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Dr. Charles Boustany, retired cardiovascular surgeon and former six-term member of Congress representing South Louisiana from 2005 to 2017, joins Discover Lafayette to recount an extraordinary and deeply personal journey to Ukraine, where he traveled with his longtime friend and former Kentucky Congressman Geoff Davis to witness firsthand the human toll of Russia’s war upon Ukraine.
The two former congressmen made the trip at their own expense. They went not as elected officials or representatives of the United States government, but as concerned Americans determined to listen, learn and better understand a conflict that Charles believes has profound implications far beyond Ukraine.
Their journey culminated in a terrifying night in Kyiv on May 23, 2026, when Charles found himself sheltering in the basement of his hotel with Ukrainian families as missiles and drones pounded the capital for hours.
It was an experience that changed him.
A Friendship Forged in Congress Leads to Ukraine
Charles and Geoff Davis became close friends while serving together in Congress. Their backgrounds were very different. Charles came to public service after a career as a cardiovascular surgeon. Geoff is a West Point graduate and former Army Ranger who served with the 82nd Airborne Division.
Ukraine became particularly personal for Geoff after a West Point classmate, a retired U.S. Army colonel of Ukrainian ancestry, went to Ukraine and volunteered to fight after Russia’s invasion. Although the Ukrainians wanted to commission him as a senior officer because of his experience, he chose to enter the fight as a private. He was killed in combat.
Charles had his own longstanding concerns about Russian aggression. While serving in Congress, he watched Russia’s actions in Georgia and the 2014 seizure of Crimea and territory in eastern Ukraine. He had traveled to Georgia as a member of Congress and visited within roughly 30 miles of the front line, seeing the consequences of Russian military action there.
Over time, Charles and Geoff became increasingly concerned that Americans were losing sight of what was happening in Ukraine.
“We felt like you have to go see what’s going on to really understand what’s going on in the world,” Charles says. “And if you’re a policymaker, it’s really important to do that.”
They decided to go themselves.
Their objective was first to gather information: to speak not only with government and military officials, but with ordinary Ukrainians living through the war. Their second goal was to return home and share what they had witnessed.
The Long Road Into Ukraine
Rather than entering through Poland, as many American visitors do, Charles traveled from Louisiana through Atlanta, Amsterdam and Bucharest, Romania. From there, he took a commuter flight toward the Romanian-Ukrainian border, where a humanitarian contact arranged for a van to take the group into Ukraine.
The drive to Kyiv took approximately ten and a half hours.
That route gave Charles an unexpected view of the country.
They traveled through the agricultural heartland of southwestern Ukraine, passing farms and countryside that in some ways reminded Charles of home. The landscape was beautiful and peaceful, until reminders of war suddenly appeared: a bombed truck, a destroyed barn or a damaged home.
Even those rural areas bore the scars of the conflict.
What struck Charles throughout the trip was how familiar much of Ukraine felt. Gas stations offered snacks much like those in America. Stores and restaurants were open. People went about their lives. He laughed as he recalled that the restrooms they encountered along the journey were among “the cleanest bathrooms I’ve seen anywhere.”
“The people are so nice,” he says.
That sense of normalcy made the destruction they encountered even more jarring.
“These Are People Just Like Us”
Charles and Geoff deliberately sought out Ukrainians who could tell them what they had experienced.
Some of the stories were almost unbearable.
Charles met people who had survived Russian occupation and heard accounts of civilians tortured and killed. He spoke of a woman with a Ph.D. in sociology whose husband serves in the Ukrainian military. During Russia’s initial advance toward Kyiv, she hid with her children for two weeks, surviving on whatever water and food she could find until Ukrainian forces reached them.
They visited an Orthodox seminary that had been damaged during the early days of the war. The priest who led the seminary described atrocities so horrific, Charles says, that the experience had nearly shaken his Christian faith.
“It brought tears to my eyes to hear these things,” Charles recalls.
He also met the mother of a young Ukrainian who had been killed during the early days of the war while serving with the Azov forces defending Mariupol.
For Charles, these encounters stripped away the distance created by maps, political arguments and television coverage.
“These human stories are powerful,” he says. “These are people just like us.”
Air raid sirens are part of everyday life. They happen at night, designed to keep Ukrainians from getting adequate rest. People seek shelter. When the all-clear sounds, they emerge and return to work, school and family life.
Charles saw in Ukrainians what he described as a unmistakable look of determination.
“It’s the look of a people that have been striving for their independence for years, and they’ve had a taste of it, and they’re not about to let it go.”
A student of history, Charles found himself thinking about Londoners enduring the Blitz during World War II and about America’s own struggle for independence against the British Empire.
He sees that same resolve in Ukraine.
A Surgeon’s View of War
Charles’s medical background also shaped what he saw.
In Kyiv, he spent considerable time with an American surgeon whose wife is Ukrainian and who has devoted himself to helping both civilians and the Ukrainian military. The surgeon has worked to bring modern trauma techniques and donated hospital equipment into the country and has traveled repeatedly toward the front to assist with casualties.
Charles learned about devastating injuries created by modern drone and explosive warfare, including severe head trauma and wounds unlike those traditionally associated with gunfire.
He also saw a country rapidly reinventing warfare.
Ukraine has developed a sophisticated domestic drone industry. Drones are being used for surveillance and attack, but also for logistics, moving supplies and even evacuating wounded soldiers. Unmanned maritime systems have changed naval warfare as well.
“This is 21st century war,” Charles says. “It’s innovative. It’s completely different.”
He says American and European military personnel are studying Ukraine closely because the battlefield is teaching lessons that will shape warfare for decades.
The Warning: “Tonight, It’s Going to Be a Very Bad Night in Kyiv”
Nothing, however, prepared Charles for his final night in the Ukrainian capital.
Earlier that day, Charles and Geoff had received an approximately two-hour intelligence briefing about Russian tactics, Ukrainian strategy and how the conflict might unfold.
“I wish every member of Congress could get the briefing,” Charles says.
As they left, Geoff received a call from a senior Ukrainian special forces officer who wanted to meet with them that evening. They met at a hotel at 9 p.m.
Before beginning the discussion, the officer issued a warning.
“Gentlemen, before we get started on what I want to talk about, I just want to warn you that tonight it’s going to be a very bad night in Kyiv.”
A massive missile and drone attack was expected.
They were told to take precautions and find somewhere safe.
Back at their small hotel near Kyiv’s central square, Charles and Geoff inspected the basement. Geoff’s military instincts told him it might not be particularly safe. Exposed pipes, electrical lines and other hazards could leave anyone sheltering there trapped if the building took a direct hit.
Charles returned to his room. Knowing he was supposed to leave Ukraine the next day, he packed his belongings and placed his passport, wallet and room key together so that he could grab them quickly. Then he got into bed. He couldn’t sleep. At approximately 12:50 a.m., the explosions began.
At first Charles remained in his room listening. The blasts grew progressively closer. After about an hour, there was a short lull.
Then the attack intensified. “The building was shaking,” Charles recalls. He could hear breaking glass and explosions nearby. He finally went downstairs. The hotel manager grabbed him by the arm and directed him toward the basement.
There, Charles encountered a scene he will never forget.
An American in a Basement With Ukrainian Families
Ukrainian families were sheltering below the hotel. Most spoke no English.
One family particularly stayed with Charles: a grandmother, two young parents and their seven-year-old son. The little boy was frightened. His father tried to distract him by showing him soccer videos while his mother comforted him.
Charles could not speak to them. But they knew he was American. “They kept looking at me,” he remembers. “I wish I could have communicated with them.”
So Charles did the one thing he could. He put his hand over his heart. “I have to hope it gave them some confidence that an American cared enough to be there with them during that hellacious night.”
The bombardment continued from approximately 1 a.m. until 6:30 that morning.
When daylight finally came, Charles looked outside and saw smoke and fires across Kyiv. A large hotel only a few blocks away had been badly damaged.
He was relieved simply to be alive.
What Charles Believes America Should Understand
Charles returned from Ukraine convinced that the conflict cannot be viewed simply as a distant European war.
His policy views are clear and strongly expressed in our conversation. He believes Ukraine urgently needs greater missile defense capabilities, continued intelligence sharing and the ability to put greater pressure on Russian forces. In his assessment, those elements could improve Ukraine’s position sufficiently to eventually negotiate from a position of strength.
He also sees broader consequences for Europe and the United States. Ukraine’s importance as a major agricultural producer means disruptions there reverberate through global food and commodity markets. Charles connects the conflict to pressures experienced by American farmers through energy, fertilizer and equipment costs.
“Everything’s interdependent and connected,” he says. “We’re feeling those pressures here.”
But his deepest concern is security. Charles believes Americans should remember the lessons learned at tremendous cost during the first half of the 20th century: instability in Europe does not necessarily remain in Europe.
“This is not just some remote conflict,” he says. “It’s basically at the center of European security.”
Ukraine’s Long Fight to Be Ukraine
Now pursuing a Ph.D. in modern European history at LSU, Charles places today’s conflict within Ukraine’s centuries-long struggle for independence.
Ukraine’s history, he explains, stretches back more than a thousand years. Its people and territory have existed at the crossroads of powerful empires, including Poland, the Habsburg Empire, the Ottoman Empire and Russia.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine emerged as a sovereign country.
For Charles, understanding that history is essential to understanding the determination he witnessed on the streets of Kyiv. Ukrainians are not simply defending territory, he argues. They are defending their language, culture, identity and the right to determine their own future.
Coming Home to Louisiana
When Dr. Boustany was asked how he felt after returning home, his answer brought the conversation back to Louisiana.
“I love our country,” he says. “I’m thankful every day for what we have.”
Seeing Ukrainians fighting for freedoms Americans often take for granted reinforced his gratitude for ordinary life here: living peacefully, raising families, going to work, attending church, watching LSU, UL-Lafayette or high school football, and simply going about our lives without wondering whether missiles will arrive during the night.
“We live in peace and prosperity here because people are willing to fight for that freedom,” Charles says.
That realization became even more personal during the long night in Kyiv.
“I am so glad I went. I’m glad I survived,” he says. “I was worried that I might not. I spent a few hours thinking I might not survive, and started thinking about how thankful I was for the good life that I had.”
There was one person back in Louisiana whom Charles deliberately did not contact while the missiles were falling: his wife, Bridget. He knew she would be terrified if she learned what was happening while he remained trapped in Kyiv without reliable communication. So Charles waited.
Once their van was safely on the road out of the capital the next morning, he watched the time until he knew it was about 6:30 a.m. in Louisiana. Only then did he text Bridget, explain what had happened, assure her he was safe and tell her he was on his way out of Ukraine.
When he finally returned home, Bridget had a succinct response: “No more trips to Ukraine.”
After hearing his story, it is easy to understand why.
Yet it is equally easy to understand why Charles Boustany and Geoff Davis felt compelled to go.
Their journey was born of friendship, history, service and a conviction that understanding the world sometimes requires getting close enough to see the people behind the headlines.
