Ukraine 242 Podcast

The conflict in Ukraine is referred to by many on social media as a Crowd Funded War. Mark J. Lindquist is an American air force veteran who now lives in Kyiv Ukraine and exemplifies this. He is one of numerous independent and self-funded volunteers who run small, nimble organizations and cooperate in a network to give life-saving assistance to Ukrainian civilians and soldiers. They go to places near the front and do what large nonprofit organizations cannot. These small volunteer groups have become a vital life-saving part of the Ukrainian defense struggle.Mark delivers clothes, equipment, and other life-saving necessities to the frontlines in the Donbas Region. He is a fundraiser for Ukrainian volunteer groups with his tax-exempt nonprofit organization called The A-Team. He is also a musician, entertainer, and social media influencer and during this conversation, he describes how he has used those talents towards moments of relief from war, for Ukrainians.This program is the second of two interviews with Mark.

The conflict in Ukraine is referred to by many on social media as a Crowd Funded War. Mark J. Lindquist, an American veteran now living in Kyiv Ukraine, exemplifies this. He founded a 501(3) called The A-Team and, in cooperation with other independent volunteer fundraisers for Ukraine, runs his small, nimble non-profit that plays a pivotal role in supplying desperately needed resources for both Ukrainian soldiers and citizens. Mark J. Lindquist describes the logistical and moral problems involved in donating money to Ukraine. Mark explains the difficulties with sending gear from the United States due to politics and war profiteers.Lindquist, who is also a musician and entertainer, describes, in this show, his recent successful  "40 Hour March" to raise money for a Veterans' home in Ukraine, where he marched in Fargo North Dakota.Lindquist was an orphan from Seoul, South Korea, adopted by a family in Minnesota. He went on to serve in the Air Force honorably at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii and is part of a world touring entertainment unit called Tops in Blue. He feels his service to the US and now Ukraine is an expression of his appreciation for the help and gift of freedom he was given.

Part II of my interview with the astonishing Sarah Ashton Cirillo: combat medic in the AFU, journalist and the only woman in the trenches at Zero Line.

Sarah Ashton-Cirillo also known as Sarah Ashton and Sarah Cirillo is an American journalist who enlisted as a combat medic in the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War, having previously worked as a war correspondent in that conflict. A self-described "recovering political operative"[9] from Las Vegas, Nevada, she was active in Nevada politics from 2020 to 2021, including an abortive run for Las Vegas City Council.Ashton-Cirillo drew national media attention in 2021 when she released records of conversations from her time working with Republican candidates, documenting efforts to recruit members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group, for a planned "Brooks Brothers Riot" (alluding to the 2000 demonstration)[10] as part of efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 United States presidential election. In 2022, she leaked a text exchange with the Republican nominee for Nevada Attorney General, which became a key controversy in that election.Starting in March 2022, Ashton-Cirillo reported on the Russian invasion of Ukraine from Kharkiv, Ukraine, primarily for LGBTQ Nation, often writing about the war's effect on LGBTQ people. A trans woman, she is thought to have been the first openly transgender war correspondent and the only transgender journalist covering the invasion. In Kharkiv, she worked closely with the Ukrainian military and police, and was appointed by the mayor of Zolochiv, Kharkiv Oblast, as a representative to advocate with aid groups. After witnessing and reporting on the October 2022 Kyiv missile strikes—including posting a controversial widely-shared video that showed a dead body—she resigned from LGBTQ Nation to become a combat medic in Ukraine's Noman Çelebicihan Battalion, a Crimean Tatar unit. In February 2023, she was wounded by Russian shelling while serving on the front lines in

As the saying goes, An army marches on its stomach and heres a man doing the cooking.Richard Woodruff is the creator of Front-Line Kitchen, a Twitter account and organization he runs out of Lviv raising money for equipment, food, and supplies needed by soldiers on the front line, and an account advertising volunteer opportunities in Ukraine, all while volunteering himself in a Lviv kitchen making 10,000 meals a day for soldiers on the frontline.One year ago, Richard Woodruff was lying on a beach in Spain, relaxing after quitting his job in publishing and taking a break. When Ukraine was invaded by Moscow, Woodruff went to Lviv, Ukraine. With no plan, he discovered there a kitchen where the women he calls the grandmothers had been voluntarily making home-cooked food for frontline troops since 2014. His volunteer work in the kitchen led him to become a large-scale fundraiser on Twitter. His story illustrates how the defense of Ukraine is a pervasive grassroots and collective effort of participatory citizenship.Woodruff who works close to 24/7 says, I cant sleep because I begin to calculate how many soldiers will die because they didnt get a life-saving meal or a bandage. I will sleep after the war. He describes his journey into a whole new life, prompted by the war in Ukraine where he discovered his passion and life work going beyond the current war.

On the eve of the anniversary of the onset of last year’s February 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine along with worries about a new offensive, a conversation with Iuliia Mendel, award winning international journalist and former press secretary for Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy.Mendel speculates about the spring offensive. She also describes the early days when Zelenskyy was gaining sea legs in democracy, and her impressions of the 2019 Paris talks between Zelenskyy, Russian President Putin, French President Macron and German Chancellor Merkel. She also speaks about Russian weaponization of language and the struggle for self-determination experienced by post-soviet countries. Throughout her interview, Mendel positions Ukraine as the vanguard of resistance and self-determination in the region in the struggle between old and new ways, and gives voice to Ukrainians’ strong will, together with sadness and dread felt in her country over the violence and death they continue to experience and anticipate.Iuliia Mendel was press secretary in the administration of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy from 2019 until 2021. She worked as a journalist for ICTV, Espreso TV, 112 Ukraine and Inter TV channels. Mendel became the first Ukrainian journalist to win the World Press Institute program.She had previously worked as a Communications Consultant at the World Bank and had contributed journalistic reporting for The New York Times. Mendel had worked as a journalist for several other media outlets including Politico Europe, the Atlantic Council, Vice, Spiegel Online and Forbes. In April 2016, she was the producer of the first documentary about post-traumatic stress disorder, Shell-Shocked: Ukraine's Trauma. In October 2019, she was included in the rating of the 100 most influential women in Ukraine by Focus magazine.

Dr. Elizabeth Wishnick, noted expert on Russia and China who focuses on international relations in Asia and Chinese foreign policy, analyzes the efforts of China to uphold its partnership with Russia and their shared interpretation of the invasion of Ukraine from the standpoint of perceived threat from the Western World.However, Wishnick also discusses how the invasion of Ukraine raises problems with good reputation and trade relations with Europe, something China wants. In addition, the invasion jeopardizes China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative – its flagship program for ushering in infrastructure and commerce for Chinese-led economic growth in Asia, Africa, and elsewhere.Dr. Elizabeth Wishnick is a Senior Research Scientist in the China and Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Division at the Center for Naval Analysis, on leave from her position as Professor of Political Science at Montclair State University. She is also a Senior Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University. Her current research focuses on international relations in Asia and Chinese foreign policy. She is the author of Mending Fences, which illuminates the forces driving Moscow’s China policy.Music: Moonlight in the City sung in Mandarin by Ukrainian Artist NataliaEditing by Ursula Rudenberg for the Pacifica NetworkRecording by Michael Levine

Texas Photographer Patrick Patterson recently lived in Ukraine, after taking several prior trips to Ukraine and Poland, to document war refugees. By connecting with volunteer networks, he was able to intimately document the terror and suffering the Russian invasion is causing for ordinary people. He speaks about his approach to photographing people, by connecting on a human level and listening to their stories with his promise of telling the world. He also describes war crimes he has documented, the experience of being under attack himself, and the intense personal consequences of danger and bonding with others in war. He makes a plea for the world to focus on the plight of everyday people in Ukraine, instead of on weapons.GO TO UKRAINE242.COM TO SEE PATRICK AND HIS PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEOSPATRICK'S WEBSITE: WILLIAMPATRICKPHOTOGRAPHY.COMPatterson has spent much of his career documenting human rights. His photographic narratives expose the invisible and can influence change. Each photograph is evidence that someone or something has been seen. His work on undocumented migrants in the Midwest provides an opportunity for viewers to question their biases of people crossing the US southern border. His work on Texas Death Row sheds light on wrongful convictions based on racial bias.Patricks work has appeared in US and International press, including Playboy Magazine, De Groene Amsterdammer, and Poland Monthly.Music: Misto Marii by Okean ElzyUkraine 2 4 2 features interviews with experts, key people on the ground in Ukraine and many others affected, who can give direct and personal accounts of the unfolding of the war in Ukraine, how people of diverse backgrounds and professional skills rally in the fight for freedom and the historical context of Russia's invasion.

Our guest is olena halushkaShe just returned from a trip to Japan where she learned the Japanese governments attitudes towards the threat of nukes from Russia. What she learned in the talks was very surprising!Olena is a board member of the Ukrainian NGO Anti-Corruption Action Center. She is also part of the International Center for Ukraine Victory. She worked as a Chief of International Advocacy at the Post-Maydan Reanimation of Package Reforms from 2015-2017. She was an Advisor to Members of Parliament from 2012 to 2014. She served as a Kyiv City Council Member and Deputy Chair of the Council Commission on Housing and Energy. An avid writer and political commentator, her works can be found in outlets such as The Washington Post, the Atlantic, Foreign Policy, EU Observer, and the Kyiv Post. Olena obtained a PhD from Kyiv National University in International Economics in 2016. Olena spoke to us from Warsaw Poland where she is currently working.

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