Middlesbrough man raising aid for wife's Ukraine home

A man is raising funds to aid his Ukrainian wife and her war-hit community.

Steve Bullock, 61, from Middlesbrough, last saw his wife Lyuda when he left her in eastern Ukraine on 18 February.

He had planned to return weeks later but then Russia invaded.

He said his wife, 53, is staying in her home town of Zasullya where she continues to teach English in between making camouflage netting to cover vehicles wanting to drive out.

The couple met online five years ago and got married in September 2020.

Neither has been able to stay too long in each other's home countries due to visa requirements, and plans for a permanent visa application for his wife were delayed due to her work.

Mr Bullock said none of the couple's friends and family in Ukraine thought Russia would invade the country and he had his return to Ukraine booked for March.

"If the war had started when I was there, there is no way I would have left," he said.

He said his wife's online lessons were frequently interrupted by air raid sirens and rocket fire can heard at night, although her village remains "relatively safe".

Mr Bullock has sent money for things like petrol, pharmacy supplies and baby milk, but said he quickly came to realise thousands of pounds were going to be needed to support people.

An online donation page has already brought in 90% of the £2,000 he initially set out to raise.

He said the generosity of people in the UK who are sending supplies to the Ukrainian border is "tremendous".

Mr Bullock said he video calls his wife up to four times a day but "it's hard" to see what she and her fellow Ukrainians are going through.

"Sometimes she wants to get out and other times she says 'everything will be okay, don't worry'," Mr Bullock said.

He said: "If she said 'get me out of here' I would drive to the Ukrainian border wherever she was at the drop of a hat."

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