Veteran remains in Ukraine after four week helping hard-hit areas
By Emily Holwick
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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KMBC) — An Air Force veteran from Weston, Missouri has been in Ukraine for about a month, using his military background to help the resistance. Over the last four weeks, Paul Schwennesen has seen the full scope of the devastation brought on by Russian attacks. While he’s still using his military training, he’s also expanding his efforts to help people in desperate need.
Crumbling buildings line the streets of a town crippled by Russian artillery. “No power, no water, no cell phones, you know, it’s utter destruction,” said Schwennesen. “It’s a wasteland. It’s a burned-out, shelled-out wasteland.”
Scenes like this have become common. He says the immense destruction is the result of near-constant attacks. “I’m not sure if it’s our side or theirs or mine clearing, but I mean, explosions every few minutes,” he said. “It’s just the way it is.”
He shared video with KMBC 9 of a smoking missile that hit outside of Kyiv, and a Russian tank destroyed by Ukrainian forces using high-tech weapons from western nations. “One man with a modern weapon can take out an entire tank and it’s really shifting the entire warscape,” Schwennesen said.
His focus has shifted toward humanitarian aid. He’s been helping in the hard-hit town of Bucha north of Kyiv, using money his wife is collecting here at home. “Tried to go back yesterday to just bring them bread,” he said. “I’d heard that they hadn’t seen bread for 38 days kind of thing, so I filled the back of the car with bread and water.”
Bucha is the site of alleged war crimes after civilians were found mercilessly killed and left in the streets by Russian forces. “This is a level of brutality that I don’t think anyone, I mean it’s not a complete shock but it’s pretty surprising,” said Schwennesen. “This is just taking it one step further than people even had imagined.”
Schwennesen is one of many people from around the world wanting to help on the ground, but he cautions against going to Ukraine unless you have experience and ample resources.
“Make sure that they have background that is useful, they know what they’re doing and that they’re also prepared to bring what they need to self-sustain themselves here for an extended period of time,” he said, “so that they don’t become a drain on already limited resources in the country.”
As he gets ready to head home, Schwennesen says he’ll focus on raising money to help rebuild. “I think I’ve done about as much as I can personally in the short term,” he said. “I’ll have to go back and see if I can try to help generate more resources for again for that long haul.”
You can follow Schwennesen’s journey on Facebook here. The page also has information if you’d like to donate to his efforts.
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