odesa under fire, march 7, 2025

Today, our team split up in order to accomplish multiple tasks. Laurence and Michelle continued building the playground at the Path Home shelter and Andre and I returned to Odesa to help evacuate civilians from Kherson. Odesa has been on putin’s list nearly every day in a row and tonight proved to be no different. The late afternoon began with a warning of enemy fighter jets taking off from a russian air base loaded with ballistic missiles, headed for Odesa. Countered by Ukrainian F-16s, the russian jets returned to base without engaging. Later that night, a barrage of russian drones descended on the city. The video is taken from the courtyard of the home of our gracious host, the intrepid Sharon Harris of Anacortes.

Sidebar: Sharon Harris has been living and helping in Ukraine for 3 years now. Her chutzpah inspired me to go to Ukraine in 2023; we’ve shared many memories along our journey through Ukraine, among them: getting lost and driving across a mined bridge in de-occupied territory, with our newly adopted puppy Odie (deworming meds before a long trip through a mined GoogleMaps black hole not recommended).