Volunteers donate evacuation truck to Ukraine

A convoy of trucks from Devon filled with aid for Ukraine has successfully arrived at its destination.

Team Devon Ukrainian Action volunteer Adam Steward said seven trucks headed to Poland and delivered the aid on 8 March.

Mr Steward then continued the journey and was escorted to the Zaporizhia region of Ukraine to donate his vehicle to a man called Vlad, to be used for evacuating elderly and disabled people from frontline villages.

"I'm very humbled to be handing it over to the incredibly brave Vlad who does evacuations of elderly people and disabled people from the frontline villages", Mr Steward said.

He said: "The truck will replace his [Vlad's] main evacuation vehicle which he said was hit in a drone attack despite being a rescue vehicle.

"He [Vlad] is an incredible man who puts himself in harm's way on a daily basis."

The vehicle is the 50th donated by Team Devon Ukrainian Action.

On one day the two men went to a small village in the Zaporizhia region to deliver supplies and food to an elderly lady and her disabled son.

Mr Steward said the aid was "greatly received".

In total, Mr Steward spent six days in Ukraine and said he planned to return.

He said: "Every time I come back; you realise there is more of a need than ever once you're here.

"They're all in need of aid and you only have one van."

Vlad said the new vehicle and aid was a "big, big support".

He added: "This is very important because the more people support us, the more we can do because we understand we are not alone."

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