Highlands for Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Ukrainian](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg)
Ukrainian soldiers, whose identities are obscured for security reasons, read the messages on Buzzer the Nissan. Picture: Danny Ward.<\/p>\n
Now back home, Danny recounted the scenes of destruction he witnessed in the east of the country where he had to take a detour because the main highway was too dangerous to travel.<\/p>\n
He also spoke of his encounters with battle-hardened soldiers plus his admiration of the resilience of the Ukrainian people as they continue to come under sustained Russian attack.<\/p>\n
Scenes of destruction in Ukraine. Picture: Danny Ward.<\/p>\n
He recalled how message-covered Buzzer captured people\u2019s attention as it was driven on its 2800-mile journey across Europe and Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt got people\u2019s heads turning,\u201d Danny said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could see people looking out of their car windows, or when I turned up in a car park, people would look.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got to the border with Ukraine, they were pointing at Buzzer from passport control.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely what I wanted to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Message-covered Buzzer the Nissan caught people’s attention during its journey. Picture: Danny Ward.<\/p>\n
His first stop in Ukraine was Sheptytskyi near Lviv where he delivered Smart boards on behalf of Highlands for Ukraine to the Lena Foundation for distribution for educational purposes.<\/p>\n
After spending the night in a nearby hotel, Danny pressed on to Poltava in preparation for the final leg to Kramatorsk, joining a contact on the way to guide him along a safer route along the back roads as the main route – the Izyum to Sloviansk highway – was too dangerous..<\/p>\n
\u201cThe previous weekend, there had been a number of drone attacks,\u201d Danny explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 48 hours, 17 vehicles were hit on that stretch of highway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe drove through the back roads which were quite rough and bombed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were not pleasant roads to drive on but were the safest roads.\u201d<\/p>\n
Car mechanic Danny Ward on his way to the frontline. Picture: Danny Ward.<\/p>\n
Along the way, he met the unit leader 21st Battalion, Fire Support Company of the 3rd Army Corps based around Kharkiv which has come under heavy attack.<\/p>\n
When he finally reached Kramatorsk, members of the 54th Assault Brigade were awaiting his arrival.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were waiting for us basically to get operational with Buzzer,\u201d Danny said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey needed to get out. They were gone in a short period of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are a drone team who are fighting and destroying the Russian equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The aftermath of a Russian attack. Picture: Danny Ward.<\/p>\n
In a meaningful gesture of gratitude for the delivery of Buzzer and the messages from the people of the Highlands, the soldiers presented Danny with a collection of flags and a small model tank.<\/p>\n
In the short time he spent in the Kramatorsk area, he noticed it still appeared busy but felt the situation was more dangerous and volatile than previously.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is still a lot of damage wherever you look around Kramatorsk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever street you were in, windows were boarded up and buildings damaged.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he said the people were still carrying on with their lives.<\/p>\n
Danny Ward meets Ukrainian soldiers grateful for the support of people in the Highlands. Picture: Danny Ward.<\/p>\n
During his train journey back to Lviv, he shared a compartment with three Ukrainian soldiers heading back home from their positions at the front.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could see in the eyes of the young soldiers that the train journey was not a buoyant one,\u201d he reflected.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could see the stress in their eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite language barriers, they managed to communicate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen all three got off at their station, they made a point of shaking my hand and saying thank you which is pretty humbling when you consider the work they are putting in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Delivering much-needed aid to animals caught up in the impact of the war in Ukraine. Picture: Danny Ward.<\/p>\n
Buzzer will be used as part of the Ukrainains\u2019 fight for freedom and peace by delivering supplies and evacuating the wounded.<\/p>\n
Despite the dangers, Danny hopes to return to Ukraine next year to deliver another badly-needed vehicle – possibly a VW Transporter.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the cars do not last long on the frontline due to drone attacks and constant shelling plus bad roads and huge distances mean an average car lasts just a few months.<\/p>\n
Having dug deeply into his own pockets to help fund the latest one, he hopes Highland people and firms will give their support to deliver a third one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are desperately needed,\u201d Danny added.<\/p>\n
Danny has a Latvian-born wife, Agita, a stepdaughter, Nanija, and a daughter, Billie.<\/p>\n
Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here<\/b><\/a> to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Car mechanic Danny Ward has delivered humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The soldiers’ identities are obscured for security reasons.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,609,1501,657,5900],"class_list":{"0":"post-459493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-human-interest","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-ukraine","13":"tag-update-me"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115285627189090308","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}