U of R student on the front lines providing humanitarian aid in Ukraine

Instead of working on his computer science thesis, a 27-year-old master’s student from Regina is on the front lines in Ukraine, providing humanitarian aid to people at their lowest.

Alexander Nau has been to the front lines at least 100 times over the past eight months, he said.

He was following the Ukraine conflict last November when Russian “training exercises” were taking place on the Ukrainian border.

“I started telling people, ‘Hey, something’s going to happen here,’ and pretty much told myself that if something did, that I would make my way down there to do something to help,” Nau said from Ukraine.

Now, he’s on leave from his studies in a country where he said everything is different from his current surroundings. Nau is part of a group with HERO Society Ukraine. There are fun and interesting moments with meeting so many new people.

More often, though, it’s very sad.

“Doing humanitarian stuff, you see people at their lowest,” Nau said.

The past week, Nau’s small five- to six-person group has been working in the Kherson region that was liberated about two weeks ago. He described it as “crazy.”

Wednesday was one of the scariest days he has experienced in his time there. He sent a video to his mother in which shelling can be heard and drones are flying overhead. Nau himself is outfitted in a combat helmet and sheltered with other group members.

(WARNING: This video contains strong language)

In the midst of that chaos, Nau said his group managed to get three people out of the particularly dangerous area.

“There was a couple of times where I just thought I was going to die,” he said with a wry laugh. “Other than that, your heart is just kind of beating when the explosions are that close.”

While their group was on the front line, Nau said Russia launched a major infrastructure strike that cut electricity across the whole country. It left them scrambling for three to four hours to find lodging for three people.

Afterwards, the evacuees called the group their “guardian angels.”

“Even after all that, they were so happy,” he said. “They wanted to take pictures of us … That felt good.”

On Saturday, Nau’s group is to do it again.

Nau said the city they’re in has been without power for two days and also doesn’t have running water.

“Every day is like a mental fight with myself to just give it up and go home to Canada where it’s safe. There’s electricity, hot water and all those luxuries (in Canada) — my car, my family, my pets, my gaming computer, my big TV,” he said with a chuckle.

“But then I think about those three people. We possibly saved their lives from dying in their houses.”

The student said he has no regrets travelling to Ukraine to help in spite of the ever-present danger.

For the past week, his group has spent every day helping the organization Last Mile Logistics work alongside the NGO World Central Kitchen. They’ve been tasked with running a couple of tonnes of food into people in Kherson.

After the region was liberated, about 80,000 people were left without logistics or food for 10 days.

“It definitely means a lot to people. There’s a lot of smiles when you’re coming in there with food,” Nau said.

Nau asked people in Canada to not forget about Ukraine and to stay strong in supporting the country.

While Ukraine might be doing well in the war, Nau said people are struggling amid more missile strikes and shelling. The majority of the country has been without electricity for months.

“We’re still here. It gets worse every day,” he said.