1 week Ago By [email protected] (Chris Harby)
“Nobody normal volunteers to go into a war zone.” A life less ordinary in the military has meant restlessness is a loyal, nagging companion for Jack Bon Holly - a pseudonym used to protect his family. He was establishing a small business in Stamford when war broke out in Ukraine.
It felt like fate calling. “I’ve always been someone who gets bored very quickly and wants to move on to the next thing,” he said. “But at the moment this has got my full attention - and still has after 21 months.
“There are times when I just want to give in. It’s exhausting. “But if we don’t do what we do, no-one is going to step in.
” This is the first time he’s returned to Stamford since selling up and driving to Ukraine. Indeed this flying visit to renew a long-expired visa is the first time he’s left Ukraine since arriving in the summer of 2023. And he doesn’t feel comfortable with it.
Mostly his mind is elsewhere, hundreds of miles back across continental Europe. Concerned for friends back ‘home’ in Kharkiv, particularly Mariya, or ‘Masha’, his interpreter and ever-present assistant on aid missions to the front. Since teaming up, the pair have built up trust with army units, and now their chief goal is to raise money to buy aid to order for their troops.
They then deliver it, chiefly to the Donbas, one of the chief theatres of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Yet even while back in the unfamiliar safety of the UK, old habits die hard. “The hardest thing to get used to here when I got back was the number of planes up in the air,” he said.
“When you hear an engine above you in Ukraine, it’s invariably bad news. “In Ukraine you tend to listen to what direction the engine is going in. If it sounds like a moped or a small engine it’s likely to be a Shahead (drone missile).
“So then you’re listening for the noise - is it going to come down near me, do I need to take cover or not?” Such muscle memory is hard to shift when it could keep you alive. This judgment helped him reach the safety of his entrance hall when the windows of his apartment were blown out, shortly before setting off on his brief sabbatical. “When there’s a ballistic threat I have an app on my phone which tells me when there are Shaheds in the area, but, honestly, it’s so constant I rarely look at it, even when I’m in Kharkiv,” he admits.
“If I hear it going over, I carry on what I’m doing, but every now and then the noise of the engine will change. “That’s the point where I’ll go and observe the two-wall rule. One to take the blast, one to take the shrapnel.
” Careers in the British Army and police have trained Jack to evaluate levels of threat and tell danger and safety apart. Three years of war have built up the same tolerance among civilians in Kharkiv who have learned how to continue day-to-day life among the chaos. “Apart from the fact that people are killed almost on a daily basis, some building will be hit, something will be blown up, people just carry on as normal,” said Jack.
“There’ll be an explosion a few hundred metres away and you’ll see these young people chatting away as if nothing has happened. “That’s the saddest and the hardest thing. To realise that it’s become normal for them.
” And it’s not just those within Ukraine’s borders to whom the war has become normalised. Jack says aid levels have dropped off ‘significantly’ and believes there is a growing fear among citizens in Ukraine that they have become forgotten by the watching world. But it rages on.
“Ukraine is being hammered by ballistic missiles, by drones, by glide bombs, all of the big cities and many of the smaller ones. Nearer the front it’s really tough. “Drone technology is increasing massively.
When I first started doing aid delivery 18 months ago the range of drones was fairly limited. Now the skies are thick with them.” He added: “We’ve certainly been in some close calls, but I haven’t been killed yet.
“I have a fairly ambivalent attitude to my own safety. That’s not to say I want to get killed, but I am trained to take quite a high risk level. “My job now is to keep Masha alive because what she does in her commitment to supplying the front line troops is incredible.
“I have to weigh the risks and keep her as safe as possible.” Jack says recriminations against Ukrainians in Russian-occupied zones continues daily. Capture is not an option.
“Masha is under no illusions - she’s been an active volunteer,” Jack said. “If the Russians ever captured her she would be tortured, raped and murdered. “For the majority of those who have taken an active part in the defence of Ukraine, any form of surrender means their likely death.
It’s still happening on a daily basis in Crimea.” Despite this, Jack says the anarchy of war has brought in many from overseas there just for the experience of killing. And then there are ‘tourists’.
He has turned down many requests for a lift from those who ‘just want to take a few selfies at the front’. Jack himself came close to taking up arms once again for a legion working with the Ukrainian military. “I was invited last year to join and even went to Kyiv and signed the paperwork,” he recalled.
“But the following month before the paper was validated a new law was passed to say that no-one over the age of 60 can serve in the army. “Because it was a three-year contract and I would turn 60 during that, they couldn’t validate it.” Despite growing pressure for a ceasefire, a genuine peace to satisfy all sides remains distant.
I mention the incendiary words ‘Donald Trump’ and Jack replies with two words - Trump and something in Ukrainian. It’s a popular slogan for Ukrainians and the translation isn’t complimentary for the American president. “What happened in the Oval Office with Zelensky had a real impact in Ukraine - it galvanised support for him.
“Not everybody thinks Zelensky is a great leader in Ukraine, but the overwhelming backing he received after that was amazing. “People really know ‘this is our president’.” He added: “Pretty much every warrior we speak to is of the belief that they will not stop fighting - no matter what is signed.
“If the lines were drawn now and territory is ceded to Russia, that makes the death of many of their brothers and sisters pointless.” But even when the fighting does stop, Jack intends to stay on to lend his skills to rebuild a country. There will be many, many acres of mines to clear, tons of munitions to dispose of, and a long list of towns, cities and villages to reconstruct.
“I intend to be there for a long time. “My whole life has been about adventure and excitement and I have skills which are practical and needed out there. I just want to help.
“It’s like I’ve been training my whole life for this job.” For updates on Jack’s time in Ukraine visit https://www.facebook.
com/jackbonholly And visit buymeacoffee.com/jackbonholly or Paypal donations to [email protected] if you would like to donate.
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