Dorset pub landlord reaches Ukraine with minibus of aid

A pub landlord has arrived in Ukraine with a minibus of aid after a 1,000-mile (1,600km) journey from the UK.

Former Royal Marine Tom Littledyke, 31, set off from Lyme Regis in Dorset on Monday.

After dropping supplies in Poland, he said he made the "terrifying" drive over the border to Lviv in western Ukraine.

He is now using his 16-seater minibus to ferry people from the city's train station back to the Polish border.

Mr Littledyke said he wanted to bring people in Ukraine "a tinge of hope and warmth"

Speaking to BBC Radio Solent, he said he crossed the border with Poland on a road littered with abandoned vehicles and personal belongings.

He described the drive as "eerily terrifying".

He said: "The plan wasn't to come into the Ukraine but at midnight I met some reporters on the border in Poland and they gave me some useful tips...

"...[they] told me about a train station where people needed to be ferried to and from the border. So I made the decision to pop over."

Mr Littledyke, who plans to return to Dorset on Friday, took donated blankets, sleeping bags and teddy bears out in the minibus after launching an appeal on social media.

A fundraising page he set up with a target of £1,000 has to date raised more than £7,500.

Tom Littledyke took donated blankets, sleeping bags and teddy bears