Run 34 – February 2025

Run 34 sees the return of Karl plus another great aid runner, Steve Lelow! The van was full to the brim as you can see below!

First port of call was Harwich – Mike likes this route as it gives him a chance to sleep!

The first stop on this run was to be at fellow team member Guy’s house in Weeze, Germany. However, as you will have see in the Run 33 page, February is clearly “Wheel Bearing” month!

Mike’s update: “We have now arrived in Germany. Unfortunately the silver beast is the van that keeps on giving and becomes a little more demanding as time goes on. A wheel bearing has failed after less than 500 miles of fitting so a bit of investigation is required before replacement. Hopefully this will not delay our schedule for too long and we can embark on the trek across Europe.”

This was where the skills of Mike, Karl & Guy all came together with perhaps a littler help from Heath Robinson! Without access to the correct tools on a Sunday in Germany, they had to improvise.

Mike sent us this update: Finally,I get a little downtime so I can make a little post.

After frantic and old school basic mechanics on Sunday in Germany ( working on your vehicle is banned unless it’s an emergency) we changed the offending wheel bearing with the aid of an oven and a freezer ( thanks Guy and Liza for allowing us use of your kitchen) and drove through the night and Monday until near to the Ukraine border where we stopped for the night.

“We then made an early start in brutal cold (approximately-12) and crossed the border and headed to Ivano Frank’visk where we headed to a hospital for a tour before loading more aid which we then took to David Lowe in Ternopil. Many thanks to Olia Shkromyda and Steve Lelew for making this possible. We stayed with Dave and then Wednesday we set off eastwards. “

After the hospital visit, Steve introduced them to the local aid hub where they refilled the van ahead of meeting “Irish Dave” in Ternopil. Steve stayed in Frank’visk but will re-join the boys later in the run.

From here, we travelled east to the geographical centre of Ukraine Kropyvnytskyi where after a night’s rest we went with our friend Anton Антон Сліпченко to deliver to the orphanage at Znamyanka. Anton’s charity Helping Hands enabled us to deliver a considerable amount of sanitary goods here and many thanks to all who donated nappies and adult sanitary goods most of which went here. After this delivery we had some time to socialise with local dignitaries and then made a very early start in a blisteringly cold -10 with fog and drifting snow further east towards Zaporizhzhia.

Mike’s update: “When we arrived in Zaporizhzhia we first delivered a substantial amount of aid to Nataly White and her Himars charity. The first pictures are of a hospital just around the corner from her office that received a direct hit a few days ago. We then delivered dog food to the sanctuary we delivered to last year and then we delivered around 30kg of candles and some other aid to James Kaprini. It was great to see both of them again and James took us for a trip to see how the situation to the south east of Zaporizhzhia has deteriorated since our last visit. This was pretty upsetting to see and we learned that Zaporizhzhia area is being hit heavily on a daily basis now. Sadly due to time constraints our visit to Zap was short and we travelled north to Dnipro city where we stayed with friends for the night before heading north up the West Bank of the Dniper river.

Nataly then took Mike & Karl to the site of a recent major attack, just down the road from where they are based.

Regular followers will know that we also look after our 4 legged friends and this run was no exception. The team delivered dog food to our favourite dog sanctuary in Zaporizhzhia – Mike hasn’t said as yet of he met the one that bit him on a previous visit though!

There was so much aid that the next task was for Nataly to sort through it! Some of you will recognise your donations in this video:

Since leaving, Nataly has provided more pics of aid being delivered to a hospital in the region:

Next up was a brief visit with James Kaprini who took the team out to the flags at Orikhiv, a regular place that we all visit to see the flags of all who have passed through on their way to zero line.

Some aid already delivered – Candles were passed on to the Mayor of a small town close to front line in the Zaporizhzhia region… They will be used as is… Or melted down to make Trench candles.

The team then headed to Svitlovodsk – here’s Mike’s run update: “We then made our final delivery to Dariya in Svitlovodsk who received medical aid from us. This will go to hospitals and field hospitals on and near to the frontline. Dariya does some amazing work and it’s an honour for us to help her. We then accepted the offer of accommodation for the night from our friends at the Calvary Chapel in Svit before travelling north towards Kyiv.”

We then travelled north to Kyiv to be there to pay our respects on the third anniversary of the full scale invasion.

Before this we popped in to our good friend Malik (Володимир Каплін) and gave him some dog food and a box of used vapes (thanks Andrew Wooler) he uses these to make drone detectors and blockers.

“I wake this morning in Kyiv 24/2/2025 to blue skies. The sun rises on the third anniversary of the full scale invasion of Ukraine and the twelfth year of war against an unprovoked aggressor. This morning I will pay my respects to those who have given everything to defend their country and all of our freedoms. Ukraine will prevail!

Slava Ukraini. Heroyam Slava.!

From Karl: “Kyiv on the anniversary of the war so many flags of all nations for the fallen hero’s can’t help but get emotional at this sight thank you to all my friends in Ukraine that are still here helping Mykee Hockham Володимир Каплін Nataly White David Lowe Damon Warren Guy Ticehurst Дарья Ильина Марина Вячеславівна“

The team had a couple of days there before starting the long trek back. The air defence was very active overnight as more rockets and drones head for Kyiv.

During the run, the team visited a friend who lost her son in 2014 at the beginning of the Russian aggression and has been supporting the armed forces ever since with medical Aid. There have been 3 vital defibrillators donated but no batteries and pads. If anyone has access to some they want to donate that would be suitable, please contact Mykee via the Ukraine Fundraiser Facebook page.

As a little sideline, whilst the team were in Kyiv area they went to visit Eddie. He is a young British aid worker from Dorset. Eddie’s vehicle was subject to a drone attack in Donetsk region around three weeks ago. Sadly he lost both his arm and leg on the left as a result. One of our friend Dariya’s drivers, Phillipe, saved Eddie’s life by life saving first response. Eddie is in amazing spirits and is determined to continue his aid work once recovered. A very brave guy! The team were also honoured to meet up with the legend that is Marc F Zych from New Jersey. Mike has known Marc since the early days and it was great to spend some time with him.

As is often the case, we are provided with pictures and videos after we have left for home when our aid is actually delivered. The first ones relate to a wounded warrior called Sergiy:

From Nataly at the HIMARS Charity: “Recently we’ve received a request for walkers and wheelchair for elderly lady after injury. So with the help of Damon Warren, Mykee Hockham, Annie Hockham and Karl Harrison we are able to help. Wish her a quick recovery”:

More pictures from Nataly at Himars:

From Nataly: “This woman has escaped from occupied Melitopol while pregnant with her first child…The girl was born in a Zaporizhzhia shelter under the sounds of Russian missiles exploding. Now the woman is pregnant for the second time. Very soon another little Ukrainian will be born. We dream that our children won’t know what air raid siren is and the horror of war. We do everything we can to make their childhood in Ukraine happier, more comfortable and cozy. This has become possible with clothes, hygiene, bedding, toys from our friends in the UK: Damon Warren, Annie Hockham, Mykee Hockham & Karl Harrison“

The boys are on their way home from Weeze now, bringing another run to a very successful conclusion!