We are a group of ex-BBC employees who worked in the former Soviet Union in the 1990s. Our Ukrainian cameraman, Misha, lives in Kyiv and has asked for our help to support and settle members of his extended family who have fled the war over the last couple of weeks.

The party is made up of eight people in total - a mother and her two teenage daughters now in France, and a second group comprising three women and two children aged 7 and 10, who are waiting to travel. We are doing everything we can to help them including short-term accommodation in Lille, where a couple of us now live.

However, this is only a temporary solution, and we are now looking to raise £20,000 to enable them to rent more permanent housing and cover their immediate expenses.

Once they are registered as refugees they will benefit from access to local benefits, but this will not happen immediately. In the short term they need to buy furniture, clothes and toys for the children, and French lessons for all of them. Then they need to find suitable housing and get the children into schools. None of us know how long this war will go on so we are trying to help build them a secure foundation from which to rebuild their lives, for at least the next twelve months.

Please support this family with a donation. You can give anonymously, and any amount is welcome.