A removals company with a base in Salisbury has received an emotional letter from a Ukrainian mother thanking every single person who sent donations to Ukraine.

Armishaws Removals, which has a site on Netherhampton Road, has sent around seven tonnes of aid to areas in Poland to help displaced Ukrainian refugees.

The company has now been sent a thank you letter and account from Sofia Kobilnyk, a mother fleeing Ukraine with her five-year-old daughter.

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Her letter reads: “I would like to express my gratitude for the entire indescribable support that we are receiving from you.

“It is difficult to express in words how crucial your help is. I’m a mother of a five-year-old daughter, which whom I have stood for almost 24 hours on the Ukrainian-Polish border crossing during the first day of the war.

“There were a lot of people standing there with me, and fear was all that could be sensed in the air. Standing there, I knew that a couple of kilometres ahead was my sister, on Polish side of the border, and that there was safety waiting for me.

“However, many of the women that stood next to me with their children had no one waiting for them, they did not know where they would sleep or if they would have something to eat. They did not know if they would be able to wash their children.

“Sometimes, the women did not have enough strength to carry their bags with them and would leave them on the pavement. Some of them only took very small bags with them as they had no time to pack themselves nor their children.

“After a while a lot of people had nothing to drink, and some begun to lose consciousness. When the night has come, that is when we began fearing the most, as it was very cold, temperatures were falling below zero degrees, and we were all still on the Ukrainian side of the border. The children were crying out of cold, tiredness and out of fear of not knowing what would happen to them. There were drones flying over us – now I think that they were belonging to the press or to the police, but then I was afraid of them. I was thinking only about possible provocations or bombardment.

“When I crossed the border, I was very happy to see my sister waiting for me with hot tea. It was already after almost 24 hours that we managed to cross it.

“There was a lot of help waiting for everyone that was crossing. I knew that now, thanks to the good people that were helping, Irina, who was crossing the border with her newborn child next to me, will now have somewhere to sleep as well as food to eat.

“At that moment I was calm as I knew that all women crossing the border will receive help. Your hearts are enormous, thank you very much, each one of you.”

Still collecting donations

Armishaws is planning to do regular runs to areas that include Krakow.

The company is now asking for dried foods, dried baby milk, packet soups and noodles, nappies, rice, pasta, instant foods, toiletries, sanitary products, basic medical supplies, first aid, adult incontinence products, children’s toys, spring clothing, trainers, men’s jumpers, men’s boots, and washing detergent.

Items should be donated to the Netherhampton Road site from 8.30am and 4pm, Monday to Friday, so they can be taken indoors out of wet weather, as they cannot send wet items.

For more information, visit their website at armishaws.com/ukraine-appeal, call their office on 0800 917 1015 (mobile on 07714 289 407) or email kye@armishaws.com

Newsquest has pledged to donate proceeds from sales of some of its largest newspapers to the Red Cross DEC Ukraine Humanitarian appeal, which is dedicated to helping and saving those affected by this horrific and bloody war. We’re asking you to join us.

Please join us: justgiving.com/fundraising/therewithukraine 

Donations made via JustGiving and use of the JustGiving website will be subject to the JustGiving privacy policy https://www.justgiving.com/about/info/privacy-policy/privacy-policy-v30 and cookie policy https://www.justgiving.com/about/info/cookie-notice 

None of the donation will be collected by Newsquest. Financial transactions are with JustGiving to donate to the British Red Cross Society DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

In the unlikely event that the British Red Cross Society raise more money than can be reasonably and efficiently spent, any surplus funds will be used to help them prepare for and respond to other humanitarian disasters anywhere in the world.

For more information visit  https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/disaster-fund Charity Registration No. Eng/Wales 220949,Scot SC037738, IOM 0752, Jers430

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