I'm sharing a letter I've written to Tennessee Congressman Congressman Andy Ogles who, along with four other congresspeople, hosted war criminals and sanctioned individuals from the ruzzian duma in Washington DC on March 26.

Each uniquely designed item's profits benefit a specific cause

My short interaction with a ruzzian prisoner when he was just a wanna be musician living it up in ruzzia.

We raised $18K for dozens of organizations, bringing our total to $125K since the full invasion.

If you are not familiar with the Kyiv Independent, you should be. These courageous reporters broke away from a rival news organization after many resigned in protest over an oligarch owner’s interference in editorial decisions.

Determined to build a genuinely independent outlet free from the conflicts of interest that accompany wealthy proprietors, they set out to create a reader-funded model increasingly necessary in today’s global media landscape.

Corruption is a disease, and Ukraine is working to eradicate it. Point of fact, the very fact that there is a "scandal" proves that Ukrainians are serious about eradicating corruption. The people fought for this in 2014 and continue to fight for it now. Compare Ukraine to the USA right now and Ukraine looks pretty good.

Tennessee Filmmaker and U.S. Marine Veteran Unite to Mobilize Support for Ukraine

Rob expresses his gratitude to fellow Tennesseans and everyone who made his return trip to Ukraine in 2025 so meaningful.

A ruzzian drone hit a synagogue in Podil. It was just two blocks from my apartment, where I stayed in July/August.

On July 31, 2025, five of eight ruzzian missiles hit civilian targets in Kyiv, Ukraine, killing 31 people, including five children, and injuring 150+ more.

I want to extend a special thank you to my hometown community, family, and church in Southern Giles County, Tennessee.

Rob discusses why he doesn't believe exploiting the murder of a Ukrainian refugee in the USA is acceptable.

My pal, exiled anti-war Russian musician and "enemy of the state" Dmitry Spirin formerly of the band Tarakany (Cockroaches), is out with a new video that bravely calls out followers of Putinism hypocrisy in ruzzia.

HUGS Ukraine and Canadian volunteer soldier, Mac Hughes, is recovering from 3rd degree burns.

Check out my write-up about my pal and punk musician in exile (Dima) Dmitry Spirin, and his sacrifice and support for Ukraine, as well as more videos and photos from his "Songs not Bombs" tour stop in Warsaw, Poland, which I saw firsthand. Spoiler Alert: It rocked!

On the day Linda Yaccarino resigns as CEO of X, Kyiv is showered with drones and missiles

I've crossed the Ukrainian border several times now, and each time is unique, but yesterday was my favorite.

Recently, I've had some experiences that have me questioning "What's happening at the Deadline Club? Do they stand for facts or disinformation?"

Every Christian and person of faith in the world should watch the film Faith Under Siege, now streaming.

"My Summer in Ukraine" was awarded the Silver Anthem Award for "Humanitarian Action & Services" in the film, video and TV category and the Bronze Telly Award in the “Series-News & Politics” category.

It was a tremendous honor to be featured on the video podcast "Two Dots" (a reference to the letter of resistance in the Ukrainian alphabet - and on my shirt during the interview).

This article was forwarded to me, and it makes some great points and counters the Russian propaganda-fueled narrative that Ukraine could not win a war with Russia. Indeed, they already are despite the misery.

There are some truths sprinkled into this article, but not many. Most Russian disinformation is better disguised with a few big lies sprinkled amongst the truth. Rita is likely an unknowing perpetrator, simply posting her misguided, error-ridden inaccuracies and blatant lies as some journalistic opinion piece after swallowing third-hand Russian disinformation passed along by un-credible media sources in the U.S. This is meant to be instructive on how Russian disinformation works and how prevalent it is in U.S. society.

This is not mine I’m reposting on behalf of a friend because I felt it needed wider audience. The author wishes to remain anonymous

For the first time since the full invasion, the United States voted against a UN resolution condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Here is an easy two-step way to make a difference. It costs NOTHING... takes LESS THAN TWO MINUTES... and can truly MAKE A DIFFERENCE. I did it. Now, will you?

Richard Bangs and Rebel Holiday are offering this tour to Ukraine to show solidarity and support as well as offer a much-needed revenue stream to the people of Ukraine.

From Joseph - Care4Ukraine.org

This is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how disinformation and misinformation wreak havoc on democracies worldwide.

Download "My Summer in Ukraine" Impact Summary

This may be the best use of 35 minutes of my lifetime. Jake does an excellent job of presenting the facts in a way anyone can easily understand.

Thank you to everyone who came out to our film premiere. What a blast! The film is screening online. Please watch, like, subscribe and share!

Download the Report of Coalition Against Disinformation

Ukraine's incursion into Russia uncovers brainwashed Russian civilians.

"Disordered Minds" by Ian Hughes is a must-read for anyone trying to understand modern events.

"My Summer in Ukraine" was a success! For four weekends, MSIU attracted over 2.5 million "LIVE" U.S. viewers, an increase of +6% over the same period last year.

Catholic Charities in New York City is currently seeking volunteers to help assist with resettling refugees from all backgrounds, including recently settled Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Dima is doing his part. His first single, “I Will be With You,” as a solo artist, is aptly anti-war and more strongly worded now that he has shed the shackles of Putin's repressive censorship. Here is his first solo music video dedicated to the people of Ukraine, whom he has vowed never to abandon (as have I).

It turns out Burlington, Iowa, has some intelligent folks, beginning, of course, with Kara Ewinger, who manages the historic renovated theater and had the foresight and idea to team me up with my pal and talented filmmaker Rick Ray to showcase our varying perspectives of a country, people, and culture fighting for its very existence.

Raw Travel announced that the first part of their four-part docuseries, "My Summer in Ukraine," premieres April 27-28 with Chapter One: “Silence is Death.”

Raw Travel's "My Summer in Ukraine" documentary series is announced along with premiere dates.

My final full day in Kyiv was full of faux normalcy. It was a weekend, and my new friend Olie (of Kyiv Punk Rock Tour) invited me to a small Vegetarian Festival.

A month may seem like a long time to visit a location, but it passes quickly in a country at war like Ukraine. There are no flights in and out of Ukraine because the airspace is closed. Crossing the border means either train, car, or, in some cases, on foot, which can take hours or even days.

My friend Dima is the lead singer of the well-known Russian Punk Band Tarakany (Cockroach) on my Punk Outlaw Records roster. Like a good cockroach, Tarakany! has been a staple on the rock music scene for over 30 years.

The musician Sting has an anti-war song from the mid-1980s Cold War, “Russians,” with the lyric, “I wonder if the Russians love their children too.” Of course, they do.

After visiting severely injured soldiers at a military hospital in an undisclosed part of Ukraine, I more firmly believe in Hedonic Adaptation (baseline happiness), a theory positing that most people generally will eventually return to their baseline level of happiness.

When things can’t get any more surreal in Ukraine, the next day one-ups the previous. Anastasia and I were allowed rare access to a drone-flying school where we hung out with soldiers of various platoons for a full day, some fresh from the front and returning there the next day.

Anastasia and I met Misha and his girlfriend Valeria at LF Music on our second evening in Kharkiv. As with most things in Ukraine, our meeting would be fortuitous.

In 2014, Russian-backed separatists forced Anastasia’s family to move from their home in the Donbas region to Kyiv and start all over. They were adjusting well when the full-scale Russian invasion began in February 2022.

I met the founder of H.U.G.S Ukraine, Paul Hughes of Calgary, Canada, through an introduction from U.K.-based humanitarian Hymie Dunn and Arizona-based U.S. Marine Corps. Mark Cary at the LF Music concert in Kharkiv. Hymie first met Paul in the early days of the full invasion.

Anastasia’s cousins, Dima and Maria, are from Kharkiv and were living there when the Russians first invaded in early 2022. After time away during the occupation, they recently returned home and agreed to show us the devastation and beauty of their beloved and besieged city.

Mark knows that music is a big part of Raw Travel and my love of music, especially punk rock and independent, alternative, and underground music, personally. Mark’s connection is vital as well. His daughter Sam, a country music recording artist, plans to visit Ukraine and tour.

Mark, Hymie, Anastasia, and I continued from Poltava to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city (1.5 million in peacetime), lying in the country’s northeast. Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov in Russian, is just 20 miles or so away from the Russian border.

It was time for me to tag along on Hymie and Mark’s next mission, to Kharkiv, which Mark had insisted I visit. This time, we had the pleasure of having Anastasia join our team. Her camera skills and fluency in Ukrainian were invaluable assets.

Hymie’s van was emptied of supplies, and it was time for us to depart Mykolaiv and Kherson to return to Kyiv. On the way back, as we stopped to get gas and food, we met a church group heading into Kherson that was due at the same Baptist Church where we had dropped off supplies.

Mykolaiv was our home base while operating humanitarian missions to nearby Kherson City and Kherson Oblast. The reasoning was simple: hotels existed in Mykolaiv still, and it was much safer than Kherson City.

Driving from Kyiv to the Southern parts of Ukraine, I can see that farmland is everywhere and that Ukraine is the world’s breadbasket. Wheat is ripening. Fruit is in season. Farms, as far as the eye can see.

Either I was calmer, or the bombing of Kherson City calmed a bit. Probably a bit of both because I don’t recall feeling any angst or fear on day two. We focused on dropping off supplies at a new contact of Mark’s, “Support Kherson” or “Kherson Unbroken.”

I woke up early in Odessa and went for a run by the harbor, primarily inactive because it’s been mined by Russians (who don’t bother to map the locations) and Ukrainians (who map the sites, as is typical protocol).

I had finally met Mark Cary, a U.S. Marine turned humanitarian from Arizona, and his humanitarian colleague, Hymie Dunne. Hymie hails from the art world in London.

One of my objectives for returning to Ukraine during wartime was to embed with U.S. Marine turned humanitarian, Mark Cary, from Arizona.

This was my first visit to Kyiv after the full-scale invasion (my last visit was in 2019). In typical Raw Travel style, I stayed at a Soviet-era apartment share in a suburb in the Obolonskyi District, a neighborhood I would get to know well.

After a year’s absence, I arrived in L’viv to prepare to visit Kyiv and parts of the east. On the train ride from Poland, I was in an old-timey sleeper car...

Read about my first trip to Ukraine in wartime in the summer of 2022