An Espreso reporter spoke with the organizers of the campaign from Lviv Electrotrans LCE and the representative of the NGO Association of Families of Soldiers of the 24th Infantry Brigade Olha Orudzheva.
On the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, all trams in Lviv have been running with the flags of the 24th brigade named after King Danylo and the slogan "Come back home! We are waiting for you!" The campaign is a way of supporting those who are captured and missing, as well as soldiers’ relatives who have been waiting for months for at least some news from those they want to see home the most.
The tram crew of Lviv Electrotrans is also waiting for their colleague to be released from captivity, so all employees without hesitation agreed to support the campaign in word and deed. Thus, 60 trams run in Lviv, displaying 2 brigade’s flags. Ten of the trams remind that the fighters’ relatives, colleagues and the whole city are waiting for them to return home.
"Every person who took part in the campaign’s preparation and implementation did everything possible and impossible for it to go smoothly. The printing office worked, trying to manage blackouts, the seamstresses worked on their days off to sew the flags. Our team is used to supporting each other all the time, so today everyone voluntarily has become a participant in such a reminder, inspired and believing that every fighter returns alive and well,” says Olya Bachynska, specialist in public and press relations of Lviv Electrotrans. “More than half a hundred of our employees are in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. One of our colleagues is held captive, some have been injured. And two, unfortunately, are dead."
First and foremost, the campaign is designed to attract the attention of society, local authorities and Kyiv, so that they more effectively contribute to the return of fighters to their homes, families and loved ones. The soldiers in Russian captivity are held in inhumane conditions, and their relatives have no communication with them.
"The situation around prisoner of war exchange is difficult at this point, and the 24th brigade has it the worst. It is the largest in the Western region and it has the largest number of missing and captured - more than 1,100 soldiers. Few of them have been exchanged, currently only 12 soldiers out of 1,100. The situation is very difficult, so we are trying to do everything we can to change it," explains the representative of the NGO Olha Orudzheva.
In one of their previous campaigns, which took place on October 29, the families of the captured fighters wrote an appeal to the Lviv regional military administration and personally to its head Maksym Kozytskyi. They have not received any response yet.
"The Lviv military administration has never contacted us. The appeal has been under consideration for a month now. We are still waiting, maybe a few more days and the answer will come," says Olha Orudzheva. "Leading our campaigns, we feel the support of the whole city, but for some reason the Lviv regional administration does nothing to help. We do not know why."