Is Russia targeting Lithuanian volunteers in Ukraine?

Ričardas Savickas. Photo: Benas Gerdžiūnas / LRT

Ričardas Grigas opened the door to a hospital ward where Ričardas Savickas, only one leg visible from under the covers, was recovering from an attack that nearly claimed their lives.

They proceeded to mock each other – why did you keep pretending your hand is injured, said Savickas, while Grigas answered with a joke or two of his own. The back-and-forth continued until Grigas settled down into a chair.

“We experienced what others shouldn’t,” said Grigas. “Everything used to end up well.”

They have lost count of how many times they have brought aid to civilians and soldiers on Ukraine’s frontlines, but the number of trips stretches into dozens. Only one ended in tragedy.

On June 24th, their car convoy was attacked in Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian logistics hub in the Donetsk region, several dozen kilometres from the frontline. The first hit by an Iskander missile did little damage to the team, but the second rocket perforated the cars with shrapnel and hit Grigas in the arm, while Savickas took a hit to his leg. The rest of the team suffered concussions.

They were evacuated to a nearby hospital where, several hours later, Savickas woke up with his leg amputated – “I said, men, where is my leg?”

“When we told the others, that’s when all the pain, cries, and swearing began,” said Grigas. The team was in shock and disbelief as the realization of what had happened set in. “We had already accepted that we had an unwanted incident, it will be forgotten one day, but then it all changed,” he added.

Ričardas Grigas. Photo: Benas Gerdžiūnas / LRT

Safety lessons

Since the start of the full-scale war in February 2022, dozens if not hundreds of Lithuanian volunteers have brought aid to the frontlines. Many have done it for years, while others joined after the invasion. The feeling of mobilization was especially pronounced in Lithuania, where many felt the war in nearby Ukraine was also their own.

At times, however, some critics saw their aid effort as little more than war tourism. Lithuanian and Ukrainian fighters would sometimes complain that civilian volunteers eager to see the frontline seemed primarily interested in selfie opportunities. The same accusations would also often be levelled against journalists.

“Our volunteers go where it is not necessary, like ourselves – we arrive at a military base, and what does that mean? It means that there can be a hit at any time,” said Savickas. “But no one can accuse us of war tourism – we work in a targeted way, we go to specific places and hand over specific [gear], we don’t try to get [to the frontline] with soldiers.”

At least five people died in the rocket strike on Pokrovsk on June 24th. The target for the Russians may have been the commander of an elite unit whom the Lithuanian volunteers were due to meet in the town just metres from where the rockets landed.

However, Pokrovsk is already a potential target due to its importance as a logistics and command hub serving a wide stretch of the Donetsk frontline. Thus, the real target may only be known to the Ukrainian armed forces.

The team of volunteers also stood out, according to Savickas.

“Ukrainian intelligence told us that the whole Donetsk region is being watched and you guys looked very noticeable,” said Savickas.

The cars were painted black and marked with white crosses, which are usually used by the Ukrainian military only. Members of the group – including Savickas – also wore camouflage clothes, as well as Lithuanian tricolours and badges.

To any collaborators in the city, they could have easily come across as foreign fighters – and Russia has a track record of expending considerable resources, including hypersonic weapons, in order to target them.

LRT.lt found at least several cases of Russia hitting buildings where Lithuanian volunteers had stayed just days, or hours, prior. More anecdotal evidence points to Russia using expensive missiles to target the locations where even a small group of international volunteers had stayed.

In a 2023 LRT interview, Grigas also said, “In January, I was near Bakhmut, transporting synthetic blood plasma, precious cargo to military hospitals. Two days later, the house where we were living was bombed. People don’t get any money or anything out of it, but they report that Lithuanians stayed there.”

It’s difficult to gather evidence to show whether in each incident Russia was targeting civilians or whether the strikes followed reports of international troops, instructors or the Ukrainian military gathering there.

A strike in June 2023 on a restaurant in Kramatorsk claimed 13 lives. Ukraine’s security services then arrested an alleged collaborator who had passed on a message to his Russian handlers that the Ukrainian military was gathering inside, which was false.

In virtually all missile strikes on civilian targets, Russia has claimed that they have targeted troops – either Ukrainian or international. But evidence points to the contrary, including in potential war crimes like the Hroza strike in October 2023, when Russia killed 51 people at a vigil, or the missile attack on Kyiv’s children hospital this July.

However, some lessons still need to be learned by volunteers going on future trips.

“Flak jackets are needed all the time, as well as markings of volunteers. It’s necessary to have briefings before the trip and a senior person in each team who knows what to do, so there can be as few victims and injuries as possible,” said Savickas. “We acted too carelessly.”

“I think those who accepted aid had also learned their lesson,” added Grigas. “We simply cannot do things by ourselves there.”

This text was republished through the partnership between New Eastern Europe and LRT English.

Benas Gerdžiūnas is a journalist at the Lithuanian public broadcaster, LRT.

Please support New Eastern Europe's crowdfunding campaign. Donate by clicking on the button below.

Donbas, Frontline, Lithuania, Russian invasion of Ukraine, volunteers, war in Ukraine