Ex-MP moving to Ukraine to scale up charity work

Former Braintree MP Brooks Newmark carries out charity work in the warzone

A former MP said he was preparing to move to Ukraine to continue his charity work because it was better then "simply sending cheques over".

Brooks Newmark, who was the Conservative MP for Braintree in Essex for 10 years, started his Angels for Ukraine charity as Russia invaded three years ago.

It has since helped rescue tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the conflict, but will soon offer support for children suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"It is an incredibly fulfilling experience to know that every day when you wake up, you are doing something good," said Newmark.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 3.7 million people are displaced in Ukraine and 6.9 million refugees from the country have been recorded globally.

'Bombs dropping'

Newmark, who served as an MP from 2005 until 2015, started travelling back and forth to the country as the war got under way, spending a lot of time around Kharkiv, less then 20 miles from the Russian border.

He said: "I was in all these frontline villages, being shelled every day.

"There was not two or three minutes when you couldn't hear bombs dropping around you.

"I think I would be unlucky if something was to happen to me, but one has to do something. I can either sit here and rant and rave with my friends on X or on my various WhatsApp groups, or I can go out there and do something."

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says 6.9 million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded globally (pictured are people walking from a refugee centre in Pavlohrad, Ukraine, in October)

Newmark said he planned to move to the capital Kyiv in April once he had completed a doctorate at Oxford University.

He added: "When you can see your actions and what you are doing is helping people every single day, it is more fulfilling then simply sending cheques over."

The Angels for Ukraine charity was initially tasked with moving refugees out of conflict zones by bus and coach, but Newmark wants to help young children impacted by the war.

"Young people are facing incredible trauma in terms of PTSD. We have set up a training programme so that hopefully every school in Ukraine has an adult that can work with children suffering PTSD."

Part of Newmark's work involved moving people away from war-torn areas

A businessman and philanthropist these days, Newmark also wants to help the Ukrainian war effort by working with those in the tech sector making military drones, which he says has "transformed the way warfare is being conducted".

He is moving there as relations between the West and the US sour under Donald Trump's presidency, with Newmark suggesting a so-called peace deal would not be in Ukraine's interests.

"Trump is simply allying himself with Putin," Newmark speculated.

"He's saying I want Ukraine to capitulate. He's following the Putin line that as a country Ukraine should effectively not exist - that is really what he's saying."

At least 25 people died in the Donetsk region over the weekend following the latest wave of Russian strikes, Ukrainian officials said.

Three men were later killed in Moscow, and more injured, following what was described as the largest drone attack of the conflict on the Russian capital.