THE BOSS of an Alton charity working in Ukraine has thanked everybody donating items to help people in his country – but he says money is what the organisation needs most.

Dennis Vyystakin is chief executive of Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline, which was set up to help youngsters affected by radioactive fallout blown over northern Ukraine after the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster in 1986.

Now the charity is using the contacts and logistical expertise it has built up over more than three decades to keep people alive in a war zone.

Mr Vyystakin said: “The situation is extremely volatile. The ground is shaking. Half the houses are laying in ruins. There are no provisions. Mothers with newborn babies cannot feed them because they are not eating themselves.

“We need medication. Travelling is very difficult. Getting fuel is almost impossible. It is available in only very small quantities so we are using scooters with our local partners on the ground.

“Under the present circumstances we are watching the situation carefully. We talk to our partners on the ground when they are not being bombed. We have tried to identify the areas of most need.”

Mr Vyystakin explained the cost of transporting items from the UK was high and driving lorries into Ukraine was currently too dangerous, so at the moment the charity was looking to buy goods in Germany, Poland and Romania and get refugees out of Ukraine to receive the aid.

He said: “We need money. Later on we will need other things as well.”