UPDATE: |’I’d never been abroad before, then I went to a warzone’ News

Ollie Whitelegg had never set foot outside the UK, until he he decided to take a trip to Lviv in Ukraine

When Ollie Whitelegg decided to take his first trip abroad, his choice of destination might not be the first on most people’s list of preferences. Until last year, the 27-year-old IT worker from Stockport had never once been abroad, but all that changed after a chat with his neighbours.

They happened to be Ukrainian journalist Maria Romanenko and her partner Jez Myers, who together started running trips to Lviv in western Ukraine from Manchester and London. The trips take Brits to the city to showcase Ukrainian culture, food, and to meet soldiers recovering after being wounded on the front lines.

“Maria and Jez said to me one day we’re going to Ukraine, do you want to come along,” Ollie told the Manchester Evening News. “I’d never taken a trip abroad so I thought, why not?”

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Lviv is a long way from the fighting and doesn’t get the same intensity of Russian attacks as other places such as Kyiv or Kharkiv. Nonetheless it is still a warzone, and while the signs of Ukraine’s ongoing battle against Putin’s invasion are more subtle, they are still present.

Despite the possibility of airstrikes, however remote, for Ollie the bigger concern was the more everyday worry of just getting through the airport.

He said: “When I got to the airport and decided to go through security I was nervous, like what if I bring something prohibited? That was more in my mind than what’s going to happen in Lviv!”

After flying to Poland and then taking a bus across the border to Lviv, Ollie was immediately taken in by the city.

Ollie was especially keen to visit as his family has Ukrainian roots, and this gave him a rare chance to reconnect with his ancestry and explore Ukrainian culture.

In fact, he liked it so much that he returned for another trip in 2025, and has even started learning Ukrainian.

“I had a look at how the Ukrainian language functions, and I have that family connection so I decided to learn,” he said. “It’s a slow process but it’s so rewarding. I managed to order my breakfast in Ukrainian this time.”

But while his first visit for a long weekend went off without a hitch, the second saw a entirely different greeting.

The second the party got off the bus they were greeted by an air raid warning after it emerged that a Russian bomber had been detected taking off and flying west.

A centre of the trip is visiting the Unbroken Cities project in Lviv. This is a hospital where Ukrainian soldiers convalesce after being wounded on the front lines.

Ollie shared how his visits have changed his perspective.

“There was speaking to the soldier who had lost limbs but still wanted to keep fighting,” he said.

“I think it’s hardened my stance on it, before the war happened it was always a thing that I knew. My family is part Ukrainian, so it’s just one of those background things.

“It was always an issue with Russia invading, we would talk about it as a family. But it was still something that was on the opposite side of the continent.”

“Having gone, having met a soldier who had that fire in him that desire to fight made me realise there’s this country in the face of some of the worst humanitarian atrocities that we have seen in Europe in the last 80 years.

“It strengthens that resolve that Russia must be resisted.”

Ollie recalled one seemingly simple moment from the trips which will stick with him, seeing a group of Ukrainian men sitting together having a drink in a restaurant.

“Being in that restaurant and seeing the men cheersing and the support and the heart to have a few drinks even in the situation, those are memories that I think back to often.”

Maria explained why she and Jez started running the trips.

She said: “The whole idea was that there’s a lot to see, to do, to try, to taste. Ukrainian culture is so rich and it goes back hundreds of years ago.

“We want people to experience those things. Our country and our culture is amazing.”

But it’s not just for culture and cheap beer, she added. “People can enjoy those things but we take them to Unbroken and we introduce them to soldiers who are undergoing treatment there.

“They can meet the people thanks to whom Ukraine still stands, and Europe still stands.”

For Ollie, the trips have certainly made an impression.

He said: “We’ve had this long unbroken period of peace in Europe, and that’s come to an end. There’s a danger to have this peaceful existence for a long time taken away.

“It’s important for people to understand what’s at stake.”