One Flag. Two Countries. One Mission.

This flag has already travelled more than 700 kilometres on foot across Ukraine. Now it is going to cross Prince Edward Island in Canada.

By the time this journey is finished, one Alcatraz Battalion flag will have travelled nearly 1,000 kilometres on foot across two countries, carried for the same reason: to make sure the soldiers behind it are seen, remembered and supported.

How It Started

Earlier this year, I strapped the flag of Alcatraz Battalion, 93rd Mechanized Brigade, to my back and started walking from Kyiv toward my home in Kramatorsk.

I carried it through rain, heat, tiny villages, long highways, swollen feet, destroyed shoes and nights sleeping wherever I could find shelter. For hundreds of kilometres, that flag stayed on my back.

But the walk was never really about me. Every step was for my soldiers. It was about making people stop for a moment and look at the men behind the headlines. The soldiers losing equipment, rebuilding positions, replacing what was destroyed and continuing to fight through some of the hardest conditions in Ukraine.

When my walk ended, I did not want the story of that flag to end with it. So I sent it across the ocean to Canada, and Julia Cardy agreed to carry it from there.

Julia's Walk

Julia will carry the same Alcatraz flag more than 250 kilometres across Prince Edward Island, walking from East Point to Tignish over fourteen days.

This is not Julia's first connection to Ukraine. Her relationship with the country goes back more than twenty years. She has observed elections in Ukraine, helped Ukrainians reach safety after the full-scale invasion, travelled here herself, visited communities affected by russian occupation and joined me on a supply run toward Kharkiv and the Donbas.

She has seen what this war looks like beyond a headline. Now she is taking a piece of Alcatraz and carrying it across PEI.

Different country. Different road. Same soldiers.

Along the way, we hope people will stop her, ask about the flag, learn about the battalion and understand why this support still matters. Sometimes a flag can start a conversation that another social media post cannot.

About the Fundraising

The money raised through this campaign will support a general fund for Alcatraz Battalion. That is important because the needs of a frontline battalion can change almost overnight.

A position can be destroyed. A vehicle can go down. A drone can be lost. A generator, power station, laptop, tablet or communications system can disappear in a strike. Sometimes the most urgent need is a thermal drone. Sometimes it is medical equipment. Sometimes it is vehicle repairs, generators, communications equipment, batteries, power stations or simply replacing everything that was inside a position when it was hit.

War decides what disappears next. Our job is to be able to respond when it does.

Instead of creating a new fundraiser every single time something is lost, this campaign helps create a pool that allows us to react quickly and support the battalion where the need is greatest at that moment.

Why There Are Two Ways to Donate

Our primary Walk the Island fundraiser is being collected through Planet of People.

We have also created this Givebutter campaign for people who prefer to donate through a U.S. 501(c)(3) and receive the applicable charitable tax receipt. The Givebutter campaign is a separate pooled donation fund administered through Spirit of Ukraine, one of our nonprofit partners.

Both campaigns support the same overall mission. They simply give donors different ways to contribute depending on what works best for them. There is no competition between the two campaigns. Choose the option that works best for you.

About Spirit of Ukraine

Spirit of Ukraine is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and one of the organizations working alongside us to support Ukraine.

Through this Givebutter campaign, 90% of donations will support the general needs of Alcatraz Battalion. The remaining 10% will support Spirit of Ukraine and its wider work helping Ukrainian units.

At the time this campaign launches, Spirit of Ukraine is raising money to provide three vehicles to other units serving in Ukraine.

We wanted that percentage stated clearly from the beginning. There are no hidden percentages and no mystery about where the money goes. A donation made here primarily supports Alcatraz while also helping Spirit of Ukraine continue supporting other Ukrainian soldiers who need equipment and vehicles.

Carry the Flag With Us

I carried this flag across Ukraine, and now Julia will carry it across Prince Edward Island, but this journey has never belonged only to the two of us. Every person who shares this campaign, stops Julia along the trail, asks what the flag represents, follows the walk or makes a donation helps carry its story a little farther.

Those kilometres can become something very real for the soldiers behind that flag: a drone that lets them see at night, a generator or power station keeping equipment running, medical supplies, communications equipment, a vehicle, or simply the ability to rebuild after another position is lost. That is why we keep walking, why we keep talking about these men and why we keep asking people not to look away.

The flag made it from Kyiv to Kramatorsk, crossed the Atlantic, and will now travel from East Point to Tignish. By the end, it will have travelled nearly 1,000 kilometres on foot across two countries, carried by people who believe that distance should never become an excuse to forget.

Now we want to see how far Canada can help carry it.

Walk with us, share the journey, and help us keep Alcatraz standing.

That ending feels much more like a human conclusion to the story rather than a poster broken into individual lines.

Walk The Island