot more openness for adventure.”

“I would say, do it. I would say do it sooner rather than later,” said Wilkes, hoping to encourage his peers. He described the chance to make a tangible difference and meet the people whose lives you are changing. “To see how gracious they are and grateful is just extremely humbling and rewarding.” 

Upon arrival in Lviv, all the vehicles are driven to a workshop, where they are fixed up and prepared for the frontline. “What struck me was that as soon as we arrived, right when we had gotten out of the cars, a few of the Ukrainian soldiers immediately got in one of the trucks and started driving it,” Wilkes described. “They were saying that, ‘We must return to our comrades in the East.’ They didn't strip the stickers off that we put on the sides. They didn't wait for it to be painted. They just started driving, which was really powerful. It speaks to just the urgency of the situation and the need that they have.”

He described the garage as a fast-paced environment where they started painting the vans immediately. “They removed stickers and got the base layer of matte painted on within like, 30 minutes to an hour. They literally work through the night, and we'll finish having trucks camouflaged in like three hours of work.” 

Driving Ukraine pairs two people to a vehicle. Together, they need to raise at least £5000 to make the journey possible. Wilkes raised funds through family, friends, and other community members. “I was just overwhelmed with the support and donations and outpouring of love,” he said. “From my friends, my family, and even people whom I'd never met.” 

Wilkes was paired with a man named Owen Davies, a Welshman who now lives in London. Most of the volunteers on his trip were retired British farmers. Wilkes was the only American and one of two young adults involved. Although it didn’t matter, he still felt it was very inclusive, calling it “one of the greatest communities of people whom I've had the pleasure of encountering.” Connected through a shared sense of humanity, “the bonds you form over just a few days are very strong,” Wilkes remembered. He made “lifelong friends within just a few days.” 

On Wilkes’s convoy, many volunteers had made the journey before. “They were saying, ‘Once you do it once, you will not want to stop, you will want to keep coming back and keep helping,’” he recalled. “And yeah, I definitely feel like that myself.” He plans on doing another convoy with the group in January.

Crossing the border from Poland into Ukraine, Wilkes and his volunteer cohort were stuck waiting in line for three and a half hours. “Polish customs worked very, very [slowly],” he said. “They were checking under the bonnet of every single vehicle that crossed.” On the way back, [checks] were even more stringent and methodical,” he said. “They were individually searching everyone’s bag [...] It’s the most difficult border crossing system I’ve ever encountered. 

In Lviv, Wilkes and his group of volunteers visited the Ukrainian War Cemetery — Field of Mars. “You walk around and there are guys born in 2006 — my age, my year. To see these guys who have died, you can’t wrap your head around it,” he said. The conscription age in Ukraine is 25; these young men who have died have been volunteers who feel a need to protect their homes. “All the volunteers were telling me, ‘every time we come back, it gets bigger,” Wilkes said. “I was lucky. We didn't get [an air strike] when I was there. But some of the volunteers who stayed sent videos of the air raid alarms going off. And it is very scary to hear them, because they echo throughout the whole city, and it's very surreal.”

Wilkes described Ukraine as a double-edged sword: “On one hand, you're struck by how regular life seems. Everyone is going about their daily business. But then, on the other hand, there are constant reminders that you're in a country at war.” 

“It is the greatest thing I've ever done,” he said, “and there are no words to describe how you will feel once you've done it.” 

Illustration by Sandra Palazuelos Garcia