Ukrainian soldiers who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in tribute to fallen comrades were welcomed to the House of Lords by Lord Speaker Lord Forsyth, who hosted a screening of their documentary Second Wind for peers and MPs. British Ukrainian Economic Future was proud to help organise the event.
British Ukrainian Economic Future was pleased to support our partners and members of our board in helping to organise this important event.
Ukrainian amputee soldiers who completed a remarkable ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro in tribute to fallen comrades were met by the Lord Speaker after he personally invited them, on Wednesday 22 April, to tell their story to parliamentarians.
The soldiers were part of a group of five — four of whom lost limbs in the war against Russia, and a fifth, a critically wounded servicewoman — who reached the 5,895-metre summit after a four-day climb marked by sub-zero temperatures, pelting rain, and the devastating effects of their injuries.
The expedition was conceived as a public act of remembrance and as a symbol of a free, independent Ukraine. The soldiers who met the Lord Speaker remain serving combatants.
Their achievement was made into a documentary film, Second Wind, which was seen by Lord Forsyth. He then arranged for the film to be shown to an audience of peers and MPs in a packed state room at the House of Lords. Ukraine's ambassador in London, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, and the film's director, Masha Kondakova, were among those present, alongside two of the soldiers who appear in the film and Lord (Charles) Banner and his wife, Tetyana Nesterchuk, who is Ukrainian.
Lord Forsyth said he hoped the documentary would reach a wide international audience and inspire continued support for Ukrainians, as well as for their veterans adjusting to life after injury, as Ukraine enters its fifth year fighting Russian aggression.
Lord Forsyth, who has himself climbed Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, for charity, said that, knowing how demanding it can be to reach the summit under normal circumstances, he could "only imagine what it must have been like to do it under these, extraordinary and unbelievably difficult, circumstances, both physically and mentally.
"It encapsulates so much of what we have learnt about the courage of the Ukrainian people — their determination to overcome the odds and to do so in a spirit of humanity, loyalty and fellowship."
One of the soldiers, Misha, who lost a leg to a Russian airstrike, told the Lord Speaker: "I thank the British people for their support, which we can feel all the way to the front line. We are very grateful to be here." Since the film was made, he has returned to the front line to work as a drone operator.
Lord Forsyth said: "In four years of war and suffering, the Ukrainian people have not surrendered either their national will or their human dignity. They have shown that courage is not just daring in battle. It is endurance, constancy, loyalty and hope under unbearable pressure. We stand by them today and we will always stand by them."
Last month, the Lord Speaker welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Parliament, and said he had the chance to discuss the Second Wind documentary with him.
