This was my third trip to Ukraine for a week of meetings with clients and our new Ukrainian developers we are engaging for a digitisation project -more on that later. Charlie, our Country Manager, came up from Dnipro and it was a good chance to spend time together over and above our regular video calls.

Following my now well-established pattern, I flew to Poland in advance of the long train journey to Kyiv. I had a little downtime between plane and train, so explored Rzeszow and Przemysl. It was nice to pay some time and attention to Poland rather than just treating it as a transit point. It has much to offer and I continued my reconnaissance of training locations for clients who may wish to carry our HEAT before they get into theatre.

Whilst the train is a reliable and safe way to travel, it does bring home the vast scale of the country.

I was on the overnight InterCity train with a reclining seat as opposed to the sleeper compartment, which is some ways is better as you have more freedom of movement but it does mean less sleep. There were no issues with crossing the border and I was stamped in with no questions asked and on my way to Kyiv. This nine-hour duration does sort the wheat from the chaff; you can’t just jump on a plane for a hop into country, it takes time and effort to plan. Go if you have a decent business reason but don’t treat the place like a stop to be visited on a whim or corporate junket.

Arriving in Kyiv

On arrival at Kyiv Passazhirskyi, I jumped in a taxi and made my way to the serviced apartments we were using for the week. A little cheaper than the branded hotels and with more space and facilities, it gives you a nice alternative to a hotel. I had set my Air Alert! App to Kyiv and no sooner had I dumped my bags in the room, it dutifully began its familiar wail to welcome me to the city. Having visited a few times before, we had changed our internal SOP’s; deciding to go to the shelter based on a secondary indication an attack was inbound, rather than acting on the siren alone. We did this because responding to every single siren over the course of a week was time intensive and disruptive, and in a lower risk area such as Kyiv - with its air defences and functioning emergency services- this was acceptable. Secondary indications would include hearing air defences or ordinance, or reports from reliable Telegram channels that a missile, drone or aircraft was inbound. With that in mind, I thought, relax, let’s check the phone and make an assessment.

Air Raid Sirens

What I wasn’t prepared for was less than 10 seconds after the sirens sounded, I heard the air defence systems launching and explosions quickly after. Ok, so this was the indication I was looking for and I made my way to the shelter, which in this case meant a short walk around the corner to end up in a basement covered in the most peculiar artwork. As I walked along the pavement, what struck me was that most people were taking cover under arches or coming in off the street into buildings. People were taking this seriously and this was different to the previous visits, where if I am honest, most of the local population paid lip service to the sirens. It was generally visitors to the city who went to the shelters. There was also a slightly different feel to the moment; the few faces I saw looked weary and worn, more haggard. Obviously two years of constant barrage of indirect fire is taking its toll. Having said that, throughout the trip, everyone I met remained determined and defiant. However, there was a sense that Ukrainians are feeling bereft of support, with the wavering of international military aid, particularly the log jam in Congressional funding. There was a weariness but also a grim determination in their thoughts and deeds that they will get through this regardless of who supports them and to what extent. “If no one else helps us, we will fight to the end”, would sum up my view.

Anyway, back to the shelter. As I sat amongst the basement’s artwork I reflected on the lack of time between the siren and the air defence activation. I would have been expecting at least 5 to 10 mins warning on previous visits, so 10 seconds was a hell of a difference. I wondered what had caused this. It meant the weapons were being used in a way that gave less notice to the air defence systems, or the systems themselves had some sort of weakness that was being exploited. Or a mixture of both. Either way, we would need to reassess actions-on for us and our clients. It was a timely reminder that we are in a war zone, and no matter how nice and normal Kyiv can seem most of the time, the dangers of conflict are very real and complacency must be guarded against at all times. As it turned out, two Zircon hypersonic missiles were fired and intercepted over Kyiv, unfortunately with some damage and injury. This explained the shortened reaction time for the air defence systems had but it was heartening to see they can still hit their targets against this supposedly unstoppable missile.

I won’t come back to the air raids again, but just to say there was a definite uptick in attacks during the week, largely targeting the energy infrastructure. You can read our Spot Report on this here, which goes into far more detail. One postscript: a missile grazed Polish airspace this week, a small but significant event that will create an escalation within the NATO community if allowed to develop and one to watch. Poland scrambled fighters during last night’s attack, a much more robust response to that of Monday’s incursion.

Our In Country Team

Once the alert had finished, I met with Charlie who arrived from our office in Dnipro and we headed out for an afternoon of meetings, most with existing and new clients who we are providing HEAT training for. In the year we have been in country, we weren’t quite sure which of our services would be most in demand, but to date, it is clearly these types of training courses for the NGO community. We have built a purely Ukrainian training team delivering a contextualised course centred on the threats and environment, which we are very proud of. This has taken a lot of time and effort but we are really pleased with progress and continue to play our part in helping those most at risk stay safe and manage themselves in the best way possible. That evening, we met with Vadym, our Regional Security Advisor who is responsible for our alerting and reporting on a day to day basis.

Spearfish HEAT Training Video

As we chatted over dinner, the complications of mobilisation and the latest reading of the bill through the Ukrainian parliament dominated our discussion. The reality of this legislation really does hit home when you speak with someone who is eligible for call up. Yes, there are plenty of people fighting on the front line and many have made the ultimate sacrifice. Everyone needs to do their bit, but when it is people you have got to know quite well, and like and respect, it is only natural to be extremely worried for them. Men are often mobilised to the front line for extended periods of time in extremely tough conditions that most of us can only imagine. One of our team is facing the tough prospect of his son volunteering for military service, and hearing him say as a father, “if you go, I will go with you, son” really does make you quite emotional. I gave thanks for the peace I take for granted as a resident of the UK and tried to imagine how our population would cope if placed in a similar situation. My conclusions were not great.

The next day, we met with our software developers who are embarking on a six month digitisation project with us. This might seem a strange choice, to pick a company based in a war zone but the Ukrainian software sector is incredible. Pre-invasion, it was the global leader for gaming and it vibrant tech sector has been catapulted into the vanguard of the war effort with the advances they have made in drone and electronic warfare. Not only are they developing cutting edge solutions, their perspective on what we do at Spearfish has been honed and sharpened by personal experience, so what better choice of partner for us to make. We will be speaking more about this project in coming months, currently titled DOCC2.0 (yes, this is due a new name). In short, a platform built around our consulting team and our clients to enhance our advisory and support services to those in the field in high-risk environments. More to follow.

Visiting Kyiv’s Boryspil Airport

The week continued along similar lines, but as we neared its conclusion a highlight presented itself. We were invited to meet the Director General of Kyiv Boryspil International Airport, Charlie’s former colleague in Donetsk, and all-round great guy, Oleksiy Dubrevskyy We weren’t quite sure what to expect, as the airport has been closed for over two years. What would greet us, a couple of caretakers with mops and buckets? We arrived at the security checkpoint and were picked up by an escort vehicle to the main terminal where we were greeted by the airport’s senior management team. We were given a tour of the airport, which used to handle over 15m passengers a year, but now lies dormant. It felt like a scene from a zombie apocalypse film. Following the tour, we were given an hour’s presentation on the current operations of the airport.

As it turns out, the team are incredibly busy maintaining the airport as a viable national asset. A little like my Landover Defender, an airport is not an asset you can simply mothball and then restart as and when it is needed. Buildings need to remain heated and air conditioned, air electrical control systems need to be maintained and updated, runways need to be kept clear and operational, people need to remain employed, motivated and most importantly trained and toilets need to be flushed (this is a full time job for one lucky person, nearly a thousand lavatories are operated each day, to prevent air locks and bacterial build up- I kid you not).

Last but by no means least, the safety case and security assessment of the facility and its ability to mitigate all risks to an acceptable level need to be monitored and updated on a continual basis. The ultimate aim is to be able to operate the airport safely, even in wartime, should the political decision to open the airport be made. Without going into the incredible complexity that was described to us as to how such a decision would be made and the security plans required to do so (we weren’t told that part), what was clear was the incredible job Oleksiy and his team have done and continue to do to ensure the site can reopen at short notice.

The Spearfish team meeting the Director General of Kyiv Boryspil International Airport and his team

They are ready, and looking at the high levels of work that has been carried out, and the sparkling state of the facilities, it is clear they mean business and are keen to get back into action. The alarming note was of funding. Although state owned, the airport supports itself financially, and all of this work has been self-financed. What is approaching is the end of their pre-existing reserves, and not to put too fine a point on it, if the international community wants to maintain this critical national asset, some serious funding needs to be put in place soon. Hearing how management have been working without pay to ensure other team members receive salaries emphasised the incredible dedication of the team. We parted in awe of the work that had been taking place in this deserted location, quietly, without fuss and out of the spotlight and we wish Oleksiy and his team every success in attaining their goals to achieve this.

That marked the end of this trip, and I made my way back to the station ruminating on what having air travel back online for the country would mean. It would be a game-changer for Ukraine’s reconstruction. I boarded the train to Poland, already planning and looking forward to my next trip to this incredible country.

Read our latest Ukraine Spot Report and access real-time risk alerts through our online DOCC platform here.

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