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Appetite for financial aid to Ukraine 'dwindling'

Dan HallNorth East and Cumbria
News imageSupplied Denys Segienko (left) and Graeme Reavley (right) standing in front of a black Mitsubishi pick-up truck. They are next to a gravel road and a brick building on the left.Supplied
Graeme Reavley's organisation has donated 50 cars to the Ukrainian war effort

The public's appetite for supplying financial aid to Ukraine has dwindled, a man whose organisation has donated 50 vehicles to the country's war effort says.

Graeme Reavley, from Bowsden, Northumberland, has made 21 trips to the Eastern European nation since Russia's invasion in 2022, delivering a vehicle each time.

He said: "It's now dragged on for four years, the war. There are a lot of other issues in the world requiring people's support."

University of Sunderland paramedic science lecturer Kate Snowdon delivered a car and medical aid to Lviv in October and echoed Reavley's thoughts. "There's a real concern that everyday people are going to be forgotten in all of this," she said.

Reavley has been taking 4x4 and recovery vehicles to Ostroh, around 300 miles (483km) west of the capital Kyiv.

From there, his Ukrainian friend Denys Segienko arranges their onward delivery to the front line.

The 69-year-old estimates his independent aid organisation has raised around £150,000 which pays for the vehicles, fuel and costs in getting them to Ukraine.

Despite the increased difficulty in obtaining financial aid, Reavley says people are still giving humanitarian items like sleeping bags, clothing and fire extinguishers "more than ever".

News imageSupplied Six men stand by a navy Toyota Hilux which is set to be donated to Ukraine. The vehicle has Ukraine flags on the bonnet and drivers' side door. There is a recovery truck with a van on the back. The vehicles are parked outside a stone house which has a hedge. All of the men are in dark clothing. Supplied
Graeme Reavley established an organisation which donates 4x4s to Ukraine

Snowdon, who lives in Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, recently drove in Europe for the first time to deliver a Nissan Navara and medical supplies to Lviv, alongside her dad Tom and his friend Phil Billingham.

The 33-year-old used her medical knowledge to find equipment useful in conflict zones.

Despite much of the single-use PPE being out of date in the UK, charities in Ukraine were made aware and accepted it.

"All this stuff would have ended up in landfill but it is still perfectly usable," she said.

"So it's amazing we were able to find a use for that."

News imageKate Snowdon Kate Snowdon stands with a hot drink by a silver Nissan Navara. Kate is wearing a purple beanie, sunglasses, a black coat and blue jeans. The pick-up has an emblem reading D2SL on the driver's door, with Ukraine, UK and Ireland flags on it. The sky is blue and it is sunny.Kate Snowdon
Kate Snowdon drove in Europe for the first time when delivering a Nissan Navara to Lviv in Ukraine

The 33-year-old said it was more important than ever Brits continued to send aid to Ukraine.

"We are constantly bombarded with news so I think it's quite natural for people to become fatigued when they hear about something quite often.

"I'd like to think if our country was invaded people would come to help us."

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