Bermudian Continues Helping In Ukraine

[Written by Stephen Wright]

Bermudian Jason Rhind, who has carried out humanitarian work in Ukraine for more than a year, has spent the past nine months assisting military training units in the country after it was invaded by Russia.

The former Royal Bermuda Regiment soldier is working and living with the 68th Jaegar Brigade, which conducts combat operations in the Donetsk Oblast province and recently liberated several villages during the ongoing counter-offensive.

“I don’t know if it qualifies as humanitarian, but since October, I’ve been working solely with soldiers and military units providing training,” Mr Rhind told Bernews.

Mr Rhind, who left the regiment as a Lance Corporal in 2018, previously spent several months teaching at the Koleso tactical medicine training centre, which provides training for medics in the military with sufficient knowledge on giving first aid to combatants.

The 37-year-old then left Koleso and joined the Mozart Group – an American private military company composed of Western volunteers with military experience, providing military training and evacuating civilians from inside Bahkmut – a city in eastern Ukraine.

“It was a pretty well-known group,” Mr Rhind said. “They had a lot of highly trained and experienced guys working there. I’d say I was pretty lucky to get a spot on the team.

“Their name was poking fun at the Wagner Group [a Russian paramilitary organisation]. The Mozart Group collapsed at the end of January [after running short of funds].

“I also worked with a few groups I knew sporadically in February and March and, in early April, a Ukrainian woman who lives in Bermuda, Anya Nabiulina, came out here to deliver a bunch of supplies.

“I joined her and others while they delivered those supplies to a number of different areas in the Kharkiv and Donetsk Oblasts.”

Following that he joined the Sabre Training and Advisory Group, passing on skills necessary for upcoming battles.

“We worked with a national guard unit for four weeks, and for the last month,” he said. “I’ve been out near Vuhledar in the Donetsk region with the 68th Jaegar Brigade. I’ll be here with them until early July.”

Mr Rhind, who intends to head home briefly before returning to Ukraine, has been volunteering in the country since May 2022.

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