Kharkiv, Ukraine – The Calhoun Journal is proud to welcome a part-time writer that will be covering some of the special needs happening in Ukraine. Thirty-year-old Scott Urquhart grew up in Anniston and moved to Gainesville, GA at sixteen to attend military school. Scott still returns to the Anniston area to visit his family and friends who remain in the area.
As an early adult Scott had decided that he wanted to travel to see the many different lifestyles around the world. Scott stated, “Before volunteering in Ukraine, I spent a year in Chiapas, Mexico, working in an animal sanctuary in a Mayan community, and dedicated my time there to living out some of the dreams of my late friend, Will Fiorella.” Scott returned to the US from Mexico in July of 2022.
In February of 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine and engaged in a war that has continued to create horrible living conditions for the people that call Ukraine their home. Scott was in Poland at the time and became determine to help the people of Ukraine and entered the country via bus in the beginning of November 2022. He is currently staying in Kharkiv, 31 miles from the Russian border and 50 miles from Belgorod, where Russian drone and missile strikes have been on the decrease. Scott stated, “The city that I live in is called Kharkiv, it was Ukraine’s first capital, and one of the first to have been occupied by the Russian Federation. Every other night we are sent missiles from Belgorod, a Russian city that is behind the border, which is 25 miles from where I live. For a while, they were sending their S-300 rockets at lower altitudes to avoid our air defense systems. All it takes is 30 seconds for those missiles from Belgorod to hit our city, and they know exactly where they are aiming when they send these. All of the hospitals, kindergartens, schools, universities, railways, shopping centers, red cross offices, and all other civilian infrastructure have been targets. Despite the frequent sounds of explosions, our utilities have all been working without any hiccups, especially in comparison to last year when we had electricity for maybe 3 or 6 hours a day as well as little to no cellular service.”
Scott went to to say, “I volunteer for an animal rights organization called UAnimals, we perform evacuations from the frontline and also provide aid to those taking care of animals in such regions. There are many people who feel that they have no other place to go and choose to stay where they have worked their entire lives for, despite the daily artillery strikes and the looming threat of a Russian advancement. In addition to working for them, I have made it my mission to extend myself to all those who ask me for help, such as my teacher friend, folks who ask me to buy them food, and also by organizing events like a communal barbeque or screenings of a documentary for fundraising.” “My goal here has been to simply do what I can to help those in need, animals, and people alike. There’s no shortage of things that need to be done here, from repairing homes to evacuations.”
Scott will be submitting stories from inside the Ukraine that is directly from the viewpoint of a Calhoun County resident. We hope that you will welcome him by supporting his stories and helping to spread the word. Scott closed by saying, “We have everything that we need here, there isn’t much of a shortage of aid, except for some of those people who live in districts more heavily hit, though the government is doing a decent job of providing food and resources to such people or those displaced, there is a constant need for more volunteers. While out on a mission in a different region of Ukraine, about a mile or two from the front, my friend and I saw one of Ukraine’s delivery trucks working to give people their mail, packages, or donated goods.”
