Huddersfield man delivers medical supplies to Ukraine

Richard Dass has driven from Huddersfield to Ukraine with a motorhome full of medical supplies

A man delivering medical supplies to Ukraine has said the refugee situation is "a lot worse" than he had imagined.

Richard Dass, 55, drove from Huddersfield to a hospital south of Lviv where a friend works as a doctor.

He said medical staff cheered as he unloaded the supplies but described shocking scenes as he crossed in to western Ukraine from Slovakia.

"It's like seeing hundreds and hundreds of homeless people not knowing what to do next," he said.

"The refugee situation is a lot worse than I had thought.

"They're sleeping on the concrete floor of the train stations and bus shelters on the way and all sorts of things."

Richard Dass said medical staff cheered as he unloaded supplies

He said after unloading his 25-year-old Mazda Bongo motorhome he was working to source vacuum therapy apparatus, which surgeons use to pull together the wounds of severely injured bomb victims.

"The hospitals are just full. They were over the moon with all the stuff we brought but we need to get more," he said.

"We got out some drawing-up needles and they were just cheering.

"But these vacuum therapy machines are absolutely vital."

He said he also hopes to be able to take refugees back with him to a school house he is renovating in central Slovakia.

While in Ukraine Mr Dass is staying with friends who have taken in a woman and her six-year-old son after they fled from Kharkiv.

He said the boy was so traumatised by the experience he appeared to be in a trance.

"Somebody showed us a picture of their house but it's a pile of rubble, everything's gone," he said.

He said hundreds of refugees were arriving from the east each day and the town had its first air raid warning on Saturday.

"We've not seen any planes, but we're told the planes are flying west.

"We were told there were two explosions near to the hospital where we went this morning but we haven't had that confirmed."

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