Skip to content

Friends embark on mission to help Ukraine's animals

George King
Supplied Rhys Edwards hangs out the driver's side of an ambulance and smiles at the camera with his thumb up, while Jake Trask sits on the bonnet of the ambulance and smiles with his arms out.Supplied
Rhys Edwards and Jake Trask will travel to Ukraine alongside Tobias Sullivan and Jordan Bailey

A group of best friends are preparing to drive two ambulances filled with veterinary medical supplies to Ukraine to help animals caught in the crossfire of the war.

Tobias Sullivan, Rhys Edwards, Jordan Bailey and Jake Trask, from Southend, Essex, will be embarking on the 1,829-mile (2,943km) trip in aid of Animal Rescue Kharkiv.

The front-line organisation strives to save all types of animals left wounded or abandoned due to the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

The group of friends will deliver the supplies in two, bright yellow and green emergency vehicles, which they bought for £3,500, before getting a train and a plane back home.

Supplied A head and shoulders image of Jake Trask. He is wearing a black North Face jacket over a black T-Shirt and a black cap. He is looking directly into the camera and standing in front of a van.Supplied
Trask said that friends of his who were in the military helped put him at ease over his trip to Ukraine

Trask, 33, said he was initially "really nervous" about travelling to Ukraine, but was reassured by the "good team of people" around him.

"We are in safe hands, we are mentally prepared for it, and we are smart and savvy, so it's just about having our wits about us when we're out there," he said.

Supplied Three men and one woman standing next to each other. They are holding kittens and looking into the camera while smiling.Supplied
Tobias Sullivan, centre, first met the volunteers at Kharkiv Animal Rescue on his first trip to Ukraine in 2023

The ambitious excursion to Ukraine, for which the group has raised nearly £9,000, will begin on Tuesday night and take the four friends about four days.

The group plan to get a ferry to Calais and then drive to Berlin and then Warsaw, before crossing into Ukraine and being escorted to Kyiv and Kharkiv.

The "old friends from back in the day" will then hand over the ambulances, which will be "full to the brim" with everything from bandages and syringes to food and toys.

The group will then get a train from Ukraine to Poland before boarding a plane to the UK.

Supplied Jake Trask and Rhys Edwards smiling while looking into the camera. They are standing in front of the back entrance to an ambulance, which is filled with supplies, dog food, brown boxes and other items.Supplied
The four friends will be transporting everything from bandages to dog food to Ukraine
Supplied Two large ambulances parked behind one another. One is white with a yellow and green pattern, while the other is yellow with a yellow and green pattern. Supplied
They will use these two ambulances for their trip across Europe to Ukraine

According to Trask, Animal Rescue Kharkiv supports cats, dogs, fish, lions, tigers, but its mission has become increasingly difficult due to drone attacks.

"It is just horrendous and so horrible, and a lot of the animals don't know what's going on - they're very dazed and confused," he added.

"These vets are going into these rubble-style homes where dogs are clinging onto the last bit of bedding and toys to try and get by - they're really scared.

"But they still need to be kept happy," he said.

Do you have a story suggestion for Essex? Contact us below.

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

More on this story
Related internet links