“Something sparked inside me,” Michael Lalla said of his immediate reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as he explained how he came to spend much of the past two-and-a-half years in that country, evacuating citizens from the dangers of the war.
Within just over a week of the February 24, 2022, Russian invasion of Ukraine, 44-year-old Lalla was signing up with the Foreign Legion. Frustrated by the sign-up process and its slow pace, he noted fine print at the bottom of the form: “or show up in Ukraine.” And he did.
A native of Minnesota and Wisconsin, Lalla served eight years in the U.S. Army Reserves and National Guard, including a three-month tour in Iraq. He knew he had the skills and experience to help the people of Ukraine. Currently, Lalla is on a break in the U.S., staying with friends in Fort Davis. While here, he has been working with the local nonprofit Mobile Comunidad to make more money to be able to return to Ukraine on November 12.
At one point while on the ground, volunteers were urged to go to the city of Lviv to sign up for the Ukrainian Army, and Lalla received a text that volunteers for civilian evacuations were needed. The group he joined began that work in earnest, using private cars painted with large letters to identify them as volunteers. They started working from word-of-mouth requests and with the Ukrainian Army, which sometimes contacted the group with specific requests to move soldiers or get food to them.
Lalla and that loosely organized group of international volunteers began their humanitarian work near the frontlines near Donetsk in the Donbas region, learning that aid organizations become few and far between in that space. He remembers the first place he bunked was a former kindergarten classroom. “It still had the little shoes lined up,” he recalled with emotion.
Much of their work took place within 20 kilometers of the front line, an area with no security for their efforts. “I’ve been shot at and mortared,” Lalla said. Eventually, the group connected with a nonprofit, In God’s Hand, to gain more funding to equip and sustain themselves.
Consisting of about 12 people, Lalla’s team typically includes volunteers from Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, but rarely Americans. As far as who volunteers and how they come to be there, Lalla said, “War is a very small community.” They maintain contact with each other via the app Signal while working along the front and as they come and go from the region. Lalla speaks Russian and is learning the Ukrainian language. Both are spoken in the area where he is serving. Many people living and volunteering in the area speak English, and he has found it mostly easy to communicate.
The group never knows from one moment to the next what they will be doing. “We get a call, get there, get the people and their stuff and head west,” Lalla said, explaining that evacuees typically are told they can bring two bags of possessions but that some bring much more, “Including the kitchen sink, literally,” he said, shaking his head. The civilians are taken to the nearest train or bus station or NGO shelter. He doesn’t know the exact number of citizens his team has transported but does know that the figure is in the thousands. “My approach is, ‘How can I help you?’ not, ‘I’m going to help you,’” he explained.
Lalla has been back and forth to the U.S. during the war, once even making one trip back through Germany to purchase a car and drive it back to the frontlines to use as an evacuation vehicle. Painted with bright colors, the four-door sedan is well marked to identify it as part of a volunteer effort.
Lalla is well-versed in the politics and history of the war as well as the efforts on the ground. He hopes to run for Wisconsin’s District 8 congressional seat next year. He sees that as a natural extension of his passion for helping others. “It’s an act of service. I don’t see it as a career. Because I can, so I will,” he said of his desire to be actively involved in ways he can make a difference.
For now, he believes that the war will go on for some time, but he sees Ukraine being able to get its borders back up with the assistance of U.S. military equipment and peace discussions. Lalla describes the arrival of Javelin missiles and, particularly, Bradley fighting vehicles as a godsend. He believes that the passage of a recent Ukrainian anti-corruption law will also make a difference and allow more support to get directly to the Ukrainian soldiers on the frontlines.
Early in Lalla’s volunteerism in the country, he saw soldiers with no boots, fighting in tennis shoes and without helmets. The Ukrainian troops have to pay for their uniforms and sometimes even their ammunition. He explained that many of the units have Instagram accounts and people can find particular troops and support them directly. “After this war, I think there will be another revolution in Ukraine as a result of soldiers being put in this position,” Lalla said. He also thinks that there will be significant psychological effects on Russia’s actions as more and more Ukrainian strikes occur within Russia’s borders and more Russian citizens learn the facts about the war. He believes that other nations are giving Ukraine just enough support and military equipment to keep going and to cause Russians to continue being killed until a resolution to the conflict is reached.
Lalla looks forward to the house and car that await his return to the country and describes his efforts in Ukraine as a small chapter of his life. He said he feels content in the purpose he has found for himself as “a trained veteran, smart, with no ties” who actively chose to make himself available to his mission.
Source: The Big Bend Sentinel