Following on from our previous fund raising effort (You can read the blog on that trip HERE ), we are hoping to raise funds to cover fuel and travel costs to get another load of aid to Dnipro before the snow sets in and temperatures there drop to as low as -20°C. Our vehicle, called Terry the Tortoise - he's slow, but gets there in the end and carries lots of stuff - isn't setup for snow and ice, and buying suitable snow tyres is not an economic proposition.

This means we need to depart early November, preferably late October.

Our last return trip showed we need around £3,000 in fuel, toll fees, Channel crossings and other miscellaneous costs and fees. This does not cover the two drivers personal expenses. On the last trip, we took turns driving 3 hours while the other rested in the passenger’s seat. This took us 3 1/2 days and we covered a total of 4,894km (3,040 miles) each way, stopping only for fuel, toilet and a shower. We had the espresso coffee machine and an air fryer set up in the cab for food and drink... and drank rather too much coffee as a result!

What really surprised us was the economy we obtained. An average consumption of 12.2l/100km (23.1 mpg)! Given we were at full load capacity on the way there (3.5T) and in a great hurry on the way back, that was a huge, but very pleasant, surprise! Even so, this is still 1,195 litres (263 gallons of diesel at an average of £1.74 a litre or £2,080) The Channel crossings cost £288 each way and tolls around £60 all up. The paperwork for customs and getting the required clearances cost us around £310 last time, and we would expect the same costs again.

Terry standing for inspection at the Ukrainian Border.

Having visited and seen for ourselves what is needed in the region, we are already well under way collecting a load together. Actually, we could do with another vehicle. A bigger capacity vehicle is not possible due to cost and the fact that only one of the drivers has an HGV licence, and another vehicle similar to Terry is possibly out also, due to cost and the difficulty finding suitable drivers to volunteer to subject themselves to driving nearly non-stop for 84 hours, spending 3 days distributing aid and driving another 84 hours back, and let’s not forget that 800km or so each way is in a war zone.

So why are we doing this?

Well, Ukraine did not provoke this war, no matter what the Russian propaganda machine might try to spin. The "war" has been happening since 2014, when Russian backed "separatists" took over parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in the far South East of Ukraine. From my time living there, from 2015, I can say that the Ukrainian forces have been exceedingly restrained in the face of extreme provocation. They did not launch retaliatory strikes, indiscriminately fire into separatist held territory or generally start fire fights, unlike the separatists. The Ukrainians did not target civilians, though, civilian casualties and deaths definitely occurred. The Ukrainians did turn off the water supply to Crimea, which was annexed at the same time by Russian forces who used fake voting to declare that the Crimean’s wanted Russian occupation, a considerable time after the anexation took place. If I was in charge of the Ukrainian Government, I would have turned off the water on the first day Crimea was annexed! Why should the Ukrainians pay to supply water to a part of their country that was no longer under their control? If the Russians think it is theirs, then it is up to them to supply what is needed to survive in that region. They didn't, and this shows considerable good faith on their part in my view.

Russia’s full scale invasion in February 2022 was a ruthless, bloody and barbaric act of pure hatred and savagery. In the months and week leading up to this event, many people in Ukraine, and many places around the world, did not believe Putin would commit such an act. The two countries have a shared past and many families have relatives in the other country. As for the narrative that there are Nazis in Ukraine, well, yes, there are! There are also Nazis in many other countries, including Germany, Poland, France, Belgium, UK and Russia. But there is NOT a "Nazi regime" in Ukraine! Nor have I witnessed any anti-Russian activity from the Government of Ukraine.

President Zelenski's decree that Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine and is to be spoken in the first instance of all interactions of government and commerce, unless the 'customer' asks to be addressed in Russian, is not anti-Russian. It is building the national identity of Ukraine. Making English the second official language of Ukraine is pragmatic: English is the default language of commerce, science and international diplomacy. Ukraine was held back in international trade and relations by the lack of a common language with the rest of the world. A country trying to build its economy and standing in the international arena needs as much commonality with the people it needs to engage with as possible, and Russian as a second language does not achieve this.

Most of all, we are doing this because Ukrainians are fighting a war so we do not have to. By constraining the conflict to Ukraine, a World War might be avoided, but this is at the huge cost to the civil population of Ukraine. There are so many families that consist only of a mother and children, sometimes only a grandmother and her grand children now. They are a resilient people. Ukrainians have had to endure a very difficult time and the old people, who were born in war, have had to work very hard in very difficult conditions to build a life, only to end their lives in war. The State, who was not left the funds that the old people had worked and accrued for their pensions under the Soviet rule, has tried its best with the very limited means available to it to provide a pension for the old ones, but this is pitiful, around £50-60 a month, so they relied heavily on the younger members of their families to help support them - which most did. But those younger members have been drafted, seriously injured, killed or fled the hostilities, leaving the old people, who did not want to leave the homes they had often been born in or built themselves, are left without adequate support. This is manifestly unfair and inhumane.

On our last trip, we took aid packages to a number of old people in a village out of Dnipro City, called Stari Kodaki. The average age in the village is now late 60's, and while most houses have reasonable sized gardens around the house, the older ones find it very difficult to cultivate the land well. With the onset of winter and the undoubted impending attacks by the Russian forces on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine, life is going to be very difficult for these people - and this village is indicative of a great many small communities all across Ukraine. When we delivered the packages of high protein, high energy density foods, we also gave bars of chocolate. We were greatly thanked for these, not just because the food stuffs were valued greatly, but because people from far away had remembered them. We received profuse thanks and many messages saying things like "I haven’t had chocolate for more than a year!" or "You are angels from Angliski! (Angliski is what the Ukrainians call the English)" and "Thank you for remembering us!"

A very grateful recipient of an aid package in Stari Kodaki

Frankly, the giving of the aid was difficult. Many tears were shed by all, including our interpreter, there were a number of damp eyes at the messages we received too. The sad and frustrating part for us: if we had ten times the amount of aid, it would still not be enough.

Don't let anyone tell you that the Ukrainians are ungrateful for what they are given! This is absolutely not true! The government of Ukraine continually asks for more military support, and frankly, they should get every bit of what they ask for as quickly as it can be supplied! The sooner this war is concluded, the sooner some sort of normality can be re-established in the world. The Ukrainians have demonstrated a great adeptness at learning how to use "western" weaponry to great advantage, often surpassing the expectations of effectiveness of the suppliers. They are an adaptable, resourceful people who were once the back bone of Soviet politics, religion, arts, sciences and military. Cossacks are Ukrainian, not Russian. Putin and his generals seem to have overlooked this - much to their detriment.

We cannot - should not - get involved with the supply of military materials. What we can do is supply the civil population with what it needs to remain resilient and supply humanitarian materials to the military as a boost to their own supply systems. By supporting the civilian population, it gives the fighters the peace of mind that their families are as safe, strong and well as possible. The families in turn provide moral and emotional support to their fighters.

Helping the wounded recover, helping the displaced people find a place to be, to stabilise their lives so they can work on building a future for themselves and the nation after hostilities finish is vital. Helping them rebuild, not just what they had, but a better, more socially and environmentally secure place to live. We (the Western World) need to help them turn a travesty into a positive. Many of the ex-Soviet tower buildings were nearing or passed their design lives, and this was a problem confronting the Ukrainian Government prior to the full scale invasion. Building poor quality, cheap replacements of what was there is only going to forestall the time when a better solution is needed.

The destruction of so much infrastructure provides an opportunity to rebuild with a nearly clean slate. There is no need to conform to the norms of the past, new, efficient and pleasant dwellings that maximise the benefits of current technology, social and cultural needs and in an ecologically effective manner are possible. They just need the hand up to be able to build up for themselves.

Didcot to Dnipro is about helping stabilise the people so they can figure out what they want their future to look like. We hope you can see this vision too, because it not only helps them, but helps us here in the UK, in Europe as well as Africa and the Middle East. Much of the agricultural output from this very productive region goes to feeding people in these regions. They could produce far more, and becoming a part of the EU will assist them in this. A prosperous Ukraine is a source of economic uplift for us too.

This is why we do it. £5.00 from the people/families/businesses around Didcot and its environs would make a huge difference. Things are tough here, and we will soon face very high energy bills again, but imagine having very high energy costs, but also not having a supply available too, and little idea about when or how long it will be available... We can economise, they have to hope they will even have power, and in a much colder climate.