MERIDIAN, Idaho — Rob Sturgill and his faith-based group called Type of Wood are back in Ukraine for the 7th time. All trips come with safety issues, but this latest trip was a little more concerning.
- Rob Sturgill and his faith-based group made another humanitarian trip to Ukraine.
- Russian President Putin has stepped up missile attacks on Ukraine.
- We learn why bread means so much to Ukrainians.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
I've introduced you to Rob and his efforts to bring hope and supplies to the war-torn country. But last week Russian President Vladimir Putin escalated the war by firing hypersonic ballistic missiles into Ukraine. Rob says being in Eastern Ukraine you better be good at separating the sound of thunder from incoming missiles.
"Well, Don, last night we actually spent the night in Dnipro, where they sent those six intercontinental missiles so this morning, we actually woke to what we thought was thunder and we found out that it was actually the missiles getting shot out the sky."
We caught up with Rob and his team as they relocated into an apartment building to the west. So many Ukrainians are being forced into bomb shelters, including school children who not only study but live underground.
"A school that is an underground school and bomb for gifted and talented kids that are from the area of Kharkiv and those bunks are their bunks they stay, and they go to school there."
Sturgill's group has delivered millions of loaves of bread to villagers who stand in long lines for something that means so much to them. A man named Paul fled to the U.S. with his parents when he was a boy and explains the importance of bread to his homeland.
"Anything that's on the table, there must be bread even with vegetables, even with fruits. My mom used to bake this sweet bread and she would eat it with watermelons."
I asked an 18-year-old girl named Zlata who fled to Poland when the war broke out why she is back helping out as an interpreter.
"My parents don't fancy this idea, and they don't really know where I am but I'm here because I feel as if it is important. These people need support and to understand that they're remembered and that people care about them."
Now that his group has made it safely back to Poland, I asked Rob what he's grateful for this Thanksgiving week.
"As I head home in the morning to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family I will be more grateful for the freedoms we do have and for the dear friends I've made in Ukraine — these people who are just like us, good people who want freedom and I hope will be mindful of that and even though individually we cannot end the war, we can help relieve some of that suffering."
