Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by / Nicholas Counter
01:58 Laura Pliča / Coordinator, Twitter Convoy
02:45 Nicholas Counter / DW Reporter

Script:

[Cars being loaded with boxes of supplies] 
These cars in Latvia are being loaded with donations for Ukraine – socks, food, and other supplies desperately needed by the armed forces. 

And the biggest donation? The cars themselves. 

But many of these cars come from somewhere you might not expect. 

[State impound lot, rows of repossessed cars] 
They come from here – the state impound lot, on the outskirts of the capital, Riga. 

And many of them were repossessed from drunk drivers. 

Since 2022, if you’re caught driving over 3 times the legal alcohol limit, you lose your car. 

[Cars with foreign licence plates] 

Not even tourists are exempt from this. 

And in 2023, Latvia passed another law allowing those cars to be donated to the Ukrainian army. 

The government estimates half of all delivered the cars delivered originally came from drunk drivers. 
 
[INT police car on patrol at night] 

We join the police to see how often they find someone driving under the influence. 

After all, Latvia has one of the highest rates of intoxicated driving in the entire European Union. 

[INT police car interview] 
+++ Police driver +++
"Every other shift, I come across at least one. It depends on the blood alcohol level. Sometimes it's less than 1.5 ppm, sometimes more than 1.5 ppm blood alcohol concentration."

[Pulling over car, giving driver the test] 

This driver is caught speeding and gets pulled over. 

As with all stops, he is required to take a Breathalyzer test. 

He’s clean – but still gets a ticket for speeding. 

[Convoy lined up at night] 

After this, we go outside the city, where the cars are lined up and ready for the long journey. 

Laura Pliča, one of the organizers, thinks Latvians have good reason to keep supporting Ukraine four years on.  

+++Laura Pliča, Coordinator, Twitter Convoy+++
"Latvian people are amazing. They still hold on and help and donate cars, fuel, socks and whatever, so nothing has stopped."

[Volunteers loading more boxes and labelling them] 
Latvia spent much of its history under Russian occupation, a history which motivates many to help Ukraine today. 

But the job is not yet done. 

+++Laura Pliča, Coordinator, Twitter Convoy+++
"Usually these people who are donating cars, someone in their family has been deported. So they know historically how it is and they feel sympathy for the Ukrainian people, so if they can, they donate. We have unwritten promise that we are together with the Ukrainian people until victory. Then this goal will be achieved."

[Nick PTC in front of convoy] 
"And this is the convoy that leaves every Friday night from Latvia, through Lithuania, through Poland, and to Ukraine. And with the war entering its fifth year now, Latvians show now sign of losing support for Ukraine." 

[Convoy departs]

END