Help from Bournemouth to Ukraine group travels to warzone

Karol Swiacki, the organiser of Help from Bournemouth to Ukraine, and the group’s transport manager, Daniel Sulimierski, arrived in Ukraine last week to see the devastation caused by Russia’s invasion.

The trip follows months of hard work by the group, which became Dorset’s main fundraising effort with an overwhelming number of donations for Ukraine.

After six days in Ukraine, with the help of friends Janusz S Gorski, Roman Lysythuk and Andrey Polovko, Karol told the Daily Echo: “It’s madness here. I wanted to see it with my own eyes.

“I wanted to show people what’s happening here, especially people that don’t believe the war is real.

“We’ve seen destroyed buildings and heard people’s stories. It’s one big suffering.”

The group also visited Kharkiv. Karol said: “We were just a few kilometres away from the front line. We were with an Army escort and told that we might be hit.

“It was really scary stuff.

“You’re not safe anywhere.”

After leaving the city, Karol wrote in a Facebook post: “No words to describe, what we have just seen here.

“There is so much to talk about, so much to hate, but we simply can't talk about this now.

“This just simply made us speechless.”

Karol spoke of residents, who despite the destruction across Ukraine, refused to leave. He said: “There are still people living there while the bombs and rockets are hitting because they don’t want to leave.”

Although a harrowing experience, the trip has highlighted how important the work is that the Help from Bournemouth to Ukraine group are doing.

Karol said: “We’ve met so many people here. They’re treating us like heroes.

“They’ve received our aid in different cities. The aid from Bournemouth is going everywhere.

“The impact is huge.

“I have a choice now. I can give up and try and forget, but I don’t want to do that because my heart is here.”

For more information on Help from Bournemouth to Ukraine, visit their Facebook page.