The People Who Refuse to Look Away: A Lithuanian Heart in Leeds Fighting for Ukraine
By Matthew Parish
Thursday 12 November 2026
Matthew Parish interviews Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite, Chair of the Leeds Ukrainian Community Association, about Lithuania's inheritance of resistance, the humanitarian convoys connecting Yorkshire with Ukraine's front lines and the extraordinary personal commitments of those who refuse to let Ukraine be forgotten.
There is something remarkable about the international network of volunteers who have emerged in support of Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. They are not soldiers, diplomats or professional humanitarians. They are ordinary people with jobs, families and responsibilities who have decided that the suffering of a European nation several thousand kilometres away is nevertheless their personal concern. They raise money, collect supplies, purchase vehicles and drive them across Europe, sometimes into areas where the dangers are indistinguishable from those faced by the Ukrainian soldiers they are trying to help.
Among these people is Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite, a Lithuanian woman who has made her home in Leeds, in Yorkshire, and who chairs the Leeds Ukrainian Community Association (LUCA). Her organisation occupies a distinctive position at the intersection of three national communities: the Ukrainians displaced by war, the Lithuanians whose historical experiences have given them an unusually intimate understanding of Russian imperialism and the British people whose generosity has helped sustain Ukraine through nearly five years of full-scale war. What began as a humanitarian response to an emergency has developed into a permanent community of solidarity, with its own friendships, sacrifices and sometimes devastating experiences.
Bernadeta's commitment to Ukraine has deep historical roots. Both her maternal great-grandparents were recognised after their deaths as Lithuanian freedom fighters, while her grandmother supported the resistance to Soviet occupation from childhood. The history of Lithuania's struggle for independence is therefore not something Bernadeta learned principally from textbooks. It is an inheritance passed down through her family, and it informs her understanding of what Ukrainians are fighting for today.
Her work is anything but theoretical. She has personally participated in humanitarian convoys into Ukraine, including a mission in October 2026 during which, she recounts, a drone struck one of the vehicles travelling towards Pavlohrad. She speaks with equal conviction about the practical challenges of fundraising, the anguish of being unable to meet every request and the importance of preserving Ukrainian culture amongst those who have sought temporary refuge in Britain. In this wide-ranging interview with the Lviv Herald, she reflects upon the connections between Lithuania, Britain and Ukraine, and upon the responsibilities of Europeans who understand that Ukraine's struggle is also their own.
An inheritance of resistance
Matthew Parish: Bernadeta, perhaps we might begin with your personal story. You grew up in Lithuania and eventually made your home in Leeds, a city in northern England with a substantial Ukrainian community. Could you tell me something about your childhood, your journey to Britain and the background that eventually brought you into Ukrainian humanitarian work?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: I grew up in Kaunas, in a traditional family with strong patriotic beliefs. Love of Lithuania was part of everyday life. Freedom was never an abstract idea at home. We talked about it at the table, along with what our family had lived through during the occupation. Culture mattered just as much, and I went to art school.
When I was sixteen, I knew I wanted to learn another language, and English was the obvious choice. That is how I found Yorkshire. Leeds surprised me because it felt so familiar: green, warm and full of welcoming people. It was like a little piece of home, with a bit more independence. I made friends quickly, and before long I felt I belonged.
Those beliefs came with me. Even before Ukraine, I was always speaking up for Lithuania. I am a member of the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union, and I have always wanted people to know about the Baltic states. I have worked with people for most of my career, including on European projects, and I still do, alongside my work for Ukraine.
Matthew Parish: Your family history is particularly interesting because you are the great-granddaughter of Lithuanian partisans who resisted Soviet domination. How much of their story was passed down to you, and how has that family history shaped the way you understand contemporary Russia and its war against Ukraine?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: Resistance runs through my family on my mother's side. Both of my maternal great-grandparents were posthumously recognised as freedom fighters. My grandmother, who passed away this year, was involved in the freedom movement from childhood and supported the partisans. We still have her pin badge and her official card, and some of this history has even been written about in books.
She told us what the occupiers did, and she never softened it. I grew up knowing that. It taught me how old this problem is. Generation after generation of Lithuanians faced the same aggression from Russia, and it never really changed.
Like many Lithuanians, I grew up knowing that our freedom was paid for by people before us. It is not something we take for granted, and that is why I cannot look away from what Ukraine is facing now.
Matthew Parish: Lithuania has been one of Ukraine's most determined supporters, both politically and amongst ordinary people. Is this solidarity principally a consequence of shared historical experience, or is it also a recognition that Ukraine is protecting the security of Lithuania and the rest of Europe?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: Lithuania and Ukraine have always been brotherly nations. Once you become family, you are family forever. Small acts of kindness are never forgotten in our countries, even generations later.
Lithuania suffered at the hands of the same enemy for many years, so when we watch what Ukrainians are going through, it is not new to us. It is happening again, in Ukraine.
And we feel we owe Ukraine. Ukrainians are defending Lithuania and the rest of Europe from Russia, and we owe them everything we can give.
I read a memoir by a Lithuanian who was exiled to Siberia. He wrote that the only person he could truly call a brother, and trust with his life, was a Ukrainian. That line has stayed with me. When I talk to Ukrainians today, they say how similar our cultures are. We have more in common than not, and that is why we work so well together for Ukraine.
Matthew Parish: Do you think British people sometimes struggle to understand the historical experiences that Lithuanians and Ukrainians share? Britain was never occupied by the Soviet Union, and perhaps its understanding of that period is inevitably rather different.
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: Yes, I have encountered that often when speaking to students, schools, local communities and other organisations. The UK was never occupied by the Soviet Union, so the history is not talked about much here, and the message has not spread.
The biggest misconception is the name itself. The 'Soviet Union' does not mean a union or a unity like the European Union. The name is part of the propaganda. It was not voluntary. An occupier came and forced people to be part of it. It stripped away their identity. Russification took their language, and their books were banned. That is exactly what Russia is trying to do in Ukraine today: take away a nation's cultural and national identity.
The word 'union' suggests something peaceful and united, and it was not. It was occupation, terror and war. Not everyone will read a history book, but people can grasp a few clear sentences, and 'union' does not give them that.
So I try to change that narrative. I explain what Soviet rule really was and how Russian propaganda works, because it is very easy to be misled by it if you have never lived under it.
From Yorkshire to the Ukrainian front line
Matthew Parish: How did this understanding of history translate into practical humanitarian work? Was there a particular event at the beginning of the full-scale invasion that persuaded you that you personally had to become involved?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: There was not one single moment. Everything I have told you came together, and from the first days of the invasion I could not stand by and watch. Russia commits war crimes every day, and I could not look away from that.
Just yesterday, a Ukrainian friend who volunteers with us, and who helped us deliver aid from Leeds to Ukraine on our recent mission, told me about his daughter's classmate. A boy lost his mother in a terrible attack. He is in hospital, and his grandmother is all he has left.
Stories like this have come to me every day since the war began, from different regions, different children and different crimes. I have never got used to them. Each one hurts as much as the first, and even now, talking about it, it is hard to stay calm.
As a Lithuanian, I could not ignore terror in Ukraine. So I acted.
Matthew Parish: You are now Chair of the Leeds Ukrainian Community Association, although I understand that your October 2025 appointment was actually a re-election rather than the beginning of your involvement. What does your role entail, and how much of your work is administration as opposed to practical volunteering?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: October 2025 was simply my most recent re-election. Before that, I had been volunteering for years, from Leeds and in Ukraine, with LUCA and with an organisation in Lithuania.
A Chair's job is to keep the charity running properly and legally. That means being compliant and following the rules the Charity Commission sets for charities like ours. We meet every week, sometimes for hours. We fundraise, generate ideas and review the requests we receive.
But I believe a Chair, like every trustee, should be hands-on. I still pack the boxes. I still tape them, organise the aid and receive deliveries. Rooms in my own home are used for storage, and my children and family often help. So I do what a Chair should do, and what any volunteer would do, because we genuinely care.
Matthew Parish: LUCA is a relatively young organisation, established in response to the full-scale invasion, although Leeds has a much longer-established Ukrainian community. Could you explain how LUCA relates to the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain and what the two organisations do together?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: When the full-scale invasion began, there was not much in place to help Ukrainians. The long-established Ukrainian association was there, but a non-profit was needed, and that is how LUCA was formed.
We are a separate organisation from the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain. We work closely with them and collaborate on a lot, but the humanitarian side is fully organised and managed by our charity.
It is wonderful having so many Ukrainians under one roof. We can help them, but they can also help each other, and it is easier to do things as a community. We also share the space with the Lithuanian community and its Saturday school. So in Leeds we have two nations united under one roof, just as our two nations are united in helping Ukraine.
We take great pride in that collaboration, and in how much we achieve by working together.
Matthew Parish: Let us turn to the mechanics of your humanitarian operations. You have delivered vehicles, medicines, generators and other supplies directly to Ukraine. How do you decide which requests to prioritise, and how do you ensure that the assistance reaches the people for whom it is intended?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: Our model is common in Lithuania but quite unusual in the UK. It starts with fundraising, which never stops. Whether or not we have a request, we are always appealing, because the need in Ukraine is immeasurable.
Then comes an official request from the recipient in Ukraine. We only accept requests from new contacts if they are legally stamped. If a paramedic asks for a medical evacuation vehicle, for example, their unit must stamp and sign it, so we know it is legitimate. Over the years we have also built relationships and speak with many Ukrainians directly, so we understand the real situation.
We prioritise life-saving equipment: vehicles, medical supplies, medication and generators. It changes with the season. In a freezing winter, proper military-grade winter clothing can save lives.
Then we deliver it ourselves, into the hands of the people who asked. We meet them, and when we can, we sit down for a meal or a coffee, because we want them to feel heard and supported, not just equipped.
If someone urgently needs something and we cannot reach them, we order directly in Ukraine, use a courier or ask a trusted partner. But we always know who we are helping.
Matthew Parish: You personally participated in the humanitarian mission to Ukraine in June 2026, and you have recently returned from another mission in October. What is it actually like to drive a humanitarian convoy from Britain towards the Ukrainian front lines? I understand that on the most recent journey you had an encounter with a Russian drone.
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: Yes, I was on the June mission, and we have just come back from another one in October. I regularly go to Ukraine with our humanitarian convoys.
We travel in convoys because so many vehicles need delivering regularly that it is easier to do it all in one go. With enough drivers, we can take turns, and then drive back to Lithuania. A minibus carries the volunteers there and back. Every vehicle is left with the defenders, and every one is packed to the brim with aid. Sometimes you need your 90s-kid Tetris skills to fit everything in. Sometimes you sit on the boxes until a drop frees up some space.
We work closely with our partners in Lithuania, Šešios AM, because the need for drivers is huge. If some of the aid reaches Lithuania beforehand, we only have to drive half of the vehicles from the UK, which cuts our fuel costs. Volunteers have even driven aid there for us free of charge.
The most striking lesson is that going to the front line is nothing like visiting a warehouse in a border city. We have had burst tyres, breakdowns and times when we had to shelter. On our latest trip, a drone hit one of our vehicles. It got tangled in the netting on the way to Pavlohrad, and thankfully nobody was hurt.
But we insist on delivering directly to the people who need it, so that burden is off their shoulders.
Matthew Parish: One of the most important forms of assistance you provide is the delivery of four-wheel-drive pick-up trucks, particularly for medical evacuations. You have suggested that an individual vehicle might save at least 50 lives. How did you arrive at that figure, and why are these vehicles so essential?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: Pick-up trucks are 4x4 vehicles: powerful, strong and able to carry heavy equipment. At the front line, defenders need a vehicle that can handle every kind of road and condition, and can get out of a bad situation without getting stuck. They also need to move quickly when someone is wounded. That is why pick-ups are the vehicles most requested from the front lines.
We have delivered many vehicles over the years, and we stay in touch with the soldiers who receive them. That feedback is how we reached our estimate of at least 50 lives saved per vehicle. It is a cautious figure, based on how long each vehicle has been in service and how often it is used to bring people back from positions. Some have kept running for a couple of years or more, so the real number is likely much higher.
We deliver more than pick-ups. We recently delivered a large Sprinter van because the soldiers asked for it. We always try to give them exactly what they need.
Matthew Parish: There must be enormous practical difficulties in running such an operation, from dealing with customs and financial accountability to identifying genuine needs and raising sufficient money. What is the greatest obstacle, and how do you maintain confidence that every donation has been put to proper use?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: Bureaucracy takes time, but we are a registered charity and we take pride in our paperwork. Everything is double or triple checked, and we have not had any major problems.
The hardest part is fundraising, and the guilt that comes with it. As a volunteer who truly cares, you cannot approve every request, and you cannot help every soldier. That is the hardest thing.
As for verification, we only work with official requests, and we deliver in person, directly to the people who asked. We never make drops at unknown places or to unknown soldiers. We build relationships with them, and some even visit us in Leeds. We also worked closely with the Interflex programme when Ukrainian soldiers were training in the UK, holding morale events and visiting them regularly.
Every legal detail is verified and documented in our systems and folders. Our treasurer looks after the administration and finances with great precision, and everything is referenced and checked. So far, thank God, we have not had any negative incidents.
Keeping Ukrainian culture alive in Britain
Matthew Parish: Your organisation does much more than collect donations and deliver humanitarian supplies. You also run activities for Ukrainians living in Yorkshire, including language classes, cultural events and community gatherings. How do these activities fit into the wider mission of the charity?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: There is an unofficial agreement at LUCA that you donate your sleeping hours to Ukraine. It is a joke, of course, but there is truth in it. Once you become a volunteer or a trustee, the sacrifices go well beyond collecting aid. It can cut into your sleep, your personal life and much else to make things happen. We will sleep once the war is over, when Ukrainians can sleep peacefully in their own homes.
Every Saturday we are based at our hub, a rented space that is big enough for our events, our souvenir stall and exhibitions of photographs from the front line. We run an English-speaking club so Ukrainians can learn the language and integrate. We hold vareniki workshops where everyone is welcome, whether or not they know how to make them. We work with the local Saturday school, and we join Lithuanian and other friendly events across Leeds, which has a wonderful Lithuanian community.
We also organise hikes, and we collaborate with every community and organisation that wants to be involved. Our biggest hike drew around 100 people, and we regularly have more than 60. The next one is in February.
All of this raises money for Ukraine, but it also gives Ukrainians in Yorkshire a place to meet people, make friends and build a life here for as long as they choose to stay.
Matthew Parish: I was particularly interested to learn about your photographic exhibition, Through Their Eyes, which shows images of Ukraine during the war. What inspired the exhibition, and what do you hope British audiences take away from seeing these photographs?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: These activities mean far more than fundraising. They send a message: Ukraine and Eastern Europe have their own beautiful, distinct cultures. Russia has always tried to take that away, by pushing Russian culture on others or claiming that what belongs to them is Russian. So it is vital that we keep talking about Ukraine and showing its culture, and that we show the reality from the front line.
That is why we created our exhibition, Through Their Eyes. It features many Ukrainian photographs from the front line, sometimes from areas that were occupied and are now liberated, as well as the work of one Lithuanian volunteer photographer, Matas Vaišnoras. The images are presented as art. A ruined building or an empty street covered in nets is still a place where sunflowers will grow one day.
Matas has travelled to Ukraine voluntarily more than 40 times to capture these moments and preserve them for future generations. He continues to volunteer, showing the world the real beauty of Ukraine and its people, even in the circumstances they are in now, because you cannot fake the innocence, the goodness and the resilience of Ukraine. To us he is a symbol of the unity we want to build here and elsewhere.
Alex Sobel MP visited and helped us with the exhibition, and several councillors came too. We have held it not just at our own premises but in locations across the country, with other organisations and communities.
The exhibitions also show how Lithuanians and Ukrainians collaborate, and we hope other nations will be inspired to work together just as closely. We want people to see how beautiful and resilient Ukrainian culture is, and that Ukrainians will not give up. They will protect what they have, and we will help them.
Matthew Parish: We are now approaching the fifth anniversary of the full-scale invasion. Do you detect signs of war fatigue amongst the British public? Are people becoming less interested in Ukraine, even as the humanitarian consequences of the war continue to grow?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: Yes, I do feel attention is declining, and it is difficult to accept as a volunteer. You would expect that the longer the war goes on, with more losses and more war crimes, the more help would be needed. Unfortunately, it is the opposite.
That is why we keep running these events. They help Ukrainians integrate, stay proud of their culture and represent it. They also show local people that we are not so different, that help is needed, and that Ukraine would help the UK just as much as the UK is helping Ukraine now.
We give back to the UK as well. Our community regularly donates blood, as a thank you to the people here who are providing life-saving help to Ukraine, and to help those currently in hospital.
It is important to keep Ukraine alive in the hearts of Europeans, because Ukraine is fighting for all of us. So we work harder and harder to keep the attention on Ukraine.
The human cost of solidarity
Matthew Parish: One of the most difficult aspects of humanitarian work must be the personal relationships you develop with Ukrainian soldiers and families who are living with constant danger. Have you had experiences that particularly brought home to you the psychological and human consequences of the war?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: I cannot point to one person, because there are so many. I have friends I have known all my life, my age, and I have watched the front line change them. Their wellbeing declines, and their personalities change. I can only hope that when this war ends, our defenders will get the mental health support they need and be treated with the greatest respect and love.
Here in Leeds, we have families who have lost fathers, sons and husbands. There have been so many funerals that it is hard to keep track. It is especially painful when you knew the soldier or delivered aid to them. Sometimes we receive a request for a vehicle, and by the time we reach Ukraine, three or four days later, the person who asked for it is gone. Someone else from the unit has to drive that vehicle, knowing who it was meant for. It is devastating every single time.
Right now we are launching a fundraiser for a young boy who lost his mother in an attack and was badly injured. He will need a great deal of medical help. No amount of money can undo what he will carry for the rest of his life, but we will help in every way we can.
Matthew Parish: You have devoted an enormous amount of your personal time and energy to this work, while continuing with your professional career and family responsibilities. What has been the personal cost, and how have your family and friends responded to your commitment?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: I am forever grateful to my friends and family, who for five years have been patient, understanding and endlessly helpful. The same goes for my colleagues and for so many people in Leeds, Brits, Lithuanians and Ukrainians, who keep checking in, asking what they can do, contributing and coming to our events.
The cost is real. My life has been a never-ending cycle of thinking about Ukraine, packing, delivering and organising. But the people I have met through this are incredibly dear to me. Helping Ukraine has given me strength, friendship and passion, and far more than I could ever give back. It has changed my perspective on life. And Ukrainians are fighting for Europe, so in a real sense they are keeping me safe.
I am very lucky. My sister Emilija has been by my side from day one, collecting everything from animal food to body bags needed in Ukraine. She is 19 now, and she wants to become a paramedic one day. My sons Jacob, who is 12, and Elijah, who is eight, have helped me pack medical aid and food, and so have my colleagues' children. It has been a whole community effort.
These people have become my family. They became the army we used to help Ukraine.
Matthew Parish: You also have a professional background in business, technology and event organisation. Have those skills proved useful in running a humanitarian charity? And what would you say to somebody who wants to help Ukraine but believes they have no particularly relevant experience?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: Absolutely. My event organising experience has helped me run hundreds of events that raised money for Ukraine, spread the message and made an impact.
My technology background has helped too. It means I can understand the technical side of some requests directly. The connections I have made through my work have helped me source needed items and understand why they are needed, and that lets me explain them better to others.
The main thing I would say is that any skill you use in your everyday job can be used to help Ukraine. If you think you are not useful, you are wrong. Any profession can help Ukraine.
What comes after the war?
Matthew Parish: When the war eventually ends, what do you think will happen to the Ukrainians who have made temporary homes in Britain? Will most return to Ukraine, or has the war created a new permanent Ukrainian diaspora? How should organisations such as yours prepare for that future?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: The beauty of Ukrainians is how deeply they love Ukraine: every corner of it, its culture, food, folklore, language, land, homes and families. They are in the UK only because it is not safe to be in the country they love.
Whatever they choose after the war, they will create beauty wherever they land. I think a high percentage will go home. They will grieve what they lost, but they will rebuild Ukraine and make it better and more beautiful.
Those who stay in the UK will contribute here as they would at home. They will keep working with local communities, sharing their culture, creating art and enriching our cities with their good values and their wonderful upbringing.
I have so much love for these people that I am certain that wherever they land, they will make the place better.
Matthew Parish: Looking towards the next twelve months, what would make the greatest practical difference to LUCA's work? And do you envisage your organisation continuing its activities after peace returns, perhaps supporting reconstruction, veterans or families who have lost their homes?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: In an ideal world, we would help every Ukrainian who needs it. In practice, our aim for the next twelve months is to keep doing what we do, and do it well: continue our humanitarian missions, keep delivering life-saving equipment, keep collecting aid and stay in close contact with our defenders at the front line. We are trying to save as many lives as we can, help as many Ukrainians as we can and make sure their voices are heard.
The biggest practical difference would be more funding. It would let us do all of this on a bigger scale and more often. We would also be grateful for more volunteers, and for people who want to fundraise on our behalf. We can arrange that.
We are always building relationships, finding partners and working with other organisations, and we are not shy about asking for help. Many people are able to help but do not know who to ask, and so we ask.
After the war, we will adapt to whatever the need is. Some people have already returned to Ukraine, and they have needed help with relocation and other things too. We will keep going, whatever form the need takes, for as long as it exists.
It is not Ukraine's fault, or the fault of Ukrainians, that they are in this situation. So our mission is to help them for as long as they need us.
Matthew Parish: Finally, I would like you to imagine that you are speaking directly to a Ukrainian family in Kharkiv, Kramatorsk or another city enduring daily Russian attacks. What would you like them to understand about the people in Lithuania, Leeds and the wider world who continue to support them?
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite: First of all, I want you to know that you are not alone. In Lithuania, in the UK, in Leeds and all around the world, people raise Ukrainian flags every day. We honour your heroes. We support them, we pray for them, and we help them in every way we can.
We advocate for you wherever we are. We talk about Ukraine's strength and about the crimes committed against Ukraine, in many languages, to spread the message far. We use our voices because you cannot always use yours.
You are not alone. And we will never grow tired of standing with Ukraine, because Ukraine stands for us.
The quiet determination of ordinary people
There is a tendency in discussions of the war in Ukraine to concentrate upon the great decisions of presidents, generals and diplomats. We discuss weapons deliveries, sanctions, territorial negotiations and the changing disposition of military forces, as though the future of Europe were determined exclusively in government ministries and military headquarters. Yet wars are sustained, endured and ultimately survived by the decisions of millions of ordinary individuals, most of whom will never appear in the newspapers or receive recognition for what they have done.
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite represents a different sort of European internationalism from that which is usually discussed in political speeches. Hers is not an abstract commitment to supranational institutions or an argument about constitutional arrangements. It is an internationalism founded upon shared historical memory, personal relationships and a practical recognition that the fate of a wounded soldier in eastern Ukraine is connected to the life of a family in Lithuania or Yorkshire. It is expressed not merely through declarations of solidarity but through boxes of medical supplies, donated vehicles, weekend cultural events and difficult journeys across a continent at war.
Perhaps the most revealing passage in our interview is her account of delivering a vehicle to a Ukrainian military unit only to discover that the soldier who requested it has been killed in the intervening days. There is an almost unbearable contrast between the ordinary bureaucratic process of fulfilling a charitable request and the extraordinary speed with which war can extinguish the life of its intended beneficiary. The vehicle nevertheless arrives, another soldier takes possession of it and the work continues. Such experiences explain both the emotional exhaustion of those who undertake humanitarian missions and their determination not to abandon them.
There is also something deeply moving about the involvement of Bernadeta's family. Her great-grandparents resisted Soviet occupation, her grandmother preserved the memory of that struggle and now her children help pack supplies for a new generation of Europeans resisting Russian aggression. Across four generations, the same fundamental understanding of freedom has endured, finding different expressions in different historical circumstances. What for one generation meant clandestine resistance and the risks of Soviet repression has become, for another, an obligation to provide practical assistance to Ukraine.
The friendship between Lithuania and Ukraine is often described in geopolitical terms, as an alliance between states threatened by a common adversary. Bernadeta's story reminds us that it is also something much more intimate: a relationship between families, memories and communities whose experiences have taught them that freedom is neither permanent nor free. In Leeds, that relationship has acquired an unexpected British dimension, bringing people together across nationalities and generations in a shared humanitarian enterprise.
As Ukraine approaches another winter of war, the importance of such people should not be underestimated. Governments may change their priorities, public attention may drift and the language of international diplomacy may become increasingly detached from the daily suffering of Ukrainians. But in a community centre in Yorkshire, volunteers will continue to collect donations, organise events and pack vehicles destined for Ukraine. Bernadeta and her colleagues will continue working, not because they believe their efforts alone can end the war, but because they understand that every life saved is a sufficient reason to carry on.
And perhaps that is the most important lesson of this interview. In an age when Europeans often complain of political impotence, declining solidarity and the apparent impossibility of changing the course of international events, there remain people who have discovered that moral responsibility begins with the decision to do something practical. They do not wait for history to give them permission to act. They simply refuse to look away.
Bernadeta Bagaslauskaite is Chair of the Leeds Ukrainian Community Association (LUCA), a British registered charity supporting Ukrainians in Yorkshire and delivering humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. Further information about its activities, volunteering opportunities and donations is available at www.leeds-uca.co.uk.
Interview by Matthew Parish for the Lviv Herald, November 2026. The questions and responses have been edited for clarity, length and presentation.
