Ukraine and my relatives
- Thread starter B21
- Start date
Scottish Borders
A friend sent me an article from the Telegrpah about Colonel Bondar which I've attached.
My surname is Bondar, and brought up in small Derbyshire and Nottibghamshire mining villages in the 60s and 70s I never heard of another Bondar apart from Roberta Bondar a Canadian NASA astronaut of Ukrainian descent.
Bondar is slavic for barrel maker, so my full anglised name should be Peter Cooper..
I notice that there are over 300 Bondars who are now directors of UK companies, so they certainly have come out of the old mining villages.
Here's the article avout Colonel Yevgen Bondar and his joy about UK anti tank missiles..
The odds seemed insurmountable for Colonel Yevgen Bondar and his lightly-equipped infantrymen as a long column of Russian tanks rolled towards the crossroads they were guarding in Huliapole, south-east Ukraine.
The invaders opened fire, wounding the Colonel and two of his men. But the Ukrainian unit had an ace up its sleeve, in the form of cutting-edge, shoulder-mounted missile launchers, supplied by Britain.
“It was a column of 40 tanks, some kind of preliminary attack,” the Colonel told The Telegraph last week outside the hospital where he is being treated for his wounds. “But we are getting a lot of serious help. The NLAWs [short for Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon] took out three tanks and one armoured fighting vehicle. Burnt them out. Burnt beautifully.”
More than a week on, Huliapole – like much of the rest of the country – remains in Ukrainian hands. “We’ve held our positions,” the Colonel said. “We haven’t surrended anything.”
NLAWs, an Anglo-Swedish munition, has proven to be a great leveller in the battle between Russian and Ukrainian armed forces. With it and other highly portable, state-of-the-art weapons supplied by the West, small bands of brave Ukrainian soldiers have been able to hold up the biggest mechanised army to go into battle in Europe since the Second World War.
“The NLAW is a wonderful thing. A Javelin [the American-made portable anti-tank missile] has better range – but in the city, [NLAW] is better”, explained the Colonel, as it can be fired from within a building and is simple to operate. “Everyone can use it. You can learn how to fire it on YouTube.”
My surname is Bondar, and brought up in small Derbyshire and Nottibghamshire mining villages in the 60s and 70s I never heard of another Bondar apart from Roberta Bondar a Canadian NASA astronaut of Ukrainian descent.
Bondar is slavic for barrel maker, so my full anglised name should be Peter Cooper..
I notice that there are over 300 Bondars who are now directors of UK companies, so they certainly have come out of the old mining villages.
Here's the article avout Colonel Yevgen Bondar and his joy about UK anti tank missiles..
The odds seemed insurmountable for Colonel Yevgen Bondar and his lightly-equipped infantrymen as a long column of Russian tanks rolled towards the crossroads they were guarding in Huliapole, south-east Ukraine.
The invaders opened fire, wounding the Colonel and two of his men. But the Ukrainian unit had an ace up its sleeve, in the form of cutting-edge, shoulder-mounted missile launchers, supplied by Britain.
“It was a column of 40 tanks, some kind of preliminary attack,” the Colonel told The Telegraph last week outside the hospital where he is being treated for his wounds. “But we are getting a lot of serious help. The NLAWs [short for Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon] took out three tanks and one armoured fighting vehicle. Burnt them out. Burnt beautifully.”
More than a week on, Huliapole – like much of the rest of the country – remains in Ukrainian hands. “We’ve held our positions,” the Colonel said. “We haven’t surrended anything.”
NLAWs, an Anglo-Swedish munition, has proven to be a great leveller in the battle between Russian and Ukrainian armed forces. With it and other highly portable, state-of-the-art weapons supplied by the West, small bands of brave Ukrainian soldiers have been able to hold up the biggest mechanised army to go into battle in Europe since the Second World War.
“The NLAW is a wonderful thing. A Javelin [the American-made portable anti-tank missile] has better range – but in the city, [NLAW] is better”, explained the Colonel, as it can be fired from within a building and is simple to operate. “Everyone can use it. You can learn how to fire it on YouTube.”