“I have just experienced four very intense days in Ukraine which will remain forever in my memory. » The beginning of the message that Olivier Thillaye sent to the editorial staff of The New Republic from Indre-et-Loire encouraged us to meet him.
Returning on April 25, 2024, part of his mind was still “over there” when he told us about his journey. “I’ve been wanting to go and see for myself the situation there for a while”, he says. He wasn’t going to be disappointed.
In contact with a Ukrainian association whose translation could be “A little warmth in the heart”, Olivier Thillaye – volunteer at the Red Cross and founder of the association La Touraine helps the children of Ukraine – began his journey with Krakow (Poland), where he took a night train to Kyiv. A sleepless night before meeting a renowned local artist, Olesya, who will show him two museums, where there are photocopies of works (engravings), the originals having been stored away.
Despite their serious injuries, the soldiers Olivier met absolutely want to return to combat to defend their country against Putin.
© (Photo Olivier Thillaye)
A smooth start before meeting his contact for the rest of the trip: Mikaël (is that his real first name?), a colossus of at least 2 m, constantly on the phone organizing meetings and deliveries. He makes no secret of the dangerousness of the mission: distributing food and some medical equipment between here and the front line to the southeast.
A country at war that lives despite everything
After waking up with a start at 3 a.m. following a missile alert, Olivier and his guides leave at 5 a.m. sharp. Between now and midnight (curfew time which there is no question of violating), they will cover 1,450 km and make six stops (including two technical). The first 150 km of motorway towards Zaporizhia do not bode well for the rest of the journey, on roads that are not always passable. What a contrast between Kyiv – where life seems almost normal, where economic activity in any case is in full swing – and the small country towns, the villages half-abandoned because they have been partly destroyed. It is there, however, that he will experience some of the strongest moments. For example when those they come to help offer them eggs even though they are in total destitution. “It’s those who have the least who share the most”, he was able to see. Closer to the front he hears the incessant sound of bombs.
In this bombed building, a Banksy-style drawing (or perhaps Banksy) as a sign of resistance.
© (Photo Olivier Thillaye)
He will also meet wounded soldiers in a makeshift hospital, “Ukrainians determined to return to combat even though they are injured or even amputated. The only thing Putin succeeded in was uniting the whole country against him. »
Everywhere there are houses and buildings demolished, uninhabitable. Bridges destroyed, sometimes by the Ukrainians themselves to prevent the Russians from advancing.
Quite a few people have been living in basements for months. They also work there, to manufacture what is needed on the surface. Life goes on. Difficultly. Because water, above all, is lacking. “There is no longer a drop of drinking water. All networks have been affected. You have to filter the water or get bottles. Electric generators hum constantly. Internet access is via Starlink. »
During this trip, we always asked him to take as many photos as possible. To testify, to make known their living conditions.
“I always tried to provide some comfort, pushing my own emotional moments away until later in my room…”
Return there in July
In view of his next trip which he will make at the beginning of July with a truck loaded, he hopes, with one or two water filtration systems (€13,000 each), Olivier Thillaye wanted to learn as much as possible. He saw what associations helping orphans – often disabled – could do despite their paltry means. He saw the bombed areas, he saw the cemeteries marked out with lines in a country where death is a daily companion. Many soldiers died due to the lack of an ambulance to transport them to a hospital, even a makeshift one.
“I came back even more determined to work to help Ukraine at my humble level. I met people of extraordinary courage and optimism. »
