Hello, this is Eva May, and I'm speaking to you from the Women's Radio Station for another in my series of Healing Image High. Now, Healing Image High was about, uh, originally started as a, for me to speak about some problems that I'd had in my life and the mental health issues that I live with. But over this series, I've had opportunities to speak with people that I'm extremely humbled by. I'm extremely pleased that I've come to this place in my life where I have a platform and that I can speak with people who are— they need to be heard. And I hope that you will listen today, especially because I'm going to be speaking to somebody called Mills, who is a friend of mine now, uh, through my friend Billy, who I've recorded with twice, who is somebody from California who used all his money to get a plane ticket to Poland to go and help in Ukraine. Now, Billy was going to just work in a refugee camp, but he has moved on and he's now in training and doing government-backed work with a group who are doing rescue and evacuation work. So I want to give this time to Mills today. We would really, really need to raise some money. So please, this is so important. I know that the money that you could— you will give to their GoFundMe page is actually going directly to where it needs to go. This has been also reported in the Daily Mail, and there are going to be reporters who are going to be following this work. I think we will be talking about things that you maybe don't realize. I certainly didn't realize some of it, and also a lot of this, it's just not reported. This weekend we've had this massive Jubilee celebration for the Queen, and I felt at times wrong, wrong to be joining in really when such atrocities are happening. But I know life goes on, but yeah, it just doesn't quite sit right really, that the world needs to look at this. We're over 100 days in, and let's let's help, let's stop these, uh, save civilians, save lives, and support the people who are supporting the people that need the help. So thank you to Mills. Um, I know that you, um, well, let's— would you like to just talk about your story and how you got involved and how you have come to form an incredible group? I know that it's been, um, quite challenging in many ways to find people who are actually really, really the right people and are there for the right reasons and have the right skills. I'm also pretty angry that some people are messaging you from, I don't know, wherever, UK, now we have social media, it could be from anywhere, and who are sort of questioning what you're doing and really wasting your time. So, We don't want any of that to happen. This is something that's really real and it's expecting— it's affecting people like me and like you and like what Mills is doing is incredible. So thank you so much for spending the time to speak with me today and we just want to hear your story. So please just use this time and I will also put up how they can reach your GoFundMe page through the Women's Radio Station. So everybody calls me Mil, um, probably because of social media. Um, my real name is Stuart, so everyone calls me Mil or Stu. So it was prior to this conflict taking place— and I say it's a conflict, really it's an invasion, so it's not really a full-blown war. These people are just rightfully protecting what's theirs. So prior to this actually kicking off, we watched it live on Sky News, and then the day it actually happened, um, yeah, I came to the conclusion that as a human being, um, I couldn't stand and watch, which was quite hard for me, especially with my partner too. Yeah, um, you know, being human, it was just— you got to do something. There were thousands and thousands and thousands of people suffering And not just through the constant bombardment of what Russia have done, but the barbaric acts. And even some of the areas in the east, they've now shut off the water, the gas, and the electric. So there's vulnerable people whose areas have been severely hit who are struggling and they're unable to get out. The amount of messages I've had from social media, can you get these families out? Unless we get a path or create a path in with the military, Unfortunately, now they're stuck, and it's through no fault of their own other than the Russians. So yeah, it was a few days when this conflict took place that we all gathered together on social media, people who've never met before in my life, um, people like myself. We call ourselves like the last of the dying breed, and, um, we all booked our tickets and we all went. We first regrouped in Poland, so that's where we all landed, and the influxation of refugees into Warsaw station was horrific. I remember sat there with one of my colleagues, Tim. It hit him quite hard, especially Tim's done several tours of Afghan and Syrian places like that, so Tim's ex-forces. To actually sit and watch these people come in with literally nothing. Now we took spare clothes over with us because obviously it was winter back then, and I ended up probably giving away 80% of my clothing to some of these vulnerable people who were literally there in shorts and t-shirts, two carrier bags, a kid or maybe two children in hand. Yeah. They just left everything behind. So it's a massive hit to us to see that in Warsaw. And then I even remember sat down talking to Tim and I went, this is nothing to what we're going to see going in. Now, when you go to any conflict, you're usually there to fight a war as a soldier. So you never really see the aftermath or, shall I say, the refugees or the people that is really hard hitting. Now, this A good friend of mine stated this to me the other day. When you're over there, you're tunnel visioned and you don't really watch the news. You're just keeping updates on your phone of where the attacks are happening, whether you're running right into an attack or, you know, you're putting yourself severely at risk. We all put ourselves at risk being there, but there's areas where, you know, if you go, the Russians are advancing, they are on foot, this firefight's going on, etc. So we try and avoid them areas to a degree, but still go into what we class as the red zone of the front online. But a friend of mine's come out with a really good comment saying that basically Ukraine has taken a massive hit for Europe. Yeah, this is a country that if you look at the history, so many countries have been afraid of Russia over the decades, so afraid of Russia purely for the fact of their arms and the nuclear threat that they've, that they pose, etc. And they've come into this and they've invaded Ukraine, and when you get over there, you will see that this, this is a conflict that can be won. Russia are using old ordnance, they're using old technology to a degree. They have got a bit of modern technology over there, but, you know, they aren't progressing as quickly as Putin would have thought. Um, there's a lot of casualties over there, Russian casualties as well. Obviously, they— apparently we were told that they were there on a humane mission at first, and then obviously they've entered the war with Ukraine. So yeah, Europe has taken a— well, Ukraine have taken a massive hit for Europe, if not the rest of the world. Um, the threat is still there. The nuclear threat will never go away until Putin is put down. This is one man, one man that's caused all this. We've entered areas where we've seen the executions, where you see the bodies that have been laid out, um, and they purposely do that for propaganda. We entered one area, um, in the Donbas region where the Russians were nailing live dogs to pallets and then cutting out the torsos. Now, I'm an animal lover ourselves, me and my partner. We own 4 dogs, we've got 4 horses on our land, and for me that's really hard-hitting. But you have to be tunnel vision. These women and children that need to be getting out of there, um, We've heard the stories of 10-year-old children being raped, and that's in where refugees are going to seek shelter. The Russians are going in and they are being barbaric, absolutely barbaric. You drive down the streets in Mariupol and areas like that, and you will see random people who've been cycling bikes on the way back to the shops, walking the dogs, have been shot dead, and the animals are still tethered to them by the chains. Um, so yeah, we got together, we went over there We figured out the genuine people, the people like ourselves. It's taken us a long time now to get this organization together. We call ourselves URM, which is Ukraine Rescue Mission, and we just needed promoting really, that the fact that this is genuine. And this, I mean, this work that you're doing is absolutely vital. Oh, without a doubt. Yeah, it sort of grinds on me that You know, the press has sort of backed off from this a little bit. I mean, there was that thing in the media the other day of Johnny Depp. There was more people probably watching that, or more concerned about that, than they were about innocent people losing lives over in a country that are taking it for Europe. Absolutely. The Johnny Depp thing, um, I don't know, the way that that's been televised, and then ever so quickly on social media, people, you know, justice for Johnny and whatever, or whatever. Another thing that really gets to me is that We're quite big in the equine sort of on Facebook. We've, we've got nearly 5,000 people on our Facebook page purely in the equine world. And I've stated this on many occasions, when their horse is ill, they absolutely cry out to the world, cry out to the world for a vet or for someone to give advice. Now everyone used to comment on my personal jokes, on my banter on social media, and then as soon as I hit the Ukraine, everyone— I'll probably say barring 5 people on my Facebook turn their backs on me. So the fact where there's no likes, there's no— virtually no comments, and it really grinded on me that a little bit. That must be— feel— well, I mean, I'm— I don't know because I'm not in your situation, but for me, you see, um, you know, my background is, um, I'm a survivor of historic abuse, and it's, it's extremely difficult because even though people know they don't actually ask. I mean, a lot of people who know, they know I do this radio series, and you know what, Stuart, they don't, they don't even ask, or they don't listen. I know, I know who my friends are from the people who listen to my broadcasts. But if I was an abused animal, my goodness, I would get all the support, help, love, and talk, you know, people would all come together for an animal. And that we're talking about, you know, people. And you've been telling me, so we've chatted, uh, this morning and then again previous to, to recording, you know, about, um, you know, women. There's a woman you're talking to me about called sort of Victoria with her 3-year-old a child, uh, people, refugees you've seen in sports halls where, where they've gone for safety and the Russians have gone in. And that you— would you like to explain a little bit about that? Because they are severely harming, deliberately harming people. So when the Russians first came into Mariupol in the Donbass region Um, I like to say I can only go off my personal experience, and there's thousands and thousands of people out there that I believe is nearly 80,000 now, um, volunteers that have gone out either to fight or to do the aid work. And we've all gone there knowing the risks. So in the Donbas region, when they first entered, there was a lot of people from one area who was put into a sports hall facility. Now this is all even men at the time because they didn't know what was fully going on or how long this conflict would would last, whether it would be a few days, uh, but they got put into a sports hall facility for safety. While they was in that sports hall facility, the Russians cut the electric off, then they entered. Uh, I'm going from the story we was told and the evidence that we've seen. They tried to grab any young female, or I'd say young, anyone from probably 35 years and below, um, they were taking them to the corner and 2 or 3 of the soldiers were trying to rape them. Anyone with physical tattoos that you could physically see, if it had any sort of resemblance to the Ukraine logo or anything to do with the Ukraine, they were trying to cut off. Oh, and this again is in front of other people. Yeah, um, there was a rape of children over there, 10-year-old children being raped. Um, there was a room that was broadcasted on— I'm not sure if it was one of the other news stations But when they entered, the guys were still on their knees, so they had their hands tied behind the backs. These were civilians again, they weren't soldiers, they weren't there to fight, um, and they were executed as a proper execution style. So they were still on their knees, still slumped over, and there was a shot put back through there, put through the back of the head. Um, and I believe in this room, from what I can remember, there was at least 8 to 15 individuals that the Russians had just slaughtered for the sake of slaughtering. It's, it's more than barbaric. There's no reason for these acts. This isn't— this isn't— like I say, it's not, it's not a war, it's an invasion. Because these people are standing up to their country and for what's rightfully theirs, they're being executed for it. I can understand if they were picking up arms and it was a soldier and it was, you know, fire on fire, but it's not. It really isn't. Um, so yeah, you see a lot of that when you're trying to— um, you said to me that for some reason these, uh, the Russian soldiers are very interested in collecting watches. I mean, yeah, I don't— I've heard this before as well. I watch a lot of documentaries and stuff, and, um, yeah, I've heard this before. But everyone we've— everyone we've spoke to has always stated that they look at your watch, and if it looks like an expensive watch, they will take that watch off you. Now, whether it's just, I don't know, a bit of memorabilia from where they've been, etc., but yeah, they have a thing for jewelry, for watches especially. And I don't know what that is, but I've heard that before. And obviously we witnessed it too. These people who said, yeah, they came and took the watch off me, whether it was a Rolex or a Casio watch or anything. If it looks of value, they would take it. But yeah, it's just— you cannot put it into words. I've come back a different person. You know, I think it's hard for me to say that when I was there, the Ukraine became my home and everyone has fully explained that to me. There's a fantastic guy over there. He's sort of part of our team, but his name is Andy. I won't tell his full name, but Andy first came over with a friend of his called Nick, and they bought a vehicle especially to come over to do evacs. Now, when I first met Andy, it was on social media. Andy drove over and he met up with me in Lviv, and the first thing I said to Andy was, "How long are you here for?" And he said, "Oh, about 2 weeks." I said, "Andy, this country grips you. It really does. The people grip you. It becomes so deep in your heart." you won't be here for 2 weeks. And Andy fortunately came to my rescue the other night when I was leaving the Ukraine. He drove me all the way to Poland, um, and he stated to me, you were right. He said, as a growing ex-military man, I have laughed and I have cried with these people. And he said, and I've been here now for 6 weeks, and people are believing in what Andy's doing. Andy's getting his own donations in. But Andy's— as long as Andy's got fuel, that's all he's concerned about. He spent weeks and weeks sleeping in his vehicle. Um, but he's gone way above and beyond. Andy has taken families out knowing their husbands or partners gone to war as a soldier, and he's, he's physically stayed with these individuals all the way right through Ukraine into Poland and stayed with them until they have been picked up by their fostering family. Um, so he's gone above and beyond, Andy, and there's a lot of people like that over there. That, I mean, that is just like such tremendous work and so brave, and it just takes a really special human to do that. And I do believe that there are special humans like, like you. I mean, my friend Billy, who you know, and I mean, he is just such an amazing person. I mean, I've known that ever since I met him, and he was the same. He thought he'd just be there for a few short weeks Yeah, now he has fallen in love with Ukraine. He wants to, to live there. He— I think he's planning on looking at— I stated exactly the same to my partner. Yeah, always— it will always have a place in my heart, Ukraine. Uh, I only went— I'll be honest with you, I only went to probably for a couple of weeks, a month myself, only to come back to get refunded to go back. Came back, got refunded again to go back. So I've had quite— I've got a really good neighbor of mine, he's actually fostered a family. Uh, we've had our ups and downs over the years, but she actually believed in what I was doing. So when I last came back, I thought by the time I was done there— and she donated a large amount of money to me to get, to get me back and the team re-running up, and we've managed to carry on our efforts. Uh, but like I say, we're not just the only people over there. There is the people rescuing the outlaws, these other people doing exactly what we're doing. But it does take a little bit— I will be honest with you, many people have stated to me, how the hell can you go into a war zone like that? Well, I'm sorry, but when you see these people and what they need and, and what they haven't got— like I say, logistics is massive over there. You cannot get fuel. I think on a 17-hour trip we only saw 2 fuel stations with fuel, and even then you're limited. So the logistics is a big thing to organize over there. We have partially logistics now, but we've got the team to go in and do what we need to do. So we've got 3 medics 2 military medics, I believe, with us, and then we've got the rest of the guys. So when we go there, we do go knowing the inevitable, and I don't think anyone can say that they're safe anywhere in Ukraine. We've witnessed rockets coming over our heads, especially in Lviv, when they hit 2 compounds a couple of miles outside of Lviv train station. As soon as we entered Mykolovyi the other week, we were under constant shelling. As soon as we got in, they hit a massive depot on the docks. And the compound we were with, with the military, there was just constant shelling all day. One of them landed, I'd probably say, about 100 to 150 yards away from us. So that's how close you are. Yeah. So yeah, you are, you are there to do a job. You are putting your life on the line, and there's many people like ourselves who are doing it. It's just we need people to believe and, and to— well, I think, you know, your question, you know, people are asking, how are you doing? What you're doing. I think the question is like, well, the answer is how can we not? I mean, how can we not? And, um, you know, my, um, my friend Billy, who I worry about Billy every day, um, obviously because he's somebody I know and I care about very much, and he now is working with you And he is being weapons trained. So, um, and I didn't realize till I spoke to you, uh, yesterday that, uh, or this morning, that, um, you know, he's in a firing range. He needs to be trained. You know, civilians need to be trained for this, for everybody's safety. And the, the guy who's instructing him is trying to train I think you said about over 20 people, but they've only got 2 guns. They can only train one friend of mine over who I've met in, in Ukraine, um, is actually originally from Croatia. So he's over there and he was working on a firing range over in Kiev at first, that made his way to Lviv. He's, um, yeah, he's training in excess of 20 people a day on this range. And from when he told me, there's only two weapons on there. One of them is a sidearm called a Glock. Yeah. And then the other one is the standard AK-47. Um, so at the moment there's a lot of civilians that are going there to be trained, a bit like Dad's Army, shall we say, just in case the inevitable happens and they do progress further. The, the vital of that is if you do come under fire, um, the Russians advance so quickly as well That's the other thing. So if they, if they start progressing forward again, they advance really quickly, especially in with Lviv. Now, Lviv has always been a prime target, always been a prime target. The other, the other side is as well, there's hardly any arms over there. So you'll see militaries or soldiers walking around, they have the AK on them, but there's no magazine in the AK, and you'll notice there's no magazines upon the person. And that's because most of the ordnance and most of the bullets and the firepower is all going to the front line. And that logistics side of it is massive. You know, we've seen vehicles in convoy with police that are having to do a 17-hour drive, probably just to get it there. So yeah, there's a lot of things going on over there that people just don't seem to witness. As regards to the firing range, 20 people a day. And that's not training them just in AKs or just training on the weapon, that's room clearing as well. And to do stuff like that, this is stuff that you'll see the British Army do, Special Forces do, um, etc. And that takes time, and you can't drill that into somebody overnight. But unfortunately, you're limited on the time you can spend with these individuals, so everything is sort of rushed at the moment over there. Absolutely. You've got, um, I mean, I know that you've had, uh, reporters from, um, the Daily Mail. Uh, I believe it was the Daily Mail. Yeah, so they, they've— they— I met them in a hotel. Um, I had a good conversation with them. I've kept up to date everything I possibly could with them. Uh, they now want to come out and do a 2-week excursion with us, um, where they can tell the untold story really, and the people who are there and the unsung heroes. Absolutely. Um, And these guys that we met, especially with the bomb disposal guys, every single one of them was absolutely lovely. They're limited on their supplies, and when we got there, they opened— they welcomed us with open arms, and they brought out everything they possibly had to, to sort of make us feel welcome. And this is stuff that is like a treat to them. It sounds daft, but even like a Snickers bar, to them that's a treat. And they had a box full, which we knew was there sort of probably Saturday night treat, but they opened everything up to us. They even offered us their beds for the night, their own beds. And I was like, no, no, no, we're here, we're here to help you. We're here to, to, to be part of your team, so treat us like part of your team. And not, you know, we're all there for the same reason, to fight the Russians and to keep them up, to keep them at bay really, and push them back. One of the things that, um, you know, you've been speaking about and I do read a lot of news. News interests me, and I think as a citizen, a member of the world, that I need to be informed about what's going on and not shut it off. But you were saying to me that part of the work that you've been doing— I mean, we hear about shelling And I asked you how large a shell was, and you've explained that and explained how they use them. So perhaps it'd be nice to hear about that. And the other thing you were explaining to me was about the rockets and the missiles and about the unexploded ones, how they need to be dealing with. There's also these hedgehog spiky mines. Yes. So again, all the logistics— and when I say logistics, it's not just people moving stuff around. So as you can imagine, if you were driving down the major motorway of the UK Every single bridge across that motorway has physically been taken down. So it's all over the road? Pardon? So it's all over the road? Yeah, road signs have been taken down, the road barricades that have been put in. Um, on the route into one of the compounds, it was only on the way out you could see them. So the Russians have placed mines onto trees, and these are probably the size of an HGV wheel. The idea with these is you trigger it about 50 yards before you pass it. Once you trigger that, that detonates and it fires a projectile 200 meters across the road. Now you can only see them on the way out, so the Russians have purposely put them and hidden them on the trees so you cannot see them on the way in. When we were with the bomb disposal, they'd actually deactivated them to a degree, they'd taken the fuse out, but the live cable you couldn't cut. They were still active, so they've moved the trigger points away, and every day they have to go and check up on these ordnance. The shells that are coming in, it's constant bombardment, absolutely constant bombardment. Where are the shells coming from? They are being fired from what, Russian— yeah, from Russian artillery, or from Russia? No, they know they've been, they've been fired from what we class as the red zone. So that's the front line, right? So that's how close we are to the front line. We are on the front line, right? Um, there's a live, there's a live map that we use to look at all the updates. So it gives you notification of any sirens that are going off, any rockets, bombs, any aircraft assaults, where the, um, where there's a firefight going on at the moment. That's constantly live and we keep up to date on that. I do keep posting that on social media to keep people aware of where it's hitting. He's taken out bridges. The, the longer and shorter this is over the past few days, it looks like he's trying to landlock it at the bottom. So he looks like he's been trying to take Odessa out. There was a missile this morning or late last night that was just missed one of their nuclear power plants in the center of Ukraine. Now, if that would have hit that, that would have been a smaller Chernobyl. He's also tried taking out a part of the rail station just east side of, um, Kyiv overnight. So again, he's trying to cut off the logistics side of ordnance being brought in via trains. But all this is being launched from where the Russians— and where Russians are now occupying within the Ukraine border. And you're saying to me, so a shell is about 3 or 4 foot? Yeah, in size. And these are going off constantly. The shelling is probably once every minute to 2 minutes. The, um, the mortars are probably— oh my God, I'll probably say between 2 and 3 a second, and that will go on for about between 2 and 4 hours, and then it'll stop. Then the artillery will start firing. You might have the cruise missile come over. I do know that his, um, his submarines were replenished with, with, um, with arms again the other day. Um, he's got— now got, I believe, apparently he's got a ship just slightly west of Odessa um, which has been launching from. Now, these are cruise missiles that can go from one side of the Ukraine to the other. They're the ones I filmed coming over Lviv. Um, so yeah, there's some really large ordnance and there's some small ordnance. Um, and the other thing is, um, I don't know if people truly, like, have even considered that Ukraine does not have a sort of the equivalent of, of a navy, a trained navy. No, they don't. So they've taken out a couple of his ships, which we knew he'd be angry about. Yeah. Um, but when you get to certain areas, this spot is all over. Um, I've had a few conversations with them, you know, like I said, they've been really welcoming to us. We've had conversations, they've invited us up to their positions, etc. Um, but yeah, they've managed to take out a few of his ships, and considering they don't have a naval fleet, they're doing really, really well. Yeah, even, even some of the, um even some of the aircraft they've taken down. Again, that's, that's mainly purely of, of people on the ground launching rockets and missiles towards these aircraft. Um, so they've done absolutely phenomenal. What they've done is absolutely phenomenal considering they're not a NATO force. No, they're not, and they've not got the support either, which I— I know. I mean, we've seen stuff going on, so which I can't really talk about. No. We've seen stuff going, but it's again the side— people don't realize the size of the country, you know, from one side to the other. Like you explained to me before, it's the size of France. Yeah, you know, and again, trying to get from one side to the other with, with maps, replanning, you have to switch your phone off at times so you can't have sat nav on. It's, it's, it's a big thing, and unless you know that country inside out, you know, there's potential something's going to badly happen. Well, I mean, in France you've got a péage, you know, you require a very good road system, which you have not got now. And you are now back in the UK, and one of the reasons— well, for several reasons, but one of the reasons that you're here is that you need to buy and prepare some vehicles to get them back out. What we're looking for is— we've all been self-funded over there, every single one of us. Yeah, you know, I've been quite fortunate to have some donations given to me which has kept us over there. And at first, I'm going to be dead honest with you now, so the first time I entered the Ukraine, we were taking medical supplies in. The medical supplies I had to physically buy off Americans. The Americans have massive access to military supplies coming into neighboring countries that they were getting over the border. We had to buy a lot of that aid off America, or the Americans who were bringing it in, to get it towards the front line. And that's where a lot of money went. Then obviously the fuel crisis now, so there's no fuel in the country. The fuel that is coming in is more or less going straight to the front line. Even if you go to a neighboring country to buy fuel, they're sometimes confiscating that back off you at the border, um, again, which I find absolutely disrespectful. And haven't they put their prices up a lot as well? The prices have gone through the roof. So for a normal, uh, Vauxhall Vivaro van now, which we were using to do one run there and back was costing us about €400, so approximately £400 to do one run. Now when you're considering you're running in a small team and you're a tight team and funds are running low, you know, you, you've got to, you've got to, you've got to think smart and think, right, I can either stay here and we're going to exhaust everything we've got, or I come back to the UK and we try and raise more funds, more awareness And so again, we're looking for a van or ideally a pickup truck like a Mitsubishi Warrior or L200. I know there's plenty out there that are fairly cheap, but we just need it to be mechanically sound. This is going into a war zone, so we need these vehicles either donating to us. Luckily, I've had a fantastic woman on the phone to me the other day who potentially might be able to help us. I won't name it just yet, but, um, we're looking for more funding, you know. And that funding is not— it's not for hotels or for us to have people think you're having a holiday. It's purely to get the aid where it needs to go, to the exact location, and to get it there without any hitches. So you're looking— that's what we do. You know, people are, you know, pleased, um, you know, this is— this needs to happen now. And of course it does. I mean, there was another aspect the other day. So when I last left Lviv, um, I went to see the CEO of this— of this aid warehouse, had a meeting with him. He wasn't at that place, it was somewhere else. And he said, right, we cannot get tourniquets. We need some decent tourniquets and we need as many as we can. I contacted again the second time the— one of the UK's leading medical suppliers. I've explained who I am, what we do, our team, how big we are on social media, where— what we've done and what we want to do for the foreseeable future. Can you please help? Um, their answer back to me was, we, we will give you 10% off 10% off when there's a critical crisis going on in a country. They will offer me 10% off. And then when you look on their website, that's all they do is offer 10% off. Even my partner who works for the NHS, even she has stated to me some of the stuff that's just about to go out of date, even though it's still handy, over in the Ukraine will be sent off either for to be incinerated or to be destroyed or put in the bin. That's the stuff that we need to get to take over. But it's simple things, you know, is you cannot put it into words when you're there and you're sat in a war zone and you've just messaged one of the UK's top leading suppliers just to be fobbed off. And I just think it's, it's, it's just happening with people. I don't know what's happened to people. There's been— I don't know why. I think a lot of it is social media, maybe, that people are really out of touch. With reality. I mean, you know, ridiculous things. You know, my, um, I have 3, 3 members, no, 4 members of my family, uh, are doctors. And, um, just, just simple things like face masks for COVID, they used to be a penny. Well, now they're 10p each. You know, um, people are capitalizing on things to make, to make money out of, you know, that was a pandemic. So I'm not surprised actually by what you've said, but I'm still disgusted by it. So anybody— yeah, so as I explained to you before, on this trip that I've just come back from, I was sort of poached from a charity who are based in Scotland, um, saying that they've got X amounts of money, we're gonna— we need you to get to Poland, you need you to buy a vehicle, go over and start taking out the wounded, take aid in, etc. It's like, fine, not a problem, I'll get a team together again. Flew over to Poland only for them to be slightly misled and donated that money to apparently an organization run by two women. When that money was donated, these two women vanished with the money, leaving not me stranded, but left, left the whole situation wide open. It was like, this is, this is what's going on. Yeah, exactly. This is why, like, I think, you know, the Daily Mail reporters, they're going to go with you for two weeks Great, I'm going to promote this. I'm going to give you this recording as well to put where you want, but this is absolutely— you guys are doing the job like instantly. You want— you need some vehicles now, like secondhand vehicles, like you're saying about Mitsubishi truck. You are going to— you're driving through roads that have potholes that are like a foot deep. So these vehicles need to be prepared. They need— you need tools, you need extra tyres, you need extra fuel tanks, and you're using— so pickup truck will be really useful to get the wounded out, and then even then you're going to drive them about 70 kilometres. To cut a long story short, sorry to interrupt you, we've got access to one of Ukraine's biggest aid warehouse that's taking not only food, water, medical supplies, but anything that they need, generators, etc. We've also got access to a military hospital as well where we can take the wounded directly to. We've got medics on board our team. Yeah, so we can, we can assess these people en route. There's also the evacs as well. So I'm not sure if I made you aware before, these, these women that are now being poached in some of these refugee camps outside of the Ukraine. So once they breach the border back into Poland They are now being snatched and put into the sex trade in Poland. So when we first went over there— I have heard of that. Yeah, I have. Right. So now the German military are securing some of these refugee camps. So this is what's going on. So it's hard to put into words when you come back and you're used to doing what you do over there. And like I say, I only expected to go myself for a couple of weeks, if not a month maximum. I'm 3 months in. I've come back and trying to raise enough money to keep us going. We need them 2 or 3 people to just believe in us. Companies, you know, I've approached mega companies around where I live in North Yorkshire and everyone's turned me down. I'm just really disheartened at the moment. The boys are still there, they're still running operations, still putting their own lives at risk. And we've all left loved ones at home. We've all left our lives at home. Exactly. To come and do this. And there was a particular time, my partner will tell you, that we was in We was in a particular area. It brings tears to my eyes now because I have to ring her up one night thinking that was it. We were getting shelled constantly and it was only a matter of time before they hit our building. But luckily they hit a building, I'll probably say about 100 yards away. That was the last mortar that went off. Oh, I had to make that phone call to her. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I, I, that It is, it's a humanitarian disaster and I just like, just like, let's try and get you some more money, some vehicles. The work you're doing is absolutely crucial. I know that you're doing like, you know, rescue work as well, you know, rescuing wounded, you're training people, you are evacuating civilians, but you're also You've also got firsthand sort of observation of the Russian military equipment, and you were talking to me about how some of their equipment, the packs that they need to have with them, are like out of date. Like, I think you've got a hold of some— There's a particular— I won't go into the scenario how we managed to acquire it, but there was It's also carrying this small yellow box, and it reminds me of a box that you would normally have drill bits in, you know. Yeah. When you open it up, it's full of chemicals and, uh, tablets, so forth, in case of any chemical attack. And when we really scrutinized it, well, because we obviously, we didn't really know what it was at first. So you got this from a Russian tank? That was off a Russian soldier. All right, so this is, this is personal items that they've been given to, to go out with. But when we acquired this, this, um, this chemical warfare kit, it was actually expired in 1984. Right, so it's actually no good, is it? I mean, well, apparently it's no good. No, but that's what I mean, it's old stuff, it's all technology, it's all things that they're using. And I believe that's why, um, the Ukrainians have managed to hold them off for so long. You know, the aircraft they're using, they're not up-to-date modern aircraft. You know, the helicopters they're using, the helicopters are being taken out by people on the ground. You know, yeah, I have seen that. But they, um, so I mean, the Russian— I mean, are you actually coming across Russian soldiers and talking to them, or, um, not really? Um, it's hard. I can't really say too much, obviously, right? No, not really. The The stuff we've got is from when the conflicts have sort of come to a standstill, shall we say, when, when the firing stops, etc. And it is hard-hitting when you're, when you, when you're having to step over dead bodies or parts of dead bodies. And especially in some of the areas, the animals have resorted back to nature. And, and the people are stating this all over when you go down there, the animals are eating the dead. They really are. And it's hard for me to walk away from animals when I was such a dog lover and you're having to leave them dogs there, but your priority is to get the humans out, is to get the children out, the women out, the people who are wounded out, just so this country can survive. Yeah, I mean, well, gosh, it is absolutely horrific, and I do worry about— I know a lot of people I know, you know, the trauma, the impact that this is gonna have for generations. Uh, we've all put our personal lives on hold to go over. Every single aid worker that has gone over there, hats off to him for being there. You've got, you've got a guy called Tom. Tom's gone over there rescuing animals, and Tom's still there now. Everyone knows Tom from Breaking the Chains. I will plug him. Um, he's tried to poach— not poach me, but we've had a lot of correspondence back and forth. But then you've got the simple people. Like, there's a friend of ours called Glyn over there. Glyn's purely gone up to set up an aid tent to help animals and to help children out, and everything that he's got has been donated or he's been supported by his football fans back in the UK. But we've all given up everything to come over, and I've personally not lost my job, but they did state to me if I did go over and I did get pulled in by the police, which I have been, which I have done when I've returned back to the UK, um, that I wouldn't have a job to come back to. There was a woman called Karen who went over with Rob to help the animals out. She lost her job in Oxford, which put her whole life at risk. She's, she's had to sell the house, she's had to move areas, but all because she's gone over for 3 to 4 weeks to help a country that's in a bad crisis. And I find it really disrespectful that people aren't acknowledging what's going on and they're caught up in their own bubble. Like we said before, Johnny Depp, he probably got more views on TV Um, yeah, he got about, um, not like his TikToks and stuff, people were taking clips from the courtroom and putting it on platforms. He was getting about 9 billion views. And, uh, you know, the conversation about, I mean, how on earth it was ever given a 6-week televised trial, um, and for that, this to happen, but I don't know what's happened to, um, humanity. I don't know if having lockdown has affected people, that they've become massively— massively— yeah. And I, I, a friend of mine stated this to me: if war ever came to the UK, which believe you me, the threat has been there over these past few months, yeah, people will not even open the door to a bailiff, let alone a Russian invasion. And that's a fact. So we had intelligence a few weeks back. Now, I do know that part of it was true, and Putin did state this, and I will— we have access to certain things on our gadgets that we can see what's going on in the air and see what's going on on the ground. But he stated that he was going to put a nuclear ordnance on a submarine and send it over towards the UK into the Irish Sea. Now, if he was to do that, detonate that, if NATO intervened, believe you me, that would take out the whole west coast of the UK, if not further. And this is, this is a threat. This, and this threat was taken so serious that there was sub hunters up in these skies searching for this submarine. And I know that for a fact because we had access to, to a certain radar system where we could physically watch these aircraft patrolling the Irish Sea and the coast of the UK. And this is what I mean, this is, this, we're on the brink of World War III. We are on the brink of World War III. And that is a fact. Yesterday, when he nearly hit that, um, that nuclear facility, that nuclear power plant, that's going to be a small Chernobyl, which means the whole area itself will be barren. The thousands and thousands of people that will— that would affect— if he encircles where we believe he's going to encircle now, there's going to be millions of people still left in Ukraine that will not get out. Even military, they will not get— they will either have to fight their way out, which will run out of ordnance, or there'll be a mass murder. Yeah, it— I mean, the whole situation is just, you know, you've seen politicians and world leaders like having— holding talks, and you just think, I don't think you've really got it, you know, like we need to act a little bit more quickly. I mean, I know people go on saying, 'They love Boris and he's done this for the country and done that.' You look at— you look at the president of Ukraine, He's been into the war zone with a set of plates on, with body armor on. He's been in, he's met the soldiers, he's met the people who are suffering. I couldn't see Boris doing that. And I know there's a lot of people who love Boris out there. Yeah, he may have done some good, good for the, for the country, but then you've got Zelensky over there who has pulled out every single straw he possibly can to keep this country going. I mean, I, I think I'm, I mean, I'm full of admiration for the guy and I don't know if you've heard how he found out about the start of the war, but it was from his children and his wife. They were woken up hearing a noise, noise, thuds, and that was how he knew it had started. And I think, you know, he's been very visible and, you know, clearly is very passionate. And I think, you know, the feeling that I see, the observations I see, is that the Ukrainian people, they want their president. They do not want— this is not what propaganda is trying to be spread around this invasion. The Russians are not being greeted with flowers and cheering and— no, not at all. I don't think it's happened once. It's just extremely confusing And guys like you, you know, you're working in a unit, you know, you've got 8 or 9 people. Every— it's— everything is really— you're working so hard with so much against you. Even, you know, you have to itemize, um, going through borders with exactly what you have. I mean, this must take time, it must be exhausting. You've got to think ahead, you've got to plan ahead, you've got to dodge mines, the roads are blown up. It's also— so when you get— so I'll just tell you a brief history. So when you get to Odessa, Odessa is one of their most beautiful beaches. Yeah. You cannot go on the beach now at Odessa. The whole beach has been mined, and that was done in the first month of this conflict, and that was done by the Russians. So there's mines all over the beach, so there's nobody on the beach. When you go through the checkpoints or every single border crossing Okay, yeah, yeah, everything has to be itemized. If you're on a train and you're on your way out to the border, which is usually a Pravysh, if there's an aerial attack, that train physically stops. Now we witnessed this ourselves where the train ride itself is not even an hour. We was on that train for, I think it was 8 hours, because the train stopped for 6 hours. All lights are off, it's like completely dark ops. You are a prime target that we know the rail stations and the rail networks is a target anyway, but you're just wondering whether or not your time is up. We managed to get through that, that particular time only for the next day the building where we stopped next to was hit. Um, so yeah, there's a lot of things going on that people don't realize. Everything you plan in the Ukraine usually takes another day to 2 days to execute, purely for the fact that you have to work everything out. Everything's changing very quickly. Um, these, like I say, the fuel situation, the fact that you can't get vehicles there now, or the vehicles that are there, they're either damaged or they're not good enough to do these road trips. But people also who have got, you know, vehicles were available before this war started, and now the prices have gone up. So people are trying to make money out of misery. And so you've had to come back to the UK. So anyone in the UK or who's listening anywhere in Europe, if you have a vehicle that you can donate, because you need cars and pickup trucks because you can move quicker, you can get stuff in and out easier, and hopefully they go faster, and you need things that are roadworthy for bad road, bad terrain. Um, so if anyone can help Message Women's Radio Station or me, Eva May, at healingimagehi.com. Or, um, you know, there are many ways you can get in touch, and we really want to know how, um, Stuart, we can get money to you through your GoFundMe page. Um, right, so if I'm clearly on social media, which you know about, so yeah, I'm quite happy for that to go out there. And it's not just myself, but I do have to name these guys because they're still there at the moment, uh, grafting. So we've got Ben, we've got Billy, who you know, this Andy, this Glenn, there's Martin, um, there's so many more people still out there still doing what, what we've, what we've started, uh, and we continue to do. And we'll continue to do this for the foreseeable future as long as we can start getting them funds in. There will become a day when we'll either run out of funds, um, especially if nothing else comes in now, we will be running out of funds very shortly. People are starting to come home purely for the fact that they do have a home life as well. But everyone has been mortified when they've come home. Everyone stated, listen, I'm itching to get back, what can we do? Even if I'm back in the UK, I will try and still run ops. Um, I've tried to contact another organization that was to do with some of the families, um, that have been fostered. So this is an organization that was helping out with the visas, helping out with the families, getting these other families over, hooking them up together. Delivering the families, etc. I tried contacting them the other day only to be turned— they've turned their back on me. They've just completely blanked me, full stop. Okay. I think it's really, you know, like I found this even in my role as a radio presenter and also when I shared my story. That then people, they do promise to do things and talk to you or be a guest on your show or whatever, but then actually I've been blanked a lot. And it just— I'm afraid it's just a way of life. It's going to happen. You have to, you know, time tag it. That's done, and let's move on. So yeah, you know, people who do do that, I would rather they had the courage to say, I'm really sorry, I can't do this, or it's not something I would like to do. That's the way really to do it. And I don't know what's happened that people can't say that. Communication's everything, just even if it's a yes or a no, you know. Exactly. It's quite hard when I'm quite switched on. If someone messages me, I will always respond to them, whether it's a yes or a no, or I can do this, or that's the right way to do it. I've just had a message while I've been talking to you now on social media about getting a vehicle over from Poland. Yeah. How do I do it? Just advise them. Um, so you are, you are, um, Ukrainian Rescue Mission. So on social media we are u.r.m. and then Ukraine Rescue Mission. Um, obviously my name's Stu, everyone knows me as Mill Stables on Facebook. So if you go, if you just search me on Facebook, Mill Stables, you'll see a picture of me, um, in my military kit. Yeah, and there's, it's not I would really suggest go to that because Stuart, you've recorded some absolutely like— you know when you can tell someone is talking how genuine they are and like they are like 120% genuine and the way that you speak, the things you say are like— it really does something to— it's like done something to my soul to be honest, like watching you. And I have huge admiration. So if you can keep those videos going, because, you know, they are the things that are going to have real people— you know, I'm a mum, I've got 3 kids, I've got a dog. You know, all that you're saying, if I'd been in Ukraine, we would be in a Ukrainian family, this will be happening to us. It's, you know, it's people. And, you know, um My background is teaching, actually, and, you know, the thought of what these children are going through— It's not what they're going through, it's not only that, it's they have no clue where they're going to end up, where they're going. You know, look at these families that have left, that we've got out through the border, and it's the unforeseeable future. Where are they going to end up? You know, and a lot of people are stating, well, we want to go back, and I've even stated to 4 or 5 of these families When this conflict is over, when you want to go back, you hit me up and me and my team will take you back to your home under security. We will get you there, make sure you are happy there. Then there's the rebuild of Ukraine. I know, I, I mean, who— we've got, um, like 5 minutes left. These hours seem to go very, very quickly. Um, like President Zelensky is saying, what, you know, when they build Ukraine, they're going to have to build, uh, bomb shelters, um, before they— it, you know, it is a massive area. The, the devastation— I mean, we've seen in the news, I've seen it from, uh, you, and I've also seen it from what Billy's, uh, sent pictures to me of. Um, I, I don't— how on earth are we going to rebuild this country for them? Clearly, I've had a lot of people state to me, oh, it's a third world country. The Ukraine No, no, no. Anyone who is listening to this, I've traveled a lot and this is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever, ever been to. And it's not just the country, it's the people. They are so loving and welcoming. Yeah, they will. And it's not just this war that's going on there, that's just the way they are. It's absolutely stunning. You know, we, we have to pull over on one particular mission because the fields of gold were just unbelievable, and I've never seen anything like it in my life. Marypol was a stunning area. The train station of Lviv, honestly, God, the, the architecture there is phenomenal, and it is a beautiful country. Yeah, but people are stating to me, why have you gone over there? Well, reason being is because of what we've done. We've gone over, we're human beings, we have emotions, we have our families at home. We are, we are basically doing right by humanity, um, and that's the way I see it. And if it wasn't for the likes of me and every other aid worker over there, or soldier that's fighting, people like Putin will get away with everything, and they would rule for a long time. And this is just point proven that he isn't what everyone expected him— he was— this war can be won. I believe it will be won if we can do and continue the efforts, not just from ourselves but everything else that's going over, the stuff that's being brought in over the border. If we can get everything there, this war can be won. Yeah. They have got passion that I have never experienced anywhere else before. These people are so passionate about their country, and I've become very passionate about Ukraine too. Yeah. Did you know, you know, Stuart, that they won the, um, Eurovision Song Contest? Yeah, I believe so. Well, like I say, we don't really watch the news. Yeah, no, they did. We actually met a news team. They did. And, and, you know, that was tremendous. But what I find is really sad, really, really sad from that is the guy who was in the— singing it has a, like, a pink bucket hat, I think he wears. And they got a glass microphone trophy, which is the winner's prize. They've had to sell that. They got £1 million for both items to fund. And I think that's appalling. They should keep that. They should keep their trophy, keep his hat. But they should have been given that million pounds. I mean, that, that to me is just terrible because, you know, this is going to be something that's going to be need to be built. It's going to need a lot of money. So if people can donate now, let's try and get the help, get these people safe, save lives, and try and stop this war and, um, stop the advancing. So please, please, we've got like about a minute left I just want to thank you, Stuart, and all your team. And when you go back to Ukraine, please give Billy a big hug for me because I can't wait to see him again. And thank you for speaking to me, and thank you for the work that you've done. And I will put this out, I'll put this on my Instagram, the radio station's thing, um, and my LinkedIn, and I will also send this recording to you so you can use this for your own use, as and how you want. That's something that's totally something that we do for you. So thank you very much. Have you been— have you managed to catch up on some sleep when you've been home? Yeah, I managed to catch up on sleep. I'm quite an active person, so to be honest, we've just been sorting out a few things at home. Um, but my main priority at the moment is try and keep these guys funded, trying to try and get— keep our team together and, um, and keep, keep the aid effort that's going on, really. Um, like I say, we are probably one of a handful of teams over there still prepared to go into the front line and put our lives at risk, etc. Um, but again, it's, it's for the sake of humanity, this. It's not, it's not just— no, this is something that we could not sit and watch. And there was always that That funny saying, wasn't there? What was it? For evil to prosper takes good men to stand and do nothing. Yeah, and you— so let's turn the tide on this, please. We need to say goodbye. I'm sorry, it just goes so fast, this time.