A Perthshire-based charity says Ukrainians are crying out for help as the war continues.
Tayside and Strathearn Help for Ukraine (TASH) has provided lorry-loads of food, clothing and medicines since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Kenneth Simpson from the charity visited Ukraine two months ago.
He told STV News: “All our partners that we deal with in Ukraine are all looking for the same thing.
“Food, medicine, hygiene toiletries and bedding, and we can only do what we can do.
“All [the] partners told me when I was over there that to begin with two years ago, everybody from all over the world was sending them stuff.
“It’s gone right down [now], and we are one of the few groups, I believe charities, left that have continued to send for two-and-a-half years.”
STV NewsThis week, the Ukrainian air force said it had repelled one of the largest attacks launched by Russia, shooting down 89 explosive drones and a missile during a night-time attack.
It’s the reason volunteers at TASH continue to organise and dispatch the essential aid people in Ukraine are relying on.
On Wednesday, the team welcomed a special visitor to their base at Errol airfield as the Ukrainian consul in Scotland, Andrii Kuslii, came to see their operation.
In a speech, Mr Kuslii, said: “I very much appreciate on behalf of the Ukrainian consulate everything you have done and everything you will be doing in order to support my country, in order to support the people of Ukraine who arrived in Scotland and found sanctuary here.”
STV NewsThe gathering also allowed business donors to come and visit the volunteers.
Laundry hire firm Johnsons provides linen to hotels and restaurants, but now donate some of their unwanted goods to Ukraine.
Volunteer Elizabeth Linday explained: “It started off by writing to various companies to see if they had any linen that they no longer required for their hotels and businesses, and Johnsons responded almost immediately.
“It’s all towels and bedding that previously would have been recycled so it’s a mutual benefit having us to take them as well.
“They’re so useful in the hospitals in Ukraine and we get lots of positive feedback about what they’re being used for.”
STV NewsVolunteers are beginning to pack warm clothing ahead of Ukraine’s notoriously cold winter.
But other essential items are in demand too, and the public are being called on to help.
Volunteer Karen Hamilton, told STV News: “It’s 20C out here and it’s very hot in Ukraine so we are still sending out summer clothes, but we are getting numerous winter clothes in as well which we are packing and putting them to one side.
“We need medical supplies, sanitary wear, soaps, deodorants, food as well.
“Unfortunately, it’s quiet at the moment, people are on holiday, and it’s not really been in the news, but we desperately need food.”
Since February 2022, almost 90 lorry loads of aid have left the Perthshire base, destined for Poland and onward distribution.
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