Four days after leaving the UK a Cumbria-based writer and environmentalist has successfully delivered a pick-up truck packed with essential supplies in Ukraine.
Kate Rawles and her brother Bill supported Pickupsforpeace, a charity based in Scotland, by driving the donated Mitsubishi filled with Calpol, junior ibuprofen and a mountain of nappies to the war-torn country.
The truck Kate and Bill took was donated by an Aberdeenshire farmer close to where Bill, a retired air traffic controller, now lives.
The vehicle was handed over today to the Ukrainian army who will use it to bring injured personnel away from the front line.
“Nikita has just had a daughter who’s now two years old,” Kate said. “If we needed a reminder that war is not glamourous it was this followed immediately afterwards with a heart breaking array of photos of men and women who have already died.
“Nikita had practised English for ‘this truck will help us save more lives.’ Let’s hope so.”
The vehicle was repainted by the pair from red to Nato green ready for the trip across Europe.
Earlier Kate and Bill dropped off a large quantity of medical supplies at Kyiv Children’s Clinical Hospital No 1 to staff who will distribute it to wards and nearby orphanages.
The writer will return to the UK in time to attend the Adventure Travel Show where she will be promoting her book, The Life Cycle, which was written to record a 13- month cycling adventure through South America documenting biodiversity loss.
