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Appeal For Funds To Help Displaced Ukrainian Refugees

Picture Credit: Jonathan Ruff

A Jersey entrepreneur is appealing for donations to help displaced Ukrainians crossing the border.

Jonathan Ruff has secured accommodation in Poland for some Ukrainian families to stay in until their visas are processed.

More than £5,400 has been raised so far through a JustGiving page.

Jonathan says it's heartbreaking to see the situation these families are in.

"They cross the border with hand luggage and that is their world's belongings. That's all they have. It's not a rich nation.

Then in a lot of the areas, that have been heavily bombed, all the bank cards have been stopped so actually some have zero money.

They're crossing over and they completely rely on aid to feed and shelter themselves and a lot of them have got very small children. One of them had a three month old.

This war isn't going away and the people are not slowing down who are crossing the border so the longer I can keep this property... the property costs me around £12,000/£13,000 a month so if we just can keep getting donations and it helps towards... regardless I'm still going to keep the property, but it would be nice to get the donations to help towards it because it's not just the accommodation costs - it's also food costs and any other issues that arise."

Mr Ruff, the creator of Tamba Park, went to the Poland/Ukraine border with his Polish fiancée Magda last week to offer help to Ukrainian families who are waiting for their visas to head to the UK under the 'Families for Ukraine' scheme.

Some of them were moved into the property over the weekend.

Mr Ruff says he just wants to do all he can to help these people.

"We give them money for food, we make sure they have what they need, we also work with an organisation at the processing centre to ensure they're being checked on to, make sure their visas are being processed correctly.

They have my number on WhatsApp so any issues, they just send me a message and we just keep an eye on them and make sure they're OK.

As soon as their visas are processed and they can leave, we get new people in."

Authorities in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, near the Poland border, say a missile attack yesterday (17 April) has killed at least seven people.

Donations can also be made in Jersey to the Bailiff's Ukraine appeal through the Side by Side website.

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