- The invasion touched off a refugee crisis as Ukrainians fled the conflict in their homeland.
- He was among those who volunteered to help this vulnerable group in navigating the deadly disruptions.
Image: MFA/Olexii Nazaruk
Jackson, not his real name, was a career journalist who found a calling in telling stories about key happenings of the world.
When the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, journalism was his immediate short-term weapon to bring change.
The invasion was an escalation of the next phase of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict that started in 2014, following the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
As fate would have it, the invasion, that few feared would happen as many dismissed it as an impossibility, took weeks, then months, later a year and now two years.
The invasion touched off a refugee crisis as Ukrainians fled the conflict in their homeland. Data from the United Nations says that currently, over 6 million Ukrainians are yet to return home.
With millions of people driving into poverty and Ukraine's economy being debilitated, Jackson's immediate short-term weapon that was journalism had to mutate.
“I was doing some journalism at the start and then I started doing more volunteering," he said.
He was among those who volunteered to help this vulnerable groups in navigating the deadly disruptions.
Jackson was at the heart of evacuations in areas that were hit by missiles or drones.
“We evacuated civilians for a long time maybe for more than a year, year and a half," he said.
His decision to stand with Ukrainians was not by chance. He is against everything the Russian Federation stands for.
While he is British, he also has Russian heritage. His family has always supported Ukraine since the start of the war in 2014 and he has family living in Ukraine.
Because of his perspective on the war and desire to protect Ukraine, he transitioned from a volunteer in evacuations to one in the Ukrainian army.
"I decided to volunteer with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and that's what I do now with a unit in the Ukrainian military.”
Being on the frontline in combating the invasion is not for the faint-hearted.
He noted that there is a lot of different jobs one can do being in the army, and while it does not mean shooting at your enemies, one has to always carry a gun, just in case a situation arises that will need them to defend themselves.
The support he received from his family despite the safety concerns gave him the impetus to soldier on, a day at a time.
As a journalist and evacuations volunteer before, he had found himself in such dangerous positions and seen some of his friends die in the war.
“We were under a lot of shelling and had my friends killed. It's not like I just woke up one day and I decided to do this. It was kind of a gradual progression where I felt more confident and more comfortable with my abilities.”
At one point, a S-300 missile landed about 50 meters from where he was.
To survive that moment, he counts himself lucky. But that did not scare him.
“We’re in a war you know. We are going to get shot at.”
In helping Ukraine fight the aggression, Jackson has found fulfilment and a new purpose in life.
The two years of war, according to him, have been brutal but devoid of regrets.
“I’ve been able to massively help people around me in very difficult situations especially when I was doing the civilian evacuations. You know when you get kids out of war zones you just think that if we hadn’t done that these kids would be maybe dead," he said.
"Maybe they’d be taken to Russia and maybe their parents would be killed. It just makes it all worthwhile. Those single moments of happiness make it worth it.”
Despite the efforts launched to stop the war, including sanctions against Russia from key players in Europe, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, defiant Russia is determined to finish what it started.
Though both countries have suffered significantly, Ukraine has borne the brunt of the war.
But despite the deficiency of resources, Ukraine has for two years refused to bow to the onslaught of its rich aggressor.
As the US heads to an electioneering period, Jackson's biggest worry is that support from the West, especially the US might stop coming to Ukraine, should former President Donald Trump get elected.
He says the US has been the biggest supporter of Ukraine in terms of aid and that might soon not be the case.
His concern is how much can be achieved before the end of President Joe Biden’s current term.
“Trump seems very likely to win the election and that's going to be very bad for Ukraine. Aid is going to be cut massively and it's going to be difficult for Ukraine and afterwards, so that's my major concern," he said.
“It looks a bit like a stalemate you know on both sides and the Russians are making gains unfortunately yet a lot of people are dying, others captured… there doesn't seem to be an end in sight."
He avers that Ukraine needs more aid and ammunition to help in their counter-offensive.
For him, 2024 is a defensive year for Ukraine.