Latvian journalist joins volunteers to reach Ukrainian soldiers near the front
A journalist from Zemgales Ziņas joined a volunteer group delivering homemade drone munitions to Ukrainian troops near the front line, visiting a military unit and hearing how battlefield tactics have changed. He also stayed overnight in a rented farmhouse used by soldiers.
To reach Ukrainian army soldiers stationed roughly thirty kilometers from the front line, a journalist from the Latvian outlet Zemgales Ziņas had to join a volunteer group. The group transports homemade explosive devices intended as ammunition for drones used against occupying forces. According to the journalist, under martial law such informal arrangements often make it easier to communicate with military units if one is accepted as a volunteer helper.
From museum workshops to the front
Ukrainian soldiers primarily receive weapons and ammunition through the state supply system, but units are permitted to accept vehicles, ammunition components, camouflage netting, and food from volunteers as well. Even in relatively untouched cities in western Ukraine, the quiet of a museum can be broken by the hum of a 3D printer producing plastic parts for explosive devices. A volunteer movement called "drukarmy.ua" coordinates the production of such components not only in Ukraine but also in Latvia and other European countries. These printed parts are later assembled at private homes and filled with shrapnel, while explosives and detonators are added only once the devices reach military encampments.
Life along the front
On the way to the unit's encampment, the journalist counted six shelled and burned fuel stations, and an equal number of functioning ones. For dozens of kilometers, the road was covered by anti-drone netting that appeared undamaged. The surrounding fields were being farmed, suggesting no expectation that Ukraine would abandon the territory.
Soldiers' accounts
The unit's commander said it was formed after he answered a newspaper advertisement, and that the war began for them on February 24, 2022, when the unit found itself surrounded. Soldiers explained that drones were not used early in the war, but now a drone-controlled "dead zone" separates the two sides. The enemy, they said, often disguises itself as local residents to help direct drone strikes. The journalist spent the night at a farmhouse rented by the unit from a local Ukrainian farmer, who visits the property once a month to harvest crops.
