Palin hails Mail Force as 90,000 food boxes packed

Monty Python star ‘delighted’ with success of Ukraine appeal

SIR Michael Palin led celebrities yesterday in hailing the Mail Force campaign to help feed hungry people in Ukraine.

The former Monty Python comic said he was ‘delighted by the success of the appeal’ after 90,000 food boxes were packed.

They have been dispatched in a stream of more than 30 lorries at our hub in Leicestershire to eastern Ukraine.

Sir Michael, a travel writer and presenter who has a special place in his heart for the besieged country, has urged people to donate to Mail Force, which has so far raised £11million.

He visited Kyiv in 1992, when it was still in the Soviet Union, for his Pole To Pole travel series and again in 2007 for New Europe. Last month on the BBC Sunday Morning show he had an emotional reunion on video call with Ukrainian

‘A terrific initiative’

nationalist Vadym Kastelli, who appeared in both programmes.

Sir Michael was joined by Julian Fellowes, with the Downton Abbey writer heaping praise on the campaign.

Lord Fellowes said: ‘This is a terrific initiative, and a reminder that we must do whatever we can to help. A free and peaceful country is under savage attack. It seems incredible for this new century, but it’s happened and we are all involved.’

The Mail Force charity is paying £4million towards 500,000 food boxes in a joint mission with the Ukrainian embassy in London and the Confederation of British Industry.

Each box contains 14 items in including pasta, porridge, tinned meat, fish and vegetables, and contains enough calories to feed an adult for a week. They are being packed at a rate of 400 an hour at a plant run by Oakland International in Leicestershire.

Millions of Ukrainian families have been forced to flee their homes under bombardment from the Kremlin’s rockets and bombs. Many have crossed into western

Europe, where they are are being helped by aid organisations such as Unicef and CARE International, which are receiving funds from Mail Force.

But the biggest worry is for those too frail to leave or who have resolved to stay and help. Vladimir Putin’s ruthless military forces are waging a cruel battle to starve cities into submission. Hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled people struggling to find food supplies are in desperate need of help.

The Ukrainian embassy in London is helping to co-ordinate the efforts to get the food boxes into Ukraine and to the towns where they are most needed.

The Mail Force appeal launched just days after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and was kickstarted with a £500,000 donation from DMGT, the Mail’s parent company, at the personal request of Lord and Lady Rothermere. Since then, readers have sent in money in droves.