Retired ambassador cycles across America for Ukraine war efforts | Features

Kent was an ambassador to Estonia, a country that took in many Ukrainian war refugees. He also has experience in United States and Ukrainian relations. Kent said he served in Ukraine twice as a diplomat.

“There’s a network of activists globally who irreverently call themselves ‘NAFO,’ the North Atlantic Fellows Organization,” Kent said.

Kent said NAFO counters Russian propaganda and disinformation about the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war and tries to spread the truth about Ukrainian history. Kent said he recommends people read the work of journalists Illia Ponomarenko, Yaroslav Trofimov and Chris Miller to learn accurate information about the war.

NAFO also crowd sources for equipment for the Ukrainian frontline units. Kent said these are primarily vehicles like pickup trucks retrofitted with features like mud tires and drone detection.

“I found that a good fit to join that network, and a lot of the activists are in the United States, but it’s global,” Kent said. “I talked to them and we agreed that we would collaborate and I would cycle across America on the TransAmerican Bike Trail and make it a ride for Ukraine and crowd source and raise money for trucks.”

Donations raised by Kent’s Ride4Ukraine will go toward two trucks and a drone bus. Kent said the organization delivered over 750 trucks since February 2022, when the wider invasion of Ukraine took place.

“What they do is talk to the Ukrainian units to ask what they need, and they try to specialize retrofitting,” Kent said. “They’re looking for used trucks and then they retrofit them. Mainly that’s used for logistics. That can be bringing in supplies or pulling the wounded out of the frontline units.”

Kent said his fundraising goal is $71,000. So far, Ride4Ukraine has raised $46,000.

“We’re about almost two-thirds of the way to our goal, not quite two-thirds of the way on the TransAmerican Bike Trail,” Kent said.

While biking across America along with his wife, Velida, and their son, Georgiy, Kent explored of his Kansas roots. Kent said this trip was his first time in Kansas.

“Three of my triple-great grandfathers homesteaded between 1870 and 1873, two of them in Republic County near Belleville and the third out about 25 miles from Hays,” Kent said. “And then my great-great grandmother and great-great grandfather, separate homesteads. I visited three of those four homesteads this week.”

Kent said he found a building constructed by his great-great-great grandfather in 1883, with the year scratched onto a limestone brick. His family moved out of Kansas in the late 1920s.

“For me, it’s fun not only learning history, but family history,” Kent said. “My great-grandfather got his master’s degree and taught in Manhattan. He was there from 1911 to 1920, so I swung by Delaware Street and saw the house where my grandfather grew up from 1901 to 1920.”

Kent said he remembered his grandfather speaking about Hays, Belleville and Manhattan. Finally, he had a chance to explore those communities, going off the TransAmerican Bike Trail toward Hays while traveling through Kansas.

Kent said one of the biggest challenges to the journey is safety while cycling on the road next to vehicles. He said Kansas has good roads compared to some other states. Highlights of the trip so far were seeing the natural beauty of the country, from Yellowstone, Wind River Valley and the Flint Hills, and also talking to people along the way about his journey and its cause.

“Every day, we have these conversations with people we meet along the way,” Kent said. “I think it’s fascinating to hear what is on people’s minds. The U.S. is a big country and we’ve already hit lots of different regions. Then to have conversations with different people about why we’re cycling across, which has to do with seeing the United States and also trying to help Ukraine, we’ve talked to probably a couple hundred people over the past 50 days.”