Sam Francis & Ben Marvell News, Wiltshire
Three teenage friends have almost finished walking from the UK to Ukraine after covering more than 1,000 miles (1,609 km).
James McCarthy-Hill, Kyle Spring and Adam Mitchell – all 18 years old – are approaching the Polish–Ukrainian border after setting off from Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire on 29 June.
When they reach Lviv in western Ukraine, the group intend to spend the nearly-£15,000 which they have fundraised through the walk on food and cleaning products, before delivering the aid across three Ukrainian cities.
Mr Mitchell said the walking was “so painful” but the real fight was in his head, adding “you just have to get past it and know you are doing it for the right reasons”.
The idea developed after Mr Spring travelled with his dad to Ukraine to deliver aid to mark his 17th birthday in May 2024.
He said the trip had a profound impact on him.
“Seeing the struggles of the soldiers in the hospitals, and then the smiles on the children’s faces when we gave them stuff like oranges and bananas, it definitely changed something in me,” Mr Spring said.
“I just wanted to help them out as much as I could,” he added.
Having raised a further £3,000 during a subsequent push bike ride, he asked for volunteers to join him on the walk.
Mr McCarthy-Hill and Mr Mitchell were the “only two that said yes”, he added.
The Wiltshire trio, who had an initial target of £10,000, spent most nights camping as they walked through central Europe, staying in a BnB every four nights to charge their power banks.
They intend to reach the Ukrainian border by Sunday and said they were trying to work out logistics and onward travel within the country itself.
Once that is resolved, they said they planned to deliver the aid with charity Justin Ukraine Aid to orphanages in Kharkiv, Odessa and Vinnytsia, before arriving back in the UK by mid-September.
