What to Expect

What to Expect

Don’t approach this like a holiday.  Consider it an adventure, a research field trip, a life-changing experience, but understand that it will be uncomfortable at times, both emotionally and physically. Be aware, even when it seems far away, that you’re in a war zone.
 

Our plan is to ensure hotel or indoor accommodation, so no sleeping bags will be necessary, and you won’t be exposed to the elements for long periods of time. You’ll eat in restaurants when they can be found (usually) , but we also recommend that you carry healthy snacks and water. If we’re leaving early or getting in late there may be no restaurants open.
 

Helmuth von Moltke said that “no plan of operations reaches with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy's main force,” and it is as true today as it was then. The front lines are moving very slowly and we monitor them in real time, but our proposed destinations must remain fluid. 
 

Most accommodations in-country will sleep two team members per room, although safety and circumstance may alter that configuration. On one previous trip the Russians were shelling hotels and we had to change plans and rent an apartment, so several people had to share two single bedrooms and a living room for a night. Occasionally there may be blackouts, or minimal heat in the hotel, or some other issue related to the war, so be prepared to suffer through an occasionally uncomfortable night if these things happen.
 

Due to operational security (opsec – something you’ll hear about a lot as a team member), we won’t disclose the exact route or schedule along the front until the team is in-country, but the route will generally be between Kharkiv and Mykolaiv covering most of the eastern front, and it will involve both war-torn cities that are inhabited and towns and rural areas that are destroyed and abandoned. It will involve a lot of vehicle travel.  We will not be visiting the Kursk salient.

BYO coffee and the fixings if you like coffee. Tiny cups of cappuccino are the closest you’re going to get to coffee in either Poland or Ukraine. There won’t be coffee makers in the room. Tea is readily available.
 

Bring an international plug.
 

Bring an emergency fund in USD. You shouldn’t need it.
 

ATMs are common in frontline cities, even when the cities are under artillery and bomb attack. Civilization clings hard even in the path of war.
 

There seem to be no real food shortages in eastern Ukraine, as most stores and restaurants are well stocked even in zero-line cities like Kherson.