Latest news with #Hand&SpearHotel
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Trump says he wants to do a Ukraine deal with Putin. Here's a reality check from on the ground
What in the World, a free weekly newsletter from our foreign correspondents, is sent every Thursday. Below is an excerpt. Sign up to get the whole newsletter delivered to your inbox. Surrey, England: Greetings from the Hand & Spear Hotel in Surrey, England. I'm sitting in the kind of pub where you could relax all afternoon and forget to go home. The shelves behind me are lined with books as I sink into a leather armchair and wait for an old friend to join me for lunch. I feel at home as soon as I arrive: the music is low, the lighting is soft, and the air is cool on a hot summer's day. Sitting here, you could feel sure that all was right with the world. But I'm at this pub to discuss a place where so much is all wrong. I'm catching up with Shaun Hopkins, a tech worker and aid volunteer, on his return from the eastern edge of Ukraine. The Hand & Spear, in a small forest in Weybridge, is the best place to meet: I can get the train from London, and he can turn off the M25 without messing with city traffic. Shaun walks in the door with an easy hello. He is a big man with a quick smile and a hint of Welsh music in his voice. Nobody would guess that he was in Pokrovsk two days earlier – a town in the news this week because it could be caught by a sudden Russian advance. 'It's the worst I've seen,' he tells me of his latest visit. 'It reminded me of the first journeys I did to Ukraine when the Russians were still around Kyiv. I didn't know what to expect when I first went into Ukraine, and I was back in that situation again 3½ years on, looking for drones and not knowing if we go down this lane, whether or not there's going to be Russians.' Shaun is on his way home after delivering medical aid and vehicles to the front line. This is his 60th trip since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and it is one of the longest: he has driven a small van about 3000 kilometres to Pokrovsk and the same distance back, and he has a few hours to go before he arrives home to his partner, Toni, and their two sons near Cardiff. I met Shaun three years ago when I wrote about volunteers who created a supply chain from Australia to Ukraine. He was one link in the chain: a tech support guy who set up his own aid group, UK4UA, in the immediate aftermath of the invasion. Australian medical supplies were sent to Heathrow, where Shaun helped the team effort by loading them into a van and driving to a hospital in Kyiv. I joined him in Poland and spent a week on the journey.
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Trump says he wants to do a Ukraine deal with Putin. Here's a reality check from on the ground
What in the World, a free weekly newsletter from our foreign correspondents, is sent every Thursday. Below is an excerpt. Sign up to get the whole newsletter delivered to your inbox. Surrey, England: Greetings from the Hand & Spear Hotel in Surrey, England. I'm sitting in the kind of pub where you could relax all afternoon and forget to go home. The shelves behind me are lined with books as I sink into a leather armchair and wait for an old friend to join me for lunch. I feel at home as soon as I arrive: the music is low, the lighting is soft, and the air is cool on a hot summer's day. Sitting here, you could feel sure that all was right with the world. But I'm at this pub to discuss a place where so much is all wrong. I'm catching up with Shaun Hopkins, a tech worker and aid volunteer, on his return from the eastern edge of Ukraine. The Hand & Spear, in a small forest in Weybridge, is the best place to meet: I can get the train from London, and he can turn off the M25 without messing with city traffic. Shaun walks in the door with an easy hello. He is a big man with a quick smile and a hint of Welsh music in his voice. Nobody would guess that he was in Pokrovsk two days earlier – a town in the news this week because it could be caught by a sudden Russian advance. 'It's the worst I've seen,' he tells me of his latest visit. 'It reminded me of the first journeys I did to Ukraine when the Russians were still around Kyiv. I didn't know what to expect when I first went into Ukraine, and I was back in that situation again 3½ years on, looking for drones and not knowing if we go down this lane, whether or not there's going to be Russians.' Shaun is on his way home after delivering medical aid and vehicles to the front line. This is his 60th trip since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and it is one of the longest: he has driven a small van about 3000 kilometres to Pokrovsk and the same distance back, and he has a few hours to go before he arrives home to his partner, Toni, and their two sons near Cardiff. I met Shaun three years ago when I wrote about volunteers who created a supply chain from Australia to Ukraine. He was one link in the chain: a tech support guy who set up his own aid group, UK4UA, in the immediate aftermath of the invasion. Australian medical supplies were sent to Heathrow, where Shaun helped the team effort by loading them into a van and driving to a hospital in Kyiv. I joined him in Poland and spent a week on the journey.
