He’s only 4 but Maxim has been through hell. Now at last he’s safe...thanks to you
UKRAINE REFUGEE APPEAL
ONLY days ago, Katerina Mozhna and her four-year-old son Maxim were cowering beneath a terrifying artillery bombardment in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv.
Now they are safe, having fled to Romania, where they were welcomed by the Red Cross, funded with help from generous Mail on Sunday readers.
‘I had to leave our home, my parents, and my husband in order to save my baby’s life,’ Katerina, 32, told the MoS last week.
The border with Romania near the town of Isaccea runs along the middle of the Danube River and up to 2,000 people a day are fleeing southern Ukraine via a small ferry. Aid agencies fear the number will soar to 50,000.
The refugees, some of whom are having to wait for 24 hours to make the crossing in freezing temperatures, are given tea, blankets, water and food by Red Cross volunteers as they stream off the ferry.
Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our readers, this critical humanitarian work can continue.
The Mail Force Ukraine Refugee Appeal was launched two weeks ago to help families caught up in the spiralling crisis.
The total amount donated to the appeal last night soared to an astonishing £6.6million. It has already given money to organisations helping tens of thousands of refugees, including £500,000 of funding for the Red Cross.
Sheltering from the snow and biting wind in a tent on the banks of the Danube, Maxim played with a wooden train given to him by an aid worker while his worried mother looked on. Maxim’s father Oleg stayed behind to fight in Mykolaiv, but Katerina tries to avoid talking about the war with her son.
‘I don’t even try to explain it [to Maxim]. I just said we’re going on a journey. I don’t think a child should know about this, but of course he asks questions all the time – “What’s that bang? Why is Mummy afraid? Why is Mummy crying? Where is Daddy?”’
She begins to cry as she describes the horror from which she has fled. ‘They detonate rockets, they blow things up…people are dying, houses are burning.’
Readers of the MoS, and its sister paper the Daily Mail, have sent an incredible 32,000 cheques, many accompanied by letters that have moved our staff to tears.
The scenes on the banks of the Danube show why such generosity is desperately needed. Many refugees have travelled about 200 miles from the city of Odessa, which is on the brink of being surrounded by advancing Russian forces.
The ferry makes about eight trips a day. Last week, cars queued on the Ukrainian side with refugees sleeping in them overnight.
‘It was so cold on the deck,’ said Larissa Kronenberger, who was
fleeing with her daughter and six grandchildren. ‘It’s so hard to be kicked out of your own home. Especially with little children.’
As they waited, Larissa searched for nappies at the Red Cross tent, where volunteers hand out baby food, sanitary products, formula milk and toys. Aid worker Stefania Bejenaru brought nappies and asked, ‘What else do you need?’
‘What do I need?’ Larissa replied. ‘I left everything. I just didn’t have enough hands to carry things.’
Firefighter Jacob Claudiu, 37, has been a Red Cross volunteer for 14 years but has never witnessed such scenes. ‘There are so many children, all scared of the unknown, of another language, another place.’
Paying tribute to the generosity of Mail readers and other Red Cross donors, he added: ‘Some days we need hygiene products, some days food, and if you donate money, this is what it goes towards.’
As well as cheques, readers have sent money by bank transfer, telephone and via our JustGiving Page. The appeal was launched by a £500,000 donation from the Mail’s parent company DMGT at the personal request of Lord and Lady Rothermere.
As well as the money for the Red Cross, Mail Force has also sent £500,000 to Care International and Unicef. The Amar Foundation, a charity that helps children caught in conflict, has received £250,000.
Mike Adamson, chief executive of the British Red Cross, said: ‘We are extremely grateful to Mail readers for their generosity in supporting this appeal.’