One of our Trustees - Andrey on relatives' terror in Ukraine
News & Star Article by Phil Coleman - please see original article here.
A FORMER Carlisle College student who grew up in Ukraine has received 'desperate' messages pleading for help from a relative whose apartment block is being shelled by the Russian Army.
Father-of-two Andrey Donsky, 40, left Ukraine at 17 to further his education – initially studying in Carlisle and then at Newton Rigg College near Penrith.
In recent days the horrors the Russian invasion have confronted him in numerous phone and text conversations with his traumatised family and friends in Ukraine, including in the beleaguered capital Kyiv.
He plans to help victims of the war through the Kendal-based charity New Beginnings, which he has worked with for more than 20 years, with much of its efforts focused on supporting orphans.
Both he the Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron say that Cumbrians with contacts in Russia can do their bit - by helping to smash through the Kremlin’s propaganda machine, which is hiding the war's bloody reality from ordinary Russians.
Andrey has relatives across Ukraine, including in Kyiv, where his grandmother lives, as well in the north of the county in the city of Chernihiv, now facing devastating waves or artillery bombardment.
Referring to message from one of his cousins there – a woman with small children – Andrey said: “They’ve told me they’re being bombed now. The text says 'Please, please do something.'
“They say the planes just keep coming and dropping bombs on their apartment block. It’s now badly damaged.
“It’s a city the size of Carlisle. Both of my cousins there are pleading for help. We’re fundraising like mad through New Beginnings and will be in a position to help when the opportunity presents itself.
“But as of today I can’t do anything.
“There’s a feeling of desperation. They want anyone and everyone to raise awareness and to tell people how bad it really is: that the Russian Army is not just targeting military infrastructure.
“They’re targeting cities, apartments, hospitals, schools. They’re causing terror. They’re not making surgical strikes on military targets; it’s the precise opposite They’re causing havoc, destruction, pain and suffering.
“I understand the complex issues around the idea of closing the air-space to Russian military planes: that would be pretty much World War Three. I get that and understand it - but for the people in the firing line it’s so frustrating.”
Andrey said civilians are not hiding in purpose-built bomb shelters. “They’re in utility basements, with pipes and rubbish collections. It’s makeshift, but slightly safer.”
Both his cousins have primary-school age children. “Imagine the trauma for those kids,” continued Andrey, who is now a British citizen, living and working in Kendal.
“We’ve been inundated with local people offering support, which is amazing. I’m so grateful people are willing to help. What the Ukrainian troops are doing is amazing and the people of Ukraine are more united now than I’ve ever seen them.
“No Russian was ever persecuted in Ukraine. Russian is my first language and I’ve travelled in areas where the population is predominantly Ukrainian-speaking and nobody ever game me a hint of negative emotion.
“Putin feeds these lies through the Kremlin-owned media. People don’t know the truth.
“The Russians are still laughing at Volodymyr Zelensky [Ukraine’s President] because he was a comedian and an actor but he’s an absolute hero. Putin is hiding in a bunker, scared of everything.
“Zelensky is out there on the battlefield. Full respect to him for that.”
New Beginnings is fundraising in preparation for when the charity can get into Ukraine and offer direct help to the war's victims. In the meantime, said Andrey, UK citizens should do what they can to counter the Kremlin’s propaganda.
He added: “He's closed down social media channels and independent news organisations.
“I’d appeal to anybody who may have Russian connections or contacts to do whatever they can to tell them the truth. What could I say when my cousin asked me to help? What we can do is tell the Russian people the truth.
“It’s heart-breaking.”
'The kids can hear the bombs. They’re terrified – but brave'
New Beginnings co-founder Pat Harrison, 81, has spent decades working with Ukrainian people as their nation battled to emerge from Soviet domination.
She first got involved through her church group following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, organising UK breaks for the children affected by the disaster.
She returned to Ukraine in 1995 to help Ukraine’s 'street children,' many of who had fled from grim state-run orphanages. New Beginnings was launched in 2001.
Pat and her fellow volunteers and charity staff helped bring about a revolution in how those children were cared for, instigating a move away from grim orphanage-style care to a national foster care scheme.
The charity achieved such success that Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko presented her with an official citation to recognise the achievement.
She is currently in touch with the charity's Ukraine-based volunteers and staff. The charity has a large property near Kyiv, now a refuge for people fleeing the increasingly violent conflict.
“At the moment we got about 22 people – women and children - in the house because people want to escape from the city," she said.
"Yesterday, they were safe in the cellar. We have a three-quarter acre garden so we have lots of produce pickled and bottled - but it’s not going to last forever. They’re going to run out of food.
“The kids can hear the bombs. They’re terrified – but brave.
“The people of Ukraine have fought so hard to be European. They want to be European and to have democracy and this is what they’ve got. They're so strong; they will fight and I’m so proud of them.”
Asked what the west can do, Pat said: “My heart says we should protect the sky over Kyiv. But my head says we don’t want to start World War Three. I’ve watched Putin over the last 20 years alter.
“He was somebody who was never reasonable. But he was trying to appear to the world as if he was a politician. I have watched him get more, and more and more erratic. If he takes Ukraine I don’t believe he will stop there.
He will go to Moldova, Estonia, and Latvia. He wants more power for what he sees is his Russian Federation. So do we sit back and appease him because of NATO? Or do we take that next step that may result in world war?
“I don’t know. It’s a Solomon’s choice.”
'If you have contacts in Russia, tell them what’s going on'
Tim Farron MP praised the Government for sending military kit to Ukraine during the first days of the invasion but he said swifter action was needed to freeze the foreign assets of Russian oligarchs.
He said: “Putin listens to the oligarchs because he relies on them, financially and politically. If they are ruined, it will have an impact on Putin.”
The MP praised the BBC for its work to expose the horrors of the invasion – and backed Andrey’s plea for Cumbrians to join the campaign to reveal the truth to ordinary Russian citizens. "There’s only one person acting like a Nazi here,” said Mr Farron, referring to President Putin.
Facebook text messages, SMS text messages, phone calls, and emails are all getting through to Ukraine, he said.
“There are half a million people in Cumbria and there may be thousands of us who have contacts in Russia – perhaps a friend, a relative, or a business contact. Ring them up. If you have any contacts in Russia, tell them what’s going on.
“Don’t assume that they know.
“Tell them two things: first of all that Putin is targeting civilians - men, women and children; trying to starve them, blow them up, murder them; and that Russian soldiers are deserting in their hundreds.
“Six thousand Russian soldiers have already died, as far as we know. If we all pick up the phone to people we know, that’s probably two thousand Russians who will know tomorrow what they don’t know tonight.”
Mr Farron also urged Cumbrians to donate to New Beginnings, which he says is the perfect charity to support the Ukrainian victims of the invasion. People can also help by donating specified goods to the Recyling Lives charity which has secured a warehouse in Kendal.
More details will appear on this website in the days ahead.
The goods requested are: nappies, blankets, food pouches, powdered milk, sleeping bags, first aid kits, female sanitary products, candles, coffee, tea, canned food, chocolate, disinfectant, rain ponchos, torches and head torches, power banks and socks.