How the people's army are fighting Putin's Russia from Preston, Lancashire
and live on Freeview channel 276
In the open plan kitchen of a rural stone barn conversion a few miles outside Preston, Lancashire, a phone is ringing with news of an anticipated attack on a Ukrainian town that night.
It's just one of many calls, messages and texts that evening to their home that evening as the Antonyuk family’s extensive Ukrainian, Polish and British friend networks work tirelessly to update, to assist and desperately seek help for those fighting Putin's army as he mercilessly attacks the country in which they were born.
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Hide AdBusiness owners and company directors Ostap, 53, Oryslava, 45, and their children Markiyan, 25, and Yaryna, 21, are all now British but also fiercely Ukrainian, the cut glass private-school educated voices of the articulate children at odds with their parents' more pronounced accents.
"We are British and yet we are also Ukrainian,” 53-year-old Ostap explains with pride for both his countries.
Make no mistake, this is just a small Lancashire corner of an amassing people’s army of multiple nationalities and locations away from Ukraine itself.
A UK army, not wielding weapons, but instead phones, vehicles, donations, intelligence and an abundance of determined kindness and loyalty.
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Hide AdIt's mission is to help those ordinary people remaining in Ukraine and fighting the soldiers armed with guns, tanks and bombs in little more than day clothes and soft shoes they wear every day.
The situation with injuries is so bad they desperately need military-style first aid equipment.
In some cases, explains Oryslava, string is being used as tourniquets to tackle injuries causes by bombs and bullets as ordinary people on the ground fight for their lives.
Ostap, originally from Rivne in Western Ukraine, came to the UK 21 years ago from a country rife with corruption to ensure his children had a proper education.
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Hide AdThe former history teacher and PhD student did not then speak a word of English.
Now he talks, in impassioned English and with tears in his eyes, of the people of Ukraine using intelligence and tricks to weed out the spies, some of whom have been embedded for years. Then there are the huge efforts to remove road signs or any identifying features to confuse and slow Russian troops.
But for them this is not a war happening on television but in a country where their families live. Both Ostap's parents and Orsylava's mother have no intention of going anywhere; they are stoic in the face of war.
"My parents never thought to move," explained Ostap.
"They are in the safest place, they are self-sufficient and it’s their home. In a village it's a slightly different type of living, they keep animals, and have a little piece of land to grow their fruit so quite independent of supermarkets while there are shortages in the cities."
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Hide AdMeanwhile Oryslava's mum lives alone. "She’s one of five, my dad is one of four," she says. " I have lots of cousins with lots of children, and a big family. But I'm the only one, my dad passed away a few years ago and mum - 70 this year- is still there so this is worrying. She's in Lviv which is next to the Polish border and she lives on her own but she says she's a bit too old to come over and change her life significantly. She'd miss her friends and people and because of language barriers she can't speak, so she decided not to come, even now when we have the possibility to get her here."
Until war broke out they were enjoying life, they were just a month back from an extended holiday with family and friends in Ukraine, in the weeks before Putin made his move.
It was devastating, if not unexpected.
"It's new for the world but in Ukraine but we knew one day it was going to happen as we have been under the shadow of Russia for so many years," says Ostap.
"Even after we became independent and had a Ukrainian president we understood that the KGB, which is based in Moscow, still had control. You cannot change that system. Russia always has massive power in our country."
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Hide AdAnd he explained it was in the Ukrainians' psychology to stand up to bullies.
"Our parents and our relatives, however old or young, whatever happens we will fight," he explained. "We will stand and we will fight! There's lots of history if you look backwards, we always fight, Mentally or psychologically we knew this would happen , we are prepared."
Even 21-year-old Stonyhurst College-educated Yaryna, just a baby when she arrived on UK shores, supports this view.
Her friends, she says, are surprised by her internalised patriotic determination and the strength of the country where she was born.
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Hide Ad"My friends think it's so impressive we are not backing down. But we have always struggled for independence so the patriotism we have for Ukraine, it's instilled in our mentality.
"It's given us the drive to not give up; the people of Ukraine would genuinely rather lose their lives than become part of Russia again.
"In that sense, a lot of my friends are shocked to see the president on the frontline himself - that demonstrates the kind of patriotism we have."
Many of the Antonyuks' family members and friends have become displaced in the face of war.
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Hide AdOstap's sister and family, who lived next to an army base located halfway between Kiev and Lviv and a definite target - moved to his parents' home in a rural village near the Polish border the day war broke out.
They are safe for now but another close family member was not so lucky, fleeing to Poland with her three very young children in tow and few possessions, she crossed over at a location hours away from a planned meeting point.
Immediately the Antonyuk family swung into action. Oryslava's extensive Polish network, gathered from years of owning and managing Eastern European shops in Lancashire and Manchester, enabled her to locate someone to take in the mum-of-three in that part of Poland. She is now a statistic; one of a reported 10 million Ukrainians displaced by conflict, but safe.
The family have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the people in their now-home Britain, if underwhelmed by the inaction of the Government itself.
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Hide AdYaryna says: "We understand why troops are not being sent in, everyone is concerned about a third world war but even just shutting off the sky - that will allow us to stay alive and keep fighting.
"It would already be a lot more helpful than financial and economic sanctions. People are dying now.”
In Manchester alone where the family are members of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, they have amassed 45 pallets of donations, largely clothes and items collected by the Polish community - but now they need some sort of warehouse to house them in the city.
But critically they need first aid equipment, preferably of military quality, from tourniquets, gauzes, bandages and more for the injured within the Ukrainian community.
HOW TO HELP
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Hide AdIf you can donate money toward the purchase of medical supplies and equipment please donate via the following account:
Account name: Ukrainian Catholic Church, Oldham
Sort code 16 0016
Account number 10121396
Charity number is 240088
Ref: Aid Ukraine 22
If you are an individual or business who can help with large supplies of medical aid, or can help with storage and logistics, please email, in first instance, [email protected]