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The United States is wiring Ukraine with sensors that can detect bursts of radiation from a nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb and can confirm the identity of the attacker.

In part, the goal is to make sure that if Russia detonates a radioactive weapon on Ukrainian soil, its atomic signature and Moscows culpability could be verified.

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine 14 months ago, experts have worried about whether President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would use nuclear arms in combat for the first time since the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The preparations, mentioned last month in a House hearing and detailed Wednesday by the National Nuclear Security Administration, a federal agency that is part of the Energy Department, seem to constitute the hardest evidence to date that Washington is taking concrete steps to prepare for the worst possible outcomes of the invasion of Ukraine, Europes second largest nation.

The Nuclear Emergency Support Team, or NEST, a shadowy unit of atomic experts run by the security agency, is working with Ukraine to deploy the radiation sensors, train personnel, monitor data and warn of deadly radiation.

In a statement sent to The New York Times in response to a reporters question, the agency said the network of atomic sensors was being deployed throughout the region and would have the ability to characterize the size, location and effects of any nuclear explosion. Additionally, it said the deployed sensors would deny Russia any opportunity to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine without attribution.

That statement goes to the fog of nuclear war and how the United States could use the new system to pierce it.

In one scenario, Washington could use information gathered by the network to rule out the possibility of misidentifying the attacker who set off a nuclear blast. That might seem like an unnecessary step given the distinctiveness of a mushroom cloud. But if a weapon was delivered by a truck, tank or boat instead of a conspicuous missile with a trackable flight path, figuring out its origins might prove near impossible.

Public knowledge of such defensive planning, nuclear experts say, can deter Moscow by letting it know that Washington can expose what is called a false-flag operation.

For instance, Moscow could falsely claim that Kyiv set off a nuclear blast on the battlefield to try to draw the West into deeper war assistance. But in theory, with the sensor network in place, Washington would be able to point to its own nuclear attribution analyses to reveal that Moscow was in fact the attacker.

Last fall, Russia, without offering any evidence, claimed repeatedly that Ukraine was planning to explode a bomb designed to spread radioactive material, a so-called dirty bomb. Washington warned that the Kremlin was trying to create a false-flag pretext to escalate the war.

The science of nuclear attribution underwent rapid development in the United States after the September2001 terrorist attacks raised the issue of domestic nuclear terrorism. While the science has secretive aspects, its outlines are publicly known.

Now, this newly acquired capability is being used on foreign soil in the context of a potential nuclear war or a Russian attack on Ukraines 15 nuclear reactors at four power generation sites.

If a nuclear emergency were to occur in Ukraine, whether a radiation release from a nuclear reactor or a nuclear weapon detonation, the security agency said in its statement, scientific analyses would be rapidly provided to U.S. government authorities and decision-making centers in Ukraine and the region to make actionable, technically informed decisions to protect public health and safety.

Nuclear experts say such defensive precautions could face their greatest test in coming weeks as the Ukrainian army launches its spring offensive. China has leaned on Russia to discontinue its nuclear saber rattling and Mr. Putin has not recently invoked a nuclear threat. But Western experts worry that Russias battlefield failures are making Mr. Putin, if anything, more dependent on his nuclear arsenal, and theyworry that fresh setbacks could increase his willingness to pull the nuclear trigger.

The security agency reports to Jennifer M. Granholm, the energy secretary. Last month she told Congress of the general precautions for radiation detection in Ukraine and said the objective of the U.S. assistance was to make sure that the Ukrainians are safe and not exposed. She gave few details, however, saying that would require a closed session.

The Energy Department and the security agency say they are spending roughly $160 million on the atomic precautions in Ukraine this year, with a similar amount requested for 2024.

Jeffrey T. Richelson, author of Defusing Armageddon, a 2009 book on theNuclear Emergency Support Team, reported that it often teamed up with the Joint Special Operations Command, an elite military unit so secretive that the Pentagon for years refused to acknowledge its existence.

Experts say Ukraine needs all the help it can get because its nuclear infrastructure is so extensive and has faced heavy attacks by Russia over the past 14 months.

Shortly after the start of theinvasion, Russian forces seized control of the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant, which in 1986 suffered a meltdown that sent radioactive clouds over parts of Europe and locally left a wasteland of contaminated soil. The Russian troops dug up a nearby section of earth, increasing radiation levels in the area but not enough to endanger workers.

The Russian forces also fired on and captured Europes largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, a complex of six reactors. A fire broke out during the assault, but safety officers detected no radiation.

A main Ukrainian site for nuclear research in Kharkiv the sprawling Institute of Physics and Technology suffered 100 strikes from Russian shells and missiles in the conflicts early days. The salvos damaged a nuclear facility used for the production of medical isotopes, but experts found no radiation leaks. The overall complex lost power for more than a month.

In Kyiv, Russian projectiles hit the Institute for Nuclear Research, starting a fire in a warehouse. The institutes small reactor was undamaged, and no radiation leaks were found.

Ukraines other atomic infrastructure includes additional power plants; storage sites for spent nuclear fuel; and facilities across the nation, including hospitals, that use radioactive materials for research and medical therapies.

The Energy Department, in addition to NESTs assistance, says itis providing support to partner agencies in Ukraine on measuring aerial radiation, modeling atmospheric plumes of radiation, countering nuclear smuggling and treating radiation injuries.

Edwin Lyman, a nuclear power expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists who has closely monitored the Ukrainian war, said a federal official told him of a possible reactor threat scenario. It posits that Russia, if it suffered a humiliating defeat and withdrew from Ukraine, might retaliate by firing on a reactor or its spent fuel storage areas in order to release high radioactivity into the environment.

Thats one of the biggest dangers, Dr. Lyman said. If they wanted to render as much of the countryside as they could uninhabitable, those reactors might become targets.

He was heartened, Dr. Lyman added, to learn that NEST and the Energy Department were being proactive and taking these threats seriously.

See the rest here:
U.S. Wires Ukraine With Radiation Sensors to Detect Nuclear Blasts - The New York Times

The wait is over after almost a year of refusals and hesitation, Western-provided MIM-104 Patriot air defense systems have finally arrived and become operational in Ukraine.

On April 21 and 26, Ukraines Air Force confirmed the full employment of two Patriot batteries.

As Ukraines own Soviet-era air defense capabilities are reportedly dwindling, Patriots are expected to take up the fight against not only Russian aircraft and cruise missiles but also ballistic systems Ukraine had nothing to counter with.

It also means that Patriots will be put to a serious battlefield test for the first time in at least 20 years, after two decades of upgrades and modifications.

In high-intensity combat against the hardest targets, the Patriot can confirm or disprove its widely-regarded reputation as one of the worlds best air defense systems.

The Ukrainian Air Force discloses little to no information regarding the Patriots it acquired.

On April 21, following reports of the Patriots arrival in Ukraine, the Air Force branch commander Lieutenant General Mykola Oleschuk published a picture of him standing next to the systems launcher.

The commander also confirmed the deployment of the MIM-104 in Ukraine with fully trained Ukrainian personnel. Ukrainian crews completed the training in the United States and Germany between January and late March, even though a training course typically takes up to 10 months.

Later, the Air Force also published a video showing a Ukrainian-operated system. Judging from the launcher's specific woodland camouflage and the fact that it was mounted on a MAN truck, it was a German-donated system.

The Air Force said the Patriots, in its use, can intercept both aerodynamic and ballistic targets. Among its most desired targets, the Ukrainian personnel specifically mentions Russias Sukhoi Su-35 fighter, known for its enhanced maneuverability, as well as Kh-22, a Soviet-made cruise missile type that Russia has repeatedly used to deliver devastating strikes on Ukrainian cities.

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The Russian Kh-22 is responsible for one of the deadliest attacks on civilians: the Jan. 14 strike upon an apartment building in Dnipro that killed 45 people. The Air Force repeatedly stated it could not intercept this obsolete though destructive missile until the West provided Ukraine with Patriot systems.

Judging from the video, the German-donated Patriot battery was deployed with Ukraines 138th Air Defense Brigade based in Dnipro and responsible for covering the countrys eastern regions from Sumy to Zaporizhia.

Arms manufacturers now have a unique opportunity to examine their performance claims here, on the battlefields of Ukraine, Oleschuk said.

So we will try this.

From the beginning, Ukraine positioned Patriots as the lacking component to counter Russias extensive use of ballistic systems, such as Iskander Ms.

The Ukrainian calls for Patriot systems were also triggered by the threat of Russian use of Iranian-provided ballistic missile systems Fateh-110 and Zolfagar.

Despite many fears, Russia has not yet used or acquired Iranian missiles. The Iranian support of Russia was considered a major threat to Ukraines longer-range air defense, which still relies heavily on old S-300 family systems and Buk M1s.

And meanwhile, Ukraine finds itself in a very shaky situation regarding its own stockpile of S-300 and Buk-M1s, which, according to the leaked Pentagon papers, were expected to run empty by May.

Yet, over the last weeks, the Ukrainian Air Force continued countering new attacks, intercepting most of the incoming Russian missiles. Overnight into May 1, the Ukrainian military reported having destroyed 15 out of 18 cruise missiles Kh-101 and Kh-555 fired from Russian strategic bombers.

Nonetheless, Russian missiles that penetrated the Ukrainian defense inflicted devastating damage to the city of Pavlograd, where they reportedly hit a Ukrainian ammunition depot. According to local authorities, dozens of buildings were damaged, and at least 34 civilians were injured as of early May 1.

Besides, in theory, Patriot systems can be a solution against the Russian use of S-300/400 missiles switched to surface-to-surface mode as ballistic munitions, which time and again inflict damage upon Ukrainian cities.

But, according to the Air Force spokesman Colonel Yuriy Ihnat, this is hardly a workable solution. Russia has between 6,000 and 7,000 S-300 system munitions, which are inaccurate as surface-to-surface missiles but are also abundant and destructive.

At the same time, Ukraine, in any case, will always have a limited number of Patriot interceptors that cost at least $1 million apiece.

So, according to Air Forces Ihnat, its better to combat Russias launchers on the ground with longer-range surface-to-surface missiles like MGM-140 ATACMS, which Ukraine has been requesting from the U.S. for a long time.

Ukraines military did not reveal which version of the Patriot missile system it received.

Defense Express, a Kyiv-based defense consulting agency, identified it as the PAC-3 variant specialized in ballistic targets, the Ukrainian air defenses biggest problem.

The Air Force commander also published a selfie showing him standing next to what the Ukrainian Military Center, a defense expert community, identified as AN/MPQ-53 radar set. This might point out that the first Patriot fire unit acquired by Ukraine belongs to the PAC-2 interceptor family.

PAC-2 is the Patriot upgrade that particularly uses interceptors with blast fragmentation warheads that detonate in the targets proximity and thus destroy it with a certain degree of probability.

The version is believed to have an operational range of up to 160 kilometers and intercepts aircraft and cruise missiles at altitudes of up to 20 kilometers. Regarding ballistic missiles, the operational range is limited to some 40 kilometers.

At the same time, the PAC-3 family uses a more advanced Hit-To-Kill technology designed by Lockheed Martin. It has two interceptors that first destroy an incoming missile by colliding with it in a direct body-to-body impact and then also destroy the falling debris.

PAC-3 is thus expected to provide much more effective protection against ballistic missiles, the successful defense against which demands their complete destruction in the air.

Ever since the early 1990s, both PAC-2 and PAC-3 variants had numerous upgrades enhancing their capabilities.

On April 26, the Ukrainian Air Force reported the second Patriot battery, presumably coming from the United States, as part of a $1.8 billion defense aid package already operational in Ukraine. Its unknown whether the second Patriot battery uses PAC-2 or PAC-3 versions.

Apart from that, Ukraine currently expects transfers from The Netherlands, which vowed to provide Kyiv with not a complete Patriot battery but only two launchers and missiles.

For the sake of comparison, Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky in his March 29 speech, said Ukraine needed 20 Patriot batteries. And the U.S. Army itself, according to the 2018 Military Balance database, operates nearly 50 Patriot batteries.

A German-operated MIM-104 Patriot missile fires an interceptor missile during Operation Red Arrow exercise in Greece on October 15, 2008 (Peter Mueller/Bundeswehr)

So the Ukrainian military, with its limited stockpile, will have to decide very carefully between the most important targets deep in Ukraines rear it wants to protect with Patriots.

And it will have to defend the systems themselves. Its very unlikely that Ukraine will get Patriots deployed to front-line areas within the kill zone of Russian aircraft or tube and rocket artillery.

Now, Patriots are becoming a top priority target for Russia, which would get a lot of propagandistic bravado from having a famed U.S.-produced system destroyed in Ukraine.

In Ukraine, MIM-104 Patriot meets possibly the most challenging battlefield it has ever seen throughout its history.

During its debut in the Gulf War of 1990-1991, the Patriots proved, for the first time, that ballistic missile defense was possible.

According to U.S. military statistics from that time, early PAC-2 intercepted 41 out of 42 Iraqi ballistic missiles R-17 Elbrus (more commonly known as Scud). However, the official success rate was severely challenged and declared exaggerated and misleading by a U.S. Congress report released in 1992.

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, PAC-3s and PAC-2 GEM variants were documented demonstrating a success rate of close to 100%, having destroyed 14 Iraqi Scud and Luna-M (FROG-7) tactical ballistic missiles fired at U.S. rear facilities.

Since then, the Patriots have seen constant updates and improvements.

But their actual combat history post-2003 is mostly about the Israeli military downing drones coming from Syria and sometimes failing to intercept. However, in September 2014, an Israeli Patriot downed a Syrian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 tactical bomber.

Regarding Saudi Arabia, Patriots were also seen engaging the same old Scud missiles fired by Houthi rebels from Yemen, and theres also a history of successes and failures.

The Patriots are now facing a stockpile of far more advanced and variable Russian targets in Ukraine.

According to Ukraines military intelligence, as of late March, Russia had nearly 15% of its pre-2022 tactical missile stockpile, which includes ballistic systems Iskander.

How many missiles does Russia have left?

People have been having this argument since the beginning of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Western claims that Russia is running out of advanced, high-precision missiles have floated in the news since March. But more than 10 months into the all-out war, Russian missiles continue to rain

Kyiv IndependentIgor Kossov

Nonetheless, despite the alleged degradation, Russia continues with its massive missile attacks on Ukraines territory.

On April 28, according to Ukraines military, Russia fired 23 air-launched Kh-101 and Kh-555 cruise missiles in the first massive strike since March 9. A Kh-101 missile missed by Ukraines air defense hit a residential building in the city of Uman, killing 23, including four children.

Hello! My name is Illia Ponomarenko, the guy who wrote this piece for you.

I hope you found it useful and interesting. I work day and night to bring you quality stories from Ukraine, where Russia is waging the biggest war in Europe since WWII. My little homeland, Donbas, is now the site of the worst fighting. We are helping to keep the world informed about Russian aggression.

But I also need help from every one of you to support Ukrainian wartime journalism by donating to the Kyiv Independent and becoming our patron.

Together, we can help bring peace to Ukraine.

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Patriot air defense faces its toughest challenge ever in Ukraine - Yahoo News

FORT BRAGG, North CarolinaThe only sign the Switchblade suicide drone was overhead was its mosquito-like whine. Its slim gray body merged into the overcast sky over a U.S. Army training range.

But the presence of the drone, which has been delivered in large numbers to Ukraine, in an exercise explicitly targeting China spoke volumes about how the U.S. Army Special Forces is reinventing itself after decades of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Everyone is watching the lessons learned from Ukraine, said Gen. Jonathan Braga, commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command. We're trans-regionally applying those lessons learned.

Among those lessons: Russia can target a Ukrainian artillery battery within a minute of its first barrage. Battlefield decoys still work. Information is king.

I think the overall macro lesson is the importance of information operations, Braga said.

Many such lessons are being gleaned in Germany, where U.S. Special Forces are training their Ukrainian counterparts and helping them with information operations, said the U.S. Army special forces officer in charge of work with Ukraine. He spoke by video call to the audience observing the Army exercise here on Thursday. Like others interviewed for this article, the officer was granted anonymity for the sake of security.

Information gleaned from this work with Ukrainian forces is sent on to the training programs run by Army Special Operations Command.

For example, Army special forces have observed Ukrainian forces detect, fix, and jam Russian drones, said Lt. Col. Mike Burns, the commands communications director. That has shaped the commands new course on robotics and unmanned systems, which teaches students how to build their own drones and counter those of the enemy.

Shorn of the urgency of Ukraines wartime environment, some hurdles remain. One small-arms trainer sought to use drones to teach mortar-fire correction, only to be stymied by federal flight regulations on their shooting range.

In Thursdays scenario, pro-Chinese riots erupted in Taipei, followed by a Chinese military exercise that turned into a full-blown invasion of Taiwan. U.S. Army special forces struck back, working with Taiwanese forces to assault Chinese positions. The scenario is the commands first capabilities exercise to designate China as the adversary, said Burns.

In a sign of how the Special Forces are innovating, one assault team landed on a rooftop and cleared the building with the aid of a first-person-view drone that put eyes on the lower levels.

The two soldiers operating the drones said they used commercially available models that they had trained on for around 100 hours with the commands drone instructors.

Robotics is a very real part of the battlefield now, said one instructor. Everyone needs to have a better awareness of how to employ these capabilities.

The shift has seen the Army also shed some skills learned for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The language schools, for example, no longer teach Dari or Pashto.

At one display stand before the exercise, four students showed off their Chinese- and Russian-language skills. One professor, Alex, is originally from Kherson, a Ukrainian city liberated from Russian control in November.

We watched with joy, with tears in our eyes, he said, recalling news coverage of Ukrainian President Zelenskyys arrival in the city. The language school is considering adding Ukrainian.

The lessons come at a cost, with each new piece of information ultimately tied back to the war in Ukraine.

Amid a feverish training pace for Ukrainian forces in Germany, the officer in charge of operations in Germany said hes well aware of the dangers his students will face when they return on the battlefield.

You go to sleep at night, he said, and think, Did we do all we can do?

Read more:
With Lessons from Ukraine, US Special Forces Reinvents Itself for a ... - Defense One

A Sri Lankan military volunteer said in a few hours he would make another attempt under enemy fire to recover the body of a Calgary native killed by Russian artillery shells amid the Ukraine wars bloodiest battle.

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And a Calgary aid worker said hes ready to transport the body of soldier Kyle Porter one of two Canadians killed together at Bakhmut on April 26 from the war zone for an eventual return to his hometown.

Speaking from a location 30 kilometres from the front line at Bakhmut, a member of Ukraines International Legion said Porter, 27, and Cole Zelenco, 21, of St. Catharines, Ont., were killed by direct hits from Russian artillery on their bunker.

The men, whod become close friends, were fighting to keep open a land corridor for Ukrainian forces defending the last parts of the eastern Ukrainian city they still hold after nine months of intense Russian assaults.

They were not supposed to go there but they got called up in midday, they were on standby, said the man who goes by Capt. Raj, as well as the call name The Dentist.

Its war you have to expect it. It could be me next time . . . he was a really good fighter.

Raj said soon after the two men attached to Ukraines 92nd Mechanized Bridgade were killed, he was part of a team sent to the bombed-out bunker located 385 metres from Russian troops to recover their bodies, but had to retreat after only retrieving Zelenco.

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We managed to get Cole but got some gunfire and a drone located us and pinpointed our position, he said.

I had to make the decision for the people alive (to return) but I hope for a more positive answer (Tuesday).

He refused to describe the recovery attempts as acts of bravery.

Its not about being brave, its about brotherhood and my brother lying there, said Raj.

The two deaths are believed to be the fourth and fifth Canadian volunteer soldiers killed in action during the 14-month war.

Both men, he said, were Canadian military veterans, while Porter had also worked recently with South African forces and on a training mission in the Netherlands.

Porter, whod been trained as a medic, had been in Ukraine since March 2022 serving in training and rescue roles, and had joined Rajs unit in December, said the captain.

His fatal visit to the front line was his first time there, said his commander.

Porter, said Raj, was intent on creating an ambulance unit for his group.

We were planning to bring down an ambulance without relying on anyone else, so we can spend more time saving our guys, he said.

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Thats what Kyles plans were.

Knowing the grave risk he was taking, Porter had composed a letter detailing directives for his funeral, which would have a distinct Canadian military flavour, even how bagpipes would be played, with a Canadian-style tombstone with a regimental logo, said Raj.

Zelenco, he said, was also grimly aware of the dangers he faced in resisting relentless Russian efforts to capture Bakhmut.

He always said, I might get a glorious death, and he got a glorious death, said Raj, who plans on accompanying Porters body to Calgary later this month.

A Ukrainian serviceman walks near a residential building damaged by shelling in the frontline city of Bakhmut on April 23. ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images

With Zelencos body already in Kharkiv, Calgary humanitarian aid worker Paul Hughes said hes heading south to the Bakhmut area on Tuesday to transport Porters body and surviving members of his unit to Kharkiv.

Hughes said hed met Porter once during an earlier part of the war, and that Ukrainians now view the two foreign volunteers with huge admiration.

Theyre now heroes for Ukraine, said Hughes, adding that realization doesnt diminish the pain of his upcoming mission.

I didnt want to have to do this for any Canadian . . . Porter is less than half my age, he said.

Hughes said hes been in touch with Canadian Embassy officials in Ukraine to expedite the return of the mens bodies to Canada.

And the Calgarian said hes bringing along a Canadian flag to honour Porter when he drives his charitys ambulance to the Bakhmut area.

From everything Ive been hearing, those guys were great ambassadors for Canada, said Hughes.

Hughes had been assigned to help evacuate wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the Bakhmut fighting last month but the unit to which he was attached was never called up.

Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn

Excerpt from:
Two Canadians, including Calgary man, killed while fighting in Ukraine battle - Calgary Herald

A little over a year after Rachel Lehmann Ware and her husband, Duncan Ware, fled Ukraine, the Tasmanian teachers have now returned to Kyiv.

They wereteaching at an international school in the Ukrainian capital when Russia invaded in February last year.

What followed was a dramatic, three-week escape with their three cats in tow, while bombs rained down on the country.

The couple touched down safely in Hobart in March last year, running into the embraces of family members.

However, they felt for the young students and teachers who were left behind.

"We were always determined to come back it was just a matter of when, and when it was safe," Ms Lehmann Ware said.

The moment they crossed the border back into Ukraine in early April, Ms Lehmann Ware's heart filled with joy, she said.

"I was, I can't lie, a bit worried about coming back here," she said.

"But, coming back to Ukraine, it just feels like we've come home."

Driving through the west of the country, near Lviv, they saw pristine, beautiful countryside. But that scenery shifted as they headed east, approaching Kyiv.

"You could tell where the Russians had been the distinctive footprint they left of destruction and decay," she said.

The scenes confronting them in Ukraine couldn't have been more different than when they began their teaching stint in 2021.

Buildings are scarred by shelling, military checkpoints abound, anti-tank barricades nicknamed "hedgehogs" remain on the streets, and a curfew from midnight until5am is in place.

On Ms Lehmann Ware's second day back at school, the air raid sirens sounded.

Walking down the stairwell, Ms Lehmann Ware felt a wave of recognition: This was where she hadsheltered during the early days of Russia's invasion.

Her year 6 students, all too familiar with the drill, descended into a bunker and their science experiment continued underground.

"There has been some very clear impact on themfrom this war, both emotionally, but also academically," Ms Lehmann Ware said.

She recalled one student beingscared because his father worked as an engineer at one of the energy plants in Dnipro, where Russian forces have launched attacks on critical infrastructure.

"There were bombing attacks happening during school time. And he just didn't know if his dad was alive, and was clearly upset and quite traumatised," she said.

"We've had some children who have also been diagnosed with PTSD. There's been a lot of mental health issues for these children.

"We have, thankfully though, got a wonderful psychologist at our school, who helps them [and] is there for them.

"But, I must say, the resilience of these kids is mind-blowing."

The couple said they were determined to contribute to the education of Ukraine's next generation.

Many of Ms Lehmann Ware's colleagues in Ukraine have been touched by the war: One of the school's security guards has joined the Ukrainian forces on the frontline, and a staff member's sister was in Irpin when it was under attack.

"She went through absolute hell getting out of there. Their car was shot up. They barely got out with their lives," Ms Lehmann Ware said.

Her assistant at the school has parents living in the northern city of Chernihiv, which was under siege for 39 days last year, and they were stuck without running water or electricity.

"They had to sneak out at night to get water and food, risked being shot. It was just horrendous, but they survived."

Ms Lehmann Ware said she and her husband havefundraised almost $1,500 for food and essentials to donate to families in Chernihiv.

Through humanitarian group Vans Without Borders, they connected with Oleh, a Chernihiv local, who has helped transport supplies to those in need.

And the couple will this week travel to Chernihiv with donated building supplies to help rebuild damaged homes.

"You've got mothers with kids sleeping on the floor in a friend's house, or in the cellar, still, because they just haven't got a house to go to," she said.

Escaping Ukraine was a harrowing ordeal that left them both with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) crowds of people or loud, unexpected noises, like hammering or fireworks, can trigger memories and cause anxiety.

"When you hear those sort of noises, you're just transported back all of a sudden, and you get that sick feeling in your stomach and your heart [is] racing," she said.

The couple isgrateful to the Tasmanian Department of Health for the counselling they provided, but they know it will take a long time to recover.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade "continues to advise Australians to not travel to Ukraine, due to the volatile security environment and military conflict", DFAT said in a statement.

They added the government's ability to provide consular access in Ukraine was "severely limited" and they could not evacuate Australians from Ukraine.

"Any Australians currently in Ukraine are urged to depart if it is safe to do so."

However, Ms Lehmann Ware said their return had been a healing process, too, and they wouldnot be travelling to theeast, where active battle on the frontlines continues.

"For those who think that maybe we're a bit crazy for coming back into a country that's actively in a war, I can understand I know my own mother took a week to talk to me after I told her we were coming back," she said.

However, she said, she hadbeen struck by the "unbelievable strength" of the Ukrainian people.

"The attempt by Putin to eradicate Ukrainian culture has had the reverse effect," she said.

"No-one speaks Russian anymore. Everyone is speaking Ukrainian. And it's just this real sense of pride in their culture.

"I think that's one of the reasons why we love it here so much, and why we have wanted to return and be a part of rebuilding the country in any small way we can."

Originally posted here:
After fleeing war in Ukraine last year, these Australian teachers have now returned to Kyiv - ABC News