On Fri 17th Ewen and Craig made their way from Krakow airport.  We were loaned an ambulance which died on us 44km into the mission.  We were now in the middle of nowhere at 1am in minus 7.   

Luckily we met a group of Ukrainian lads who were heading to the border and after many hours trying to get the ambulance going we made the decision to leave it and get to Shareef in Odesa by any means.  So the guys gave us a lift to Medyka. 

Now 7am. While Craig got some shut eye Ewen messaged round everyone he knew and reached out to many that he didn't.  Luckily his  friend Fynn was the man who came good and offered us the use of one of his vehicles. But we needed to wait an extra day.   However because we had a private jet booked, the decision was made that we take the train from lviv to odesa.  Thank you Fynn.

One of Craig's contacts in country met us at the border and brought us to their hotel in Lviv.  We had some food and booked our train tickets. 

Now moving 100kgs of kit on foot we made our way to odesa.  We arrived at 8am , met up with our contacts there, ditched some kit and made our way to Shareef. 

There were many problems in Odesa which can't be shared at the time of writing,  however we were too far in to turn back now.   

We booked three cabins on the train.  One for medical,  one for the resting medic and one for Shareefs Mrs and her 10 year old son. 

We arrived in Lviv and set about finding accommodation to perform obs and to rest.  Ewen went off to the medical centre there to drop some medical supplies and surgery equipment off to Dr Yaser then made his way back to Craig, Shareef and the others.

Ewen had a zoom meeting with the pilots and coordinators of Ukraine Air Rescue and we managed to push the jet back a few hours to given us time to get across the border into Poland. Once In Poland we met up with Emma Vardy who is working on a project and her and Marek sorted us an apartment while we waited for the plane. 

Once at Rzesow, the combat medic bags put together in the UK were shipped out to Poland via the plane and on their way to the front line.   Helen and her son went via a commercial flight and Shareef, Craig, Marek and Ewen got on the jet.

We returned to the UK via a refuel in Germany. 

Special thanks to:

Ewens GT crew

Barrett Steel

Autumn (Rosneath peninsula) and a handful of kind strangers for their financial support.

Ukraine Air Rescue. 

The lads serving in the 93rd brigade who helped us and a load of official bodies who wish to remain anonymous. 

Finally, as this mission was underway we we given news that at the same time as us getting out of dodge, the air team managed to evacuate 18 children with cancer from Odesa out of Ukraine. 

1 casualty

2 refugees

18 poorly children

All now in a safer place getting the support they need and all just before Christmas.

Craig and I are still getting our heads round how we managed to pull all of this off.   

If you'd like to help us help others you can donate through our Crowdfunder Campaign here - Thank you!