Aussie influencer on front lines of Ukraine conflict: 'It was terrifying'
A potential ceasefire and deal to end the war looms, but heavy bombing continues. Aussie law student Drew Pavlou, 25, visited Ukraine for about 10 days this month, at times "embedded with the Ukrainian marines", to witness up close the atrocities of Russia's war.
Drew, a well known provocateur and influencer who has railed against foes of free speech ranging from the University of Queensland to the Chinese government, was invited to the war zone by Rob Potter, the founder of cyber warfare company Cyber Activities Group, which was conducting drone warfare research.
"We met with the head of Ukraine's drone program," Drew told Yahoo News Australia. "They flew over the battlefield for us."
Drew, who has been outspoken on the issue of Ukraine's defence, said Rob invited him because he had a spare seat and "I have a lot of Twitter followers".
While visiting shell-shocked parts of the country — at one point coming within about a kilometre of the Russian position — he filmed hours of footage and has been uploading videos to YouTube and other social media platforms showing the daily devastation in eastern Ukraine at the hands of Vladimir Putin.
Whether it's war-zone tourism, new media or something else, Drew says he just wants to get the grim reality of the situation out there. "There's a lot of Russian propaganda online," he said.
"I tried to do the independent journalist thing and record the conditions from a humanitarian point of view.
"I talked to people who personally had family members who were tortured using electric shocks and things like that," he told Yahoo.
Drew travelled to Dobropillia, just days after it was bombed by Russia on March 7, in an attack on civilians that reportedly killed 11 people and injured at least 50 others. It was described by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as cruel and "deliberately calculated to cause maximum damage".
"That was probably the most confronting thing I saw," Drew said.
"Two days before I was there Russia hit an apartment block with a ballistic missile… And then they hit the first responders with cluster munitions."
The 25-year-old said "it was terrifying" to see the crater left behind by the bombing and the general aftermath of the attack.
THE DOBROPILLYA MASSACRE: I saw the aftermath of a Russian massacre in Ukraine. Dozens of families were murdered in their beds as a result of this ''double tap'' missile strike on March 7 - just one day after Trump suspended intelligence sharing. Full video below - please… pic.twitter.com/YnNGg9tngk
— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇪🇺🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) March 16, 2025
Drew said he met Australians who were fighting over there and couldn't help but notice the odd Australian flag on memorials for fallen soldiers dotted around parts of eastern Ukraine. Now back in Australia, attending university classes on Tuesday, Drew called the trip "probably the most meaningful week of my life".
"My parents are really upset that I went… I didn't tell them I was going to the front line," he added.
US President Donald Trump plans to speak to President Putin to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, after positive talks between officials from both nations in Moscow.
"We want to see if we can bring that war to an end," Trump told reporters on Air Force One earlier this week.
"Maybe we can, maybe we can't, but I think we have a very good chance... I'll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday [Wednesday AEST]. A lot of work's been done over the weekend."
Trump is trying to win Putin's support for a 30-day ceasefire proposal that Ukraine accepted last week, as both sides continued trading heavy aerial strikes throughout the weekend.
Russia is moving closer to ejecting Ukrainian forces from their months-old foothold in the western Russian region of Kursk.
Asked about what concessions are being considered in ceasefire negotiations, Trump said: "We'll be talking about land. We'll be talking about power plants... We're already talking about that, dividing up certain assets."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Putin would talk to Trump by phone on Tuesday, US time.
The Kremlin earlier said on Friday that Putin had sent Trump a message about his ceasefire plan via US envoy Steve Witkoff, who held talks in Moscow, expressing "cautious optimism" that a deal could be reached to end the three-year conflict.
with Reuters
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