My name is Petr and I am a Czech living in Ukraine. Since the first week of the war I have been actively helping in the fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since March 5, 2022, I have spent only two months at home. I have driven more than 180,000 km. More than 350 tonnes of humanitarian aid have passed through my hands, which I have delivered to the most dangerous places on the front lines, from Kharkiv to Bakhmut to Mykolayiv and Kherson. I participated in the evacuation of dozens of people and pets. I managed to raise more than three million CZK. Almost half of that went on transport, on diesel, without which the aid will not get where it needs to go. The rest of the money was used to buy food, medicine, cars and other necessities. Together with a volunteer, Anna, I founded an organisation called Допомагаю Україні (I Help Ukraine), which has a warehouse in Mykolaiv, the second most shelled city in Ukraine. From there I continue to deliver aid to soldiers directly to the front lines, often to the trenches. Several times I myself came under fire, fortunately it was always just metal plates. For all my efforts I received a medal for active volunteer work from the ZSU (Ukrainian Army).

Why did I decide to help?

The answer is simple. I live in Ukraine, I have a wife here and we would like to continue living in a free country, not under the occupation of Putin’s Russia. Czechoslovakia went through this in 1968 and I don’t want it to happen anywhere else. I will help the Ukrainians until the end of this war, until the last occupier is gone from the country, until Ukraine is free again.