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Table of Contents 📖
"This war must be the first in history that has been so vastly crowdfunded."
Hello Team
🎦 00:00-02:02⏩
This video starts where part one left off. Jonathan is on a battle bus with his new friends, Pierre (a British humanitarian aid worker) and Greg and Zhenya (an American pastor who has been running an aid charity in Ukraine for 26 years with his Ukrainian charity partner).
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Sumy Oblast - Near the Russian Border
🎦 02:02-05:30⏩
Jonathan and his friends are in the Sumy Oblast region, about 4 and a half hours from Kyiv. They are near the Russian border and have to travel by car with blacked out rear lights and minimal headlights for safety. They are staying in a guesthouse (which Jonathan suspects is the only one open) in the woods within drone and artillery range of the Russian border. Jonathan highlights the impact of the war on businesses like the guesthouse which must have lost almost all of its customers. The area they are staying in has since become a grey zone due to the dangers posed by Russian guided glide bombs and the unit has had to move back 10km.
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Live Stream with "Fish" - A Ukrainian Soldier
🎦 05:30-08:00⏩
A soldier using the call sign "Fish" joins Jonathan and his friends at the guesthouse, bringing freshly cooked food from his unit. They decide to do a live stream to raise awareness for the unit's needs. Jonathan jokes about what his call sign should be, settling on "Oat Milk".
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Reporting from the Front Lines and a Question of Faith
🎦 08:00-14:07⏩
This part of the video focuses on the role of reporting from the frontline. It's important to get people to connect and empathise with the soldiers fighting in Ukraine. Jonathan highlights how, prior to the war, Fish was just a normal guy with a family, just like anyone else. As an atheist in a religious country, Jonathan decided to interview one of the soldiers about his faith and how this affects his role in the war. The soldier talks about his beautiful wife and daughter, and how after seeing the atrocities in Bucha and Irpin (including the rape of children), he could not just "turn the other cheek" as the bible says. Jonathan was fascinated by the universal humanity displayed by the soldier - the need to protect his family from the invading Russian forces. Jonathan was impressed by his reasoning and highlights that despite their different worldviews, he would do the same if his family was being threatened. Jonathan wrote an article about this encounter called "Crosshairs, a Christian fighter in Ukraine and a question of God in war"
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Meeting a Drone Operator at a Border Village
🎦 14:07-16:48⏩
The following day, the group drive down to the village on the border with Russia to meet a unit stationed at a house there. Jonathan is unable to film much due to OPSEC concerns, but it was a clear day, perfect for enemy drone activity. The unit welcomes them into their house. In the kitchen, they hear about their experiences, hopes and fears. Jonathan highlights that 100% of the vehicles used by these units are from donations. He notes how this is probably the first war in history to be crowdfunded on this scale with people donating money for pickups, drones, bullets, medical supplies, metal detectors, power packs and even armoured vehicles purchased from private dealers. The role played by ordinary people around the world is immense.
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Military Aid, Mobilisation and Innovation
🎦 16:48-18:40⏩
Jonathan talks about the concerns of the drone operator he spoke to:
- The US may stop providing aid. (Six weeks later at the time of recording this US aid has been stuck in Congress for 6 months).
- Mobilisation - Ukrainian soldiers realise that they need more boots on the ground.
- Continued innovation from Ukraine is needed to stay ahead of the game.
Jonathan believes that this is a conceptually easy war to win: Ukraine needs more "stuff". It is not hard but needs money and political will from allies. The West must help to ramp up its own production as well as that of Ukraine's domestic arms industry.
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Kharkiv - Ukraine's Second City
🎦 18:40-20:28⏩
Jonathan and his friends are back on the road, heading for Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city. That evening, whilst it snows outside, Jonathan prepares his daily update videos, but this time with a slightly different perspective, given that he is actually in Ukraine. The following morning, Jonathan and his friends go for tea and coffee, and plan the next stage of their journey. However this is made difficult by the electronic interference in place in Kharkiv (designed to confuse Russian drones and missiles), which is playing havoc with Google Maps. They decide to follow their noses to their next destination, the Novoposhchta post office, a private courier company that has been instrumental in keeping Ukraine going during the war.
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Points of Invincibility - Bomb Shelters
🎦 20:28-23:11⏩
Before going into the post office, Jonathan takes the opportunity to show viewers a "point of invincibility" - one of the many bomb shelters that have been built in response to the war. He shows viewers inside, describing it as basic but functional, with seating, heating, power, water and a bin. He notes that it is "nice and warm", and jokes with Pierre about going inside. He also points out a design feature on the exterior: the walls are rippled to provide extra blast protection.
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Souvenir for Matthew Bishop
🎦 23:11-23:52⏩
Jonathan buys a small souvenir for one of his Youtube subscribers, Matthew Bishop, who had to flee Kharkiv with his Ukrainian wife and child at the beginning of the war.
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Wrap up
🎦 23:52-25:20⏩
The video ends with Jonathan talking about his plans to visit Izium, the site of a heartbreaking war crime, which will feature in part 3 of his video diary. The video cuts to a short, humorous clip of Jonathan being presented with a rifle whilst filming.
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