The trucker raising £20,000 to bring Ukrainian orphans to Yorkshire for respite

Bob Frendt is about to make his 18th trip to the garrison city of Volodymyr, in Ukraine, close to the Polish border, carrying wheelchairs, walking frames and incontinence pads for a care home.

While he’s there he’ll be giving the city’s Mayor an itinerary for the group of children who will be coming over to Knaresborough next July. Aged 12 to 15, they’ve lost either one or both of their parents.

Getting on for five years since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, there’s been massive loss of life, with hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties. People live with the constant threat of air strikes, power cuts, and wartime restrictions. Much of what is taken for granted in the UK is missing.

As Bob puts it “there is no concept of charity” and while the care home he is taking aid to gets a little support from the local council, it amounts to “crumbs”. The 75-year-old, from Knaresborough, got involved after seeing the images of terrified women and children running down motorways, trying to escape the Russian advance.

He's since delivered tonnes of medical aid, vehicles and IT equipment for a local school.

Tickets are now on sale for an evening of Ukrainian music on November 7 at the Frazer Theatre in Knaresborough, with classical tenor Oleg Malan and Bandura player Mariia Petrovska, organised in association with Wetherby Folk Club.

Proceeds will go to Knaresborough Aid for Ukraine, a charity Bob is in the process of registering.

When he was last in Volodymr he saw a woman who sits on a bench by her son's grave six hours a day, seven days a week. He was 21 and had been killed three months before. "On the other side of the cemetery her husband was buried. He was killed two years ago. She has nobody else.

“People here don't understand what's going on. There are no charitable organisations, no Ukrainian Heart Foundation, no Ukrainian Red Cross. I know when I get there next week we will see two or three people, with no legs, going round in wheelchairs we took and delivered.

"If we didn’t take them they would be stuck in their house. The kids (we are bringing over) are orphans. They don’t know if they will wake up in the morning because of drone strikes.”

He says he “gets a bit of grief” from some people that he should be bringing military supplies. "At the end of the day my absolute focus without fear or favour is the old people and kids. They are so grateful for everything you take. Things we take for granted – like a hairdryer or a kettle.” Visit kafu.org.uk.