Journalist recounts three personal memories from trips to Ukraine
A Zemgales Ziņas author who regularly travels to Ukraine as a volunteer shares three recollections: about Ukrainian doctor Nadiya, soldier Ivan, and a book about Latvian resistance member Valentīne Lasmane.
An author for the regional Latvian newspaper Zemgales Ziņas, who has repeatedly travelled as a volunteer to Ukraine during Russia's war, has published three more personal recollections of what he experienced there. The text is a first-person account rather than a news report. The author notes that he has mostly driven used cars to Ukraine, but would like to do something more significant for both Ukraine and Latvia.
Doctor Nadiya's story
In summer 2024, while travelling across Ukraine with entrepreneur and photographer Ojārs Fals, the author met a doctor named Nadiya, born the same year, on a train from Kyiv to Ivano-Frankivsk. She spoke about her work, the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers and her family. Her son Serhiy had gone to Norway in 2022 as a war refugee.
Six months later Nadiya reported that her son had died in Norway's Lofoten Islands. Norwegian officials would not send his ashes to Ukraine, citing martial law. Fals therefore bought plane tickets, and Nadiya flew to Norway with the author. She brought the urn back to Ukraine with a volunteer "Twitter convoy" transport; film director Armands Zvirbulis drove her the final stretch to her home village.
Soldier Borzyi
In autumn 2025 in western Donbas, the author met Ukrainian army soldier Ivan, nicknamed Borzyi. They keep in touch by phone, often by video. The soldier stresses the strength of his people and army and suggests Europe should close the Suwałki corridor. He does not discuss service matters.
A book about Valentīne Lasmane
In 2016 the author met Valentīne Lasmane, a member of the Latvian National Resistance Movement during the Second World War. Her life story, the book "Nakts jau nav tikai gulēšanai" (The Night Is Not Just for Sleeping), was published in 2020, and Latvian Radio Theatre has staged a reading of it in Latvian, Russian and Ukrainian.
