Herefordshire man to brave war-torn Ukraine

A Herefordshire man is about to join a humanitarian convoy to Lviv in western Ukraine – having earlier promised not to enter the war-torn country.

Andy Evangelou, of Madley, will drive a minibus laden with supplies to the city from the Polish city of Zamość along with other buses and lorries, then bring refugees back across the Polish border.

He left home in his laden BMW estate 10 days ago, having said his “taxi service” for refugees wouldn’t cross the Polish-Ukrainian border.

“It’s easier to get across the border as part of a humanitarian convoy than on your own,” he said on the phone from near Zamość.

“We’ll leave about 4am and get there 8-9am, though I don’t how long it’ll then take to get back – there is no schedule.”

He has been told by those who have passed through Lviv that the city of 700,000 inhabitants “now has triple that” due to the influx of refugees from further east.

He added: “I managed to get my wife’s backing for this, but only just. She knows I have to do it. But I might not get another past her.”

In the eight days since his arrival in eastern Poland, “I have been busy, doing one or two trips a day to Lublin, from camps on the border and from some obscure places, taking 28 people so far,” he said.