UK farmer with ties to Ukraine completes medical aid mission

A Norfolk farmer with close ties to Ukraine has completed his mission to deliver £10,000 of medical supplies to help soldiers and civilians in the country which has been devastated by the Russian invasion.

Martin Jensen and co-driver Rupert Wood, from Guestwick village, made the 2,500-mile round trip to drop off a van filled with vital aid.

See also: UK farmers with ties to Ukraine raise £18,000 relief fund

The Jensen family has also farmed in Ukraine for more than 10 years and leapt into action after hearing that medical supplies were running out fast in the war-torn country.

In the space of a few days they smashed their fundraising target of £10,000 and quickly sourced, sorted and packed the supplies with the help of other Guestwick residents.

The remaining money, currently more than £11,500 with donations still pouring in, will be used to help fund hospital care and operations for wounded soldiers and civilians.

See footage of the van being unloaded below:

32-hour trip

Obtaining the correct customs clearance for the trip took two-and-a-half days.

The consignment was delivered to the Polish-Ukrainian border at Dorohusk, following a 32-hour journey that started after Mr Jensen and Mr Wood cleared customs at Ashford on Friday (4 March).

The pair thanked everyone who had donated and said the aid will continue to boost the morale of the Ukrainian people.

The Jensens farm is an hour’s drive from Lviv and aid representatives from the city, along with the family’s interpreter, Olesya, met the van at the border.  

Mr Wood, who has worked in the UK as a paramedic, advised on what the priority items were to send.

The delivery included more than 200 first aid kits, including anti-bleed kits, as well as 4,000 trauma dressings, 400 torniquets, hundreds of rolls of bandages, syringes and 300 litres of sterilised cleaning fluids.

Refugees crossing the Polish border © Martin Jensen

Tense situation

Mr Jensen said the trip was stressful due to strict customs checks and the tense situation in Ukraine.

“The actual handover was rushed, it was not easy for them to reach their side of the border post,” he told Farmers Weekly.

“There is a night time curfew, the GPS has been disabled and all the road signs have been removed so that any advancing army wouldn’t benefit. Moving around is not easy.”

The farmer said there was a “constant stream” of refugees leaving Ukraine to cross the border into Poland, where volunteers were waiting with food and transport – offering to take families further west into Europe.

“In the two hours that we sat there clearing customs, we saw people in the hundreds go through, and we witnessed the generosity of human spirit,” said Mr Jensen.

Farming in Ukraine

Mr Jensen said the most immediate problem is the lack of fertiliser for farmers in Ukraine, at a crucial time of the year.

“We are very lucky, we stocked up with 100t of diesel, fertiliser and all the seeds necessary and we intend to proceed with planting, although our cropping will change, including cutting out soya, replacing it with more wheat.”

Mr Jensen said he still has his full staff of 25. “For the time being we’ve still got our drivers, but if there is a further call from the military, we will lose them.”