Used emergency medical vehicles from America and Europe make a stop in Slovakia in June 2024. (source: US Embassy Bratislava)
On February 24, 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Brock Bierman, a former U.S. public official, found himself in Slovakia for work instead of his planned destination, Moldova. The unexpected detour was due to the temporary closure of the airport in the Moldovan capital Chișinău.
“I’ve visited Slovakia countless times. It’s a beautiful country, and I love it,” Bierman, a Rhode Island native and former employee of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, told The Slovak Spectator.
This time though he didn’t stay in the country long enough to enjoy that beauty.
After calling a friend, he travelled to Ukraine, where he travelled across the western part of the country, speaking to everyone from plumbers to doctors, asking about their needs as the number of internally displaced people swelled.
Inspired by Ernest Hemingway and other Americans who volunteered as ambulance drivers during WWI, Bierman started driving ambulances to help Ukraine in its efforts to resist the Russian invasion.
