Ukraine war: 'The resolve of people is incredible'

Damian Griffiths, volunteered at a kitchen for soldiers and the paediatric hospital in Lviv

Two volunteers who have returned from Ukraine have spoken of the "resolve" of the people still in the country.

Damian Griffiths and Douglas Hall, both from Suffolk, worked in a kitchen in Lviv supplying food to soldiers on the front line.

They both also said people were trying to carry on with their lives since conflict began a year ago.

Mr Griffiths said: "The strength and resolve of the Ukrainian people is just incredible."

He also used his skills from his job as a specialist nurse at Noah's Ark Children's Hospice in Barnet when he volunteered at a paediatric hospital in the city.

"In the critical care unit was quite traumatic," he said.

The kitchen provided rations for soldiers fighting in the war

"Life still does go on, families are still going about their everyday business.

"It was just incredible to see people shopping with their torches on their phone in darkness, not having electric, not having heating on, or internet or phones," he added.

'Every Ukrainian was suffering'

Mr Hall, from Newmarket, said there were signs the country was at war as soon as you enter the city.

He said: "The statues in town are all boarded up, the churches have their windows boarded up.

"There are several people in wheelchairs or missing legs or missing an arm or on crutches."

As well at the kitchen in Lviv, Douglas Hall also worked a driver been Poland and Ukraine

While working in the kitchen Mr Hall met a soldier who had been injured in a rocket attack.

"He didn't complain about his physical state at all. The only thing he complained to me about that day was the fact he had bet on the England versus France game [in the football World Cup] and England had lost," he said.

He added: "Every Ukrainian I met was suffering to some extent.

"They're all pulling together, it's amazing to see, they have that total resolve."

War in Ukraine: More coverage

• US marks war anniversary with new Russia sanctions

• 'We will not forgive, or forget' - six sporting lives lost in Ukraine

• How Putin's fate is tied to his war in Ukraine

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