Viclore

During my time in Ukraine, I’ve ended up with a stack of chevrons.  Some are on my bag, some are on my wall.  Here’s a bit about some of the chevrons I’ve collected, and the meanings behind them.

This is what my backpack currently looks like:

In the middle of the top row, we have “волонтер”- the Ukrainian word for volunteer.  Whilst the digicam pattern suggests it’s a military patch, I like to have the label anyway.  Occasionally people will spot it and start a conversation (in English) about what I’m doing over in Ukraine.  It’s a chevron that’s worn by international volunteers reasonably commonly. 

In the top right, we have a miniature Ukrainian flag.  This is a generic show of support for Ukraine.  I use this bag when I’m in the UK, and I’ve had a Ukrainian migrant start a conversation with me before after seeing the flag.  Many volunteers will have such a flag, or a flag which is half Ukrainian and half whichever country they have come from.

In the bottom left, we have a Just Stopped Oil patch from Front Line Kit (FLK).  This was designed by Tony as a joke in commemoration of Ukrainian drones being used to blow up Russian oil refineries.  FLK chose to get a stack of the design printed, and I ended up being gifted it during one of my trips.

In the bottom middle we have “правда”, meaning “truth”.  It is also the name of a bar in the centre of Lviv.  Early in the full-scale invasion, the basement of правда was used as an impromptu international journalist centre.  The basement incidentally also functions as a bomb shelter.  As I was hanging out with journalists at the start of the war (and didn’t know the language) I tended to hang around правда reasonably often.  Good beers, good music, good bomb protection.  I bought the chevron from their gift store and wear it because I like the bar. 

Bottom right, we have a smiley British flag.  I bought two of these during my prep for my first trip to Ukraine.  This was back when the Polish side of the border was chock full of journalists who were too scared to cross the border, yet still wanted a story.  It led to a bunch of random journalists wanting to speak to me, then being disappointed when they realised I was just a well-meaning idiot.  One of the group I was with said “yes” when an eager journalist asked him if he was a soldier (he was not), and ended up giving an entire interview.  This article was of course published in a well-known outlet with zero fact checking on the journalist’s part.   

I ended up giving one of my smiley British chevrons away.  Walking down the street chatting with a few other volunteers one night, a group of Ukrainians overheard us speaking English and stopped us.  One of the group was an English teacher and acted as a translator.  The group was interested in why English speakers were in Ukraine, and we explained our volunteer work.  They had a good chat- they were surprised to hear that foreign nationals were coming to the country not for a paycheque, but simply to help.  I ended up giving the group the patch from my bag to remind them that the international community does care.  Unfortunately, I can’t find more Velcro patches like this online- perhaps I’ll pull the trigger on commissioning someone to make me a stack.

Here we have another FLK patch.  Whilst I haven’t worked directly with them in a while, I’ve previously helped FLK on a range of projects.  This seems to entitle me to grab a copy of their latest chevron!  I’ve had one of these chevrons on my bag in the past, but switched it out for the Just Stopped Oil one.

Koda’s Mission is a group which rescues and cares for dogs, and has been active since early into the full-scale invasion.  I used to spend a lot more time running supplies around Ukraine, and I fundraised for/brought them a big pile of dog food.  Because of this, they gave me the chevron.  I also got to pat Koda, the dog that the group is named after!

This chevron is from Porokhova, a group which produces camouflage nets for soldiers.  Nets are custom made to the specifications of the soldiers, the time of year, and their destinations.  Net weaving is very easy to pick up and drop, so it’s become one of my regular haunts.  It’s great to pop into for an hour in the evening after work, or to spend a full day at if I have the time.  The people at Porokhova are so friendly, and always make sure I eat something.  It’s a really lovely spot, and the chevron is a nice reminder of the people waiting for me there.   

Volunteering in Lviv in summer 2023, I met a man from Brittany called Jeremy.  He is what you might describe as “a character”.  He’s incredibly passionate about Brittany and the Breton language.  He brought large Brittany flags, and Brittany flag bunting to hand out to people.  He was volunteering in Lviv whilst he waited to join an ambulance headed out to the front- he wanted to work in getting injured soldiers to safety.  Eventually he got the summons.  We met up in Kyiv before he left for Kharkiv.  Whenever you intend to go to the front, you don’t know what will happen.  He gave me one of his medic chevrons.  I keep this one on the wall as I would be sad if I lost it. 

Jeremy survived his stint in Kharkiv.  While he was there, he met a local group producing these Boris Johnson chevrons.  I asked him to grab me one, and he posted it to me when he got back to Brittany!