Nathaniel Sanders is a Utah lawyer and a state delegation leader for the American Coalition for Ukraine.  He heads the Utah Battalion of the 50 States for Ukraine campaign, which has joined with Car for Ukraine in getting vehicles to the front lines.  

The documentary “No Sleep Til Kyiv” is about regular people who sacrifice their pre-war lives to build a pipeline of badly needed trucks and aid to front-line Ukrainian troops.  The special showing of the film in Portland is in support of the Utah Battalion for Ukraine.

Nathaniel is hosting the Portland premiere of “No Sleep Til Kyiv”.  He has traveled to Ukraine eight times since the russian invasion to bring much needed aid to Ukrainians, learn as much as he can about the country and the war, and bring that knowledge back to America. Nathaniel was in Pennsylvania for a screening of the film when we talked before his arrival in Portland.  

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

How did you connect with Peter Duke (convoy driver in the film as well as the film’s producer and executive producer)?

That’s one of those things that happens in Ukraine. You meet somebody and then you meet another person and then you meet another person.  So I think it was back in October of 2024.  I was waiting in a line of cars at the border between Poland and Ukraine, trying to get into Ukraine. And I see this British vehicle, and I can tell it’s packed full of supplies, obvious signs of volunteerism.  I go up and I start talking with the guy.  Turns out it’s John Gudorf.  And he’s actually in the film as well.  He starts talking about NAFO, North Atlantic Fella Organization*, which is pretty well known among the volunteer community, because we all see the trucks, we see the podcasts and whatnot where people talk about it, and I was like, boy, I’d really love to get on one of those convoys. So John ended up giving me a patch from NAFO, I gave him one of my patches, exchanged information, and he hooked me up with their coordinator.  And I think it helped that I was volunteering to drive in the middle of winter.

So, end of January of ‘25, I found myself flying out to Tallinn, Estonia, joining the convoy.  Two days later I was up at five in the morning in a car with a driving partner and heading to Kyiv. So 30 hours later, just hanging out, talking to people, I meet this guy who says he’s producing a movie.  Turns out that was Peter Duke.  The movie had not been completed yet. I told him: Hey, you know, any help you can use, I’m here. So didn’t think much about it.

Then ended up, through another circumstance, somebody else had hooked me up with the American Coalition for Ukraine. I’d never done that before. I went out and ended up being a delegation leader for Utah last April.  And who else was there? Well, Peter Duke, and they were showing the movie, its U. S. premiere. So again, we talked again about getting the story out there. I found myself in Ukraine last June again, talking to him and he’s like, okay, we’re ready to go.  Let’s get the movie out. So that’s the long story for your short question.

* NAFO is an online global community of people who have joined together to raise money in support of Ukraine’s Defenders.

Can you tell us about your role and where you’ve been taking the film, and public reception to the film? 

I was in Ukraine, talking to Peter Duke, and he let me know that I could have the rights to it, and he encouraged me to show it wherever I could.  My very first showing was in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And we had a really good showing.  Everybody stayed for about an hour and a half after the film for the Q and A.

One thing that was really good there was the participation of our local Ukrainian refugees. They had fled the war and they basically shared stories of their hometown and what they’ve been through since they left.  And we had a lot of back-and-forth between local Americans, those Ukrainians, myself, and other friends and family that were in the audience. 

After that, I did a showing in Salt Lake City.  I knew that I was coming out to DC this past week for the Ukraine Action Summit, and it had been a while since I’d visited my aunt and uncle in Northeast Pennsylvania, where I am right now. I’m actually doing a showing tomorrow night in Pennsylvania.

Going back to Salt Lake, we had the same scenario, with a lot of people watching the movie and a lot of people staying quite a while for the Q&A.  So it was really a good vehicle for that sort of participation. And we’re looking forward to Portland. Rebecca Wolfe, who is also a convoy driver in the movie, is going to be in Portland, too.

Have things changed significantly since what’s being featured in the film, or have the convoys and the people continued? 

It’s pretty regular. You have a lot of the same people still involved. Obviously you have volunteer drivers come and go. You’ll have some people come in and maybe purchase a truck or maybe more trucks and they’ll come out and drive.

On the convoy I was on, about half the drivers were Estonian volunteers.  What I hear through the grapevine is they’ve actually got a backlog of volunteer drivers, people saying, Hey, I’d love to do this.

Can you talk about sort of how Tallinn was your start destination and the importance of that and the importance of Estonian support in being able to get the convoy to Kyiv in the first place?

The reason it’s in Tallinn is because the organization and this process was created and developed by Estonians.  Estonians are very strong supporters of Ukraine because they’re in a position, well, if Ukraine falls, we’re next.

It was started by Ragnar Sass. When the war came out, he started what’s called Help99, and it started with people just finding some vehicles, rehab them, and get them to Ukraine somehow.  And I think what happened is people started posting about it, talking about it, and they realized they could not just deliver trucks, but get out a message, get people interested, get people involved, get people to understand better what’s going on. And what they’ve created really is a fascinating network opportunity.

I’ve just described to you how my involvement has been sort of a force multiplier for me.  I’ve met a lot of people, I have made those connections and we have worked together to further that underlying goal of promoting the defense of Ukraine.

The rule of thumb that you hear from people who work in this convoy industry is that the average truck out there is going to save 20 lives. 

You’ve been to Ukraine eight times since the russian invasion.  What do you feel has changed in Ukraine and the USA?  Around the war, during that time, since you first started to now, have there been significant changes?

Let me describe the United States first.  When I went over that first summer, I was working at a refugee center in Poland, so just on the Polish side of the border.  I really didn’t have a lot of forethought into what I was doing. I just knew that I had some language skills. I just went to the refugee center, volunteered, looked for other things to do while I was there.

At that time, I was just posting stories on the internet.  I set up a Venmo account and people were just saying, Hey, I love what you’re doing, you know, buy some toys for some kids, buy some medical supplies, buy some food. We love this. 

Of course, donor fatigue set in eventually. But now, it’s interesting because we’re at a point where the war has gone on so long, people are realizing, wait a minute, we’ve got to get involved because the governments and the big organizations, they’re not solving the problems. So I’m getting a lot more traction these days with talking to ordinary people saying, you know, what can I do to get you involved? 

The rule of thumb that you hear from people who work in this convoy industry is that the average truck out there is going to save 20 lives.

When I first went out there, it was a very exciting time in the summer of 2022 when, a few months prior, everybody was thinking Ukraine would fall in three days to three weeks. And when I was there, well, it was three months later and they were still going strong. And then just after that, they started pushing the russians back, clearing out occupied territory, which really got people excited.

You saw a lot of up and downs with the Ukrainians themselves when the aid that they had hoped to get, as far as military aid, was not the right thing at the right time, or too little too late, that sort of thing. I remember being there in early ‘24 when they had the major crisis of ammunition, of just, you know, 155 shells, not enough.

All that time, people had that sort of anxiety of, when are we gonna get what we need to make this happen? All the while, I don’t think that the belief in Ukrainian victory or the hope for Ukrainian victory ever went away. 

What they will say, some version of this, is that they will put up with the russian bombs now, so they don’t have to put up with the russian boot later. They’re doing it for their kids, and they all know this.

I know a lot of Ukrainians who were outside of Ukraine when the war started, who came back. And it’s not just soldiers: young people who came back to be closer to family, to be closer to ones they love, to support, to be a part of the country, even if it’s just being a civilian in the country, that’s part of being a country that’s standing up against this ridiculously stupid invasion. 

“No Sleep Til Kyiv” shows in partnership with DAWN on Sunday, November 16, 7 PM intro and film (6 PM doors open and meet and greet) at McMenamins Kennedy School Theater.  All ages welcome.  For more information, visit McMenamins Kennedy School.  

Tickets can also be purchased to view “No Sleep Til Kyiv” online through the film’s website.