WATCH: Amazing rock video recorded in Tullamore during Covid lockdown

A TULLAMORE-based Latvian man has spoken of how shocked he was when Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago.

“I remember February 24th when this happened. I was literally in my underwear, I woke up and I sat up next to my computer and turned on the news and I sat like this for nine hours just listening to the news, me and my wife,” said Ernest Cherenkov.

“The time [just] passed, I couldn't believe this was happening, it was just so shocking.”

Ernest, a 41-year-old father of four who grew up in the Latvian capital Riga, is now a support worker in the Ukraine Hub in Tullamore.

The hub functions as an advice centre for the newly arrived Ukrainian community and is stocked with a free shop where those who have fled the war can access essential goods.

A business graduate and former boxer, he moved to the United States in 2000 as part of a student exchange and then decided to relocate to Ireland in 2007 to seek work.

Fluent in Russian, Latvian and Lithuanian, he has worked as a courtroom interpreter and was also employed in the Tullamore office of Intreo, the State employment and income support service.

He has family links with Ukraine through his late grandfather and his aunt still lives there.

“I have plenty of relatives in Ukraine so I know exactly what's going on there and I know exactly how terrifying the situation is there,” he said

He stressed that Ukraine's recent difficulties did not just begin a year ago but first came to a head during the pro-democracy demonstrations of late 2004 (the Orange revolution) and again in 2014 (the Euromaiden revolution, the war in Donbass and annexation of Crimea).

He felt he could not sit idly by when the Ukrainian people needed help in 2022 but he said: “I didn't know how I could help. Donation is one [way] but I wanted to do something more and then there was this opportunity with Intreo and I started working there.”

“Here, from the first day I met Deirdre, I understood this is the place I need to be because of the welcome, the way they've opened up, and everything. I think I found my good purpose here again.”

A steady stream of visitors arrive daily at the Ukraine Hub at Bury Quay, ranging from people seeking help with children (including items for a new-born in Edenderry), to students wishing to volunteer.

As the conflict continued through last year, he was faced with some especially tragic requests.

'When I was working in Intreo people were calling to submit forms that they were leaving for a short period, two weeks, and the reason was a funeral. People die every day.”

Those who were dying were Ukrainian men, fathers and husbands of refugees in Offaly, killed in combat.

“Ukraine people today is paying a price with their blood. We're paying with money but they pay every day with their blood. It's something we need to remember.”

Ernest recalls when Latvia was breaking away from the Soviet Union in 1991. His family lived in downtown Riga and though the country did gain its independence, there were some deaths during a military crackdown by Moscow.

“I can remember the shots... if you are in Riga I can walk with you and show you the bullet holes, even after 30 years. They're just left there on purpose.”

He returns regularly to Latvia where his family still live and said the country is happy to be a member of the European Union but even more glad to be part of Nato.

He is optimistic that solutions can be found for countries which truly wish to cut their dependence on Russia, citing Germany's success in dramatically reducing its reliance on Russian gas as an example.

“Everything is fixable and Germany just fixed that,” he said.

He urges people to be cautious about Russian propaganda, labelling much of it “nonsense” and said he does not believe the Russian Federation has much support, even in eastern Ukraine.

“To be honest with you Kharkiv, the city, is 90% Russian speaking and so far all the people from Kharkiv I met, none of them support the Russian invasion. It's nothing but pure propaganda and lies.”

What about the city of Donetsk in the Donbass region? “I've never been in Donetsk but I meet Ukrainians who are coming from that region and they are terrified, they don't even speak Ukrainian, their first language is Russian and they tell me terrible things about what is going on, their houses are taken, their properties, the women are raped, the innocent people are killed.”

He questions all the claims Russia is making, including its contention that it wishes to bring peace to eastern Ukraine.

“What sort of peace are they bringing?” he asked. He is aware of arguments from Russia that opponents of the 2022 invasion are American “puppets” and said: “America brings economy, civilisation, like any other European country [does].”

He asked Russia: “What can you suggest? What can you can give to our country? If you are so great and so good, [and saying] 'Please love us, we are Russians', what can you bring to us? What do you bring to our country, what? What is this all for? A good economy? No more poverty? What exactly are you bringing except war, criminal corruption?”

He said the kind of “mono” rule which Russia imposes is very outdated. “It's unbelievable that in the 21st century this is happening.”

Ernest's political opinions and world view have found expression in his songs and music (his father Robert was a member of top Lithuanian rock band Ramybes Skveras, which translates as Peace Square, in the late 1980s) and during the Covid lockdown of 2020 he recorded himself walking the streets of Tullamore for a video of 'Shaking Down the World'.

The song was released by the group Amber Icons, a collaboration between himself as lead singer, his father Ernest on guitar, and other Baltic musicians.

Amber Icons is Ernest's “hobby” but the group's music can carry a serious message. 'Shaking Down the World' for instance, is his “vision of what happened in the world in general”.

Its video features footage of world leaders past and present such as Saddam Hussein and Vladimir Putin, refers to the poisoned Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, plus clips illustrating war, protest and pollution.

He summed it up as: “All historical crazy things happening... I wanted people to think.”

Less than two years after recording it there was much greater upheaval with the Russian invasion.

He said working in the Ukraine Hub is part of his contribution to bringing change and supporting those in need.

“We have to do it, because who, if not us?” he said. “Somebody has to do it, step out and do it. I think it's important.”

He said the Ukrainian people are very grateful to the Irish. “I think Ireland... does a great job. The way they facilitated displaced people, provided support, so many organisations here in Ireland that participate in this crisis. It's just phenomenal.”