They have already become our friends: Jaap Scholten and a group of courageous Dutch writers, photographers, artists, and rugby players who come regularly to Ukraine to bring vehicles to the Ukrainian soldiers.

We have already had conversations with some of them: 

https://soundcloud.com/user-579586558/ep-287 

https://soundcloud.com/user-579586558/ep-270

This time, we held a big event at PEN Ukraine and UkraineWorld to talk about inspiration, courage, fatigue, freedom, and the need to act.

Guests:

Tommy Wieringa, an acclaimed Dutch writer and ambassador of ProtectUkraine.nl, joined five of the most recent convoys of Protect Ukraine to Izyum and beyond. 

Maurits Chabot, a writer and historian, co-author of the book for the National Book Week of the Netherlands 2025, joined Protect Ukraine on two convoys. 

Jaap Scholten, an author and anthropologist, founder of ProtectUkraine.nl. 

Eddy van Wessel, a prize-winning and internationally respected photographer, has independently traveled to Ukraine since the 2022 full-scale invasion, documenting the ongoing war.

Moderator: Anastasiia Herasymchuk, Deputy Editor-in-Chief at UkraineWorld.

ProtectUkraine.nl is a Dutch NGO focused on supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the frontlines with defensive materials.

"Explaining Ukraine" is a podcast by UkraineWorld, a multilingual media outlet about Ukraine.

UkraineWorld is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine's largest media NGOs.

You can support our work at https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld.

We really need your support now because our media is increasingly relying on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front-line areas, where we help both soldiers and civilians, bringing mostly cars for soldiers and books for civilians. You can support our trips at PayPal: [email protected].

This episode is a recording of an event held by UkraineWorld and PEN Ukraine on January 30th, 2025