Herts councillor with a big heart takes truck to Ukraine to deliver aid for the FOURTH time

LIBERAL Democrat county councillor Paul Zukowskyj is heading back to Ukraine for the fourth time – with a lorry full of medical and humanitarian supplies.

Cllr Zukowskyj – who is also leader of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council – has already made three journeys to the country with aid, since the invasion by Russian forces in 2022.

And on Saturday (June 17) he starts what will be a six-day mission to take generators, medical supplies and other aid to Kyiv – in a truck that he has purchased specifically to transport aid.

Once in Kyiv, the items will be distributed by others to the areas and regions where they are needed, where Cllr Zukowskyj says they ‘will make a huge difference’.

The generators – collected by Surrey Stands With Ukraine – are expected to be taken to areas affected by flooding as a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.

Meanwhile medical aid – including resuscitation kits, syringe needles and vomit bowls – will be taken to a hospital in an area to the north of the dam, which is believed to be under particular pressure.

“If you have an area flooded, if you have a home flooded, none of the electrics will work – no power, no lighting, nothing to cook on,” says Cllr Zukowskyj.

“If there’s a generator you also have the power to charge a mobile phone – and have networking ability.”

Clr Zukowskyj made his first journey to Ukraine in May 2022, when he was involved in handing aid directly to those affected ‘on the ground’.

He was struck by the experiences of the people he met – in particular by a young man with cerebral palsy who survived a bomb attack in the cellar of his home, but lost the wheelchair he needed to move around.

He also points to the people he met from Kharkiv, who had left their city with nothing and nowhere to go.

And it was during that trip that he decided that he had to return to do more.

Since then he has been struck by the ‘surprising’ reaction of the people he meets there.

“A huge number of people are just really happy to see us,” he says.

“A lot of people on the ground feel like they have been forgotten – so they are just really pleased to see you and pleased that you have come to help.

“They are a very resilient people and they will survive whether we take the aid or not.

“It will make their lives much easier and they see that we still care and remember that they are there.”

On Saturday Cllr Zukowskyj – and co-driver Stuart Barnes – will set out on the 2,500-mile journey, under the umbrella of Vans Without Borders.

But Cllr Zukowskyj – who has been leader of Welwyn Hatfield Council since May – believes that this may have to be his last trip for a while.

He says that taking on the leader’s role at the borough council means his diary is full and would make further trips more difficult.