By Evaldas Labanauskas, LRT.lt from Brussels.

On a grey, drizzly Sunday in Brussels, when few would choose to venture outside, several dozen men and women of various ages make their way to a meeting point in the city centre. They are not merely showing solidarity with Ukraine through chants and banners – the volunteers of Wings for Europe have spent years collecting and assembling drones for Ukrainian forces, and their work is attracting growing attention across the continent.

“It’s a bit like assembling IKEA furniture,” was how Flemish public broadcaster VRT described the initiative. The Brussels Times wrote of “ordinary people helping Ukraine fight from a secret location in Brussels.” The organisation has since been covered by Radio Free Europe, PBS in the United States, and numerous outlets across France, Luxembourg and beyond.

Wings for Europe is a volunteer network operating across several European countries. One of its founders, Bartas Trakymas, spoke to LRT from Brussels about the initiative’s growth – and its frustrations.

“In Lithuania, no one needs to be convinced or reminded that everything possible must be done to stop the evil where it is now – to prevent the war from spreading further into Europe and to allow Ukrainians to live in peace. In the rest of Europe, that turning point is only arriving now, and we are doing our best to hasten it,” he said.

From ten drones to a continent-wide network

The idea emerged more than two years ago, during a period that Trakymas says felt much like the present – Ukraine’s energy infrastructure under bombardment, ammunition running low, American aid stalled, and European stocks largely exhausted.

Read more: LRT.LT