Stratford pensioner gives £500 winter fuel payment to support Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline
A STRATFORD pensioner is giving his £500 winter fuel payment to support Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline.
As the conflict continues and temperatures plummet, Ukrainians face an unforgiving winter ahead, with many without electricity as power plants continue to be targeted by bombs and missiles.
Rob Hearnden, from Stratford, hopes some of the money he has sent to a missionary friend in the war-torn country will be used to make candles which provide a small amount of heat and can keep food warm for Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline.
Rob told the Herald: “I know the £500 is from our government and their intention was that it would be a help for me over the winter to compensate for inflation. However, I live alone, I’m fit and healthy and frugal with my use of energy, while those still in Ukraine are suffering many hardships and uncertainty as to their future. And I just wanted to help by passing on my payment.”
Rob said he has a close affinity with Russian people and has visited the country six times. He was a member of the British-Soviet Friendship Society until it ended in 1991, but says he finds it “sickening the present-day Russian military has deliberately targeted power plants and hospitals in Ukraine”.
His missionary friend – who did not want to be named – told Rob in a recent communication from Ukraine: “There’s a human catastrophe taking place here while the media seem more interested in the World Cup.”
“When I’m in the UK, I’ll buy lots of tinned food with some of your donation. This will help feed the vulnerable here and then the tins will be available for holding candles.
“The demand for candles is considerable. Trust me, the situation here in Ukraine is becoming critical.
“Temperatures are dropping and power plants are destroyed. Russia is targeting the most vulnerable – the children, elderly and disabled.
“The whole situation is desperate and getting worse by the day,” added the friend.
Rob says Ukraine is desperate for generators and hopes his small donation will go to a centre for the disabled. The centre needs paraffin to make into wax for the candles being sent to the soldiers on the frontline.
He’s totally shocked by the brutality of the invasion, particularly as the Russian people suffered horrendous losses during the Second World War.
Rob said: “I’ve stood before the huge statue of Mother Russia in Piskaryovskoye Cemetery just outside St Petersburg. Hundreds of thousands of people – civilian and military – are buried in the mass grave there.
“They lost their lives, most to hypothermia, from 1940 to 1945 during the five-year siege of Leningrad as the city was known then. The winters there are unforgiving. I know they say everything is fair in war but Moscow’s tactics are evil.”
