Plymouth Ukraine Medical Aid have made their 40th trip to the war-torn country.

A lorry loaded with 40 pallets carrying 15 tonnes of aid has departed for Ukraine in what is already the second run of the year.

The articulated lorry comes over from Ukraine and is lia load up at the Vospers warehouse in Estover in Plymouth.

The charity was founded by Brixton resident Ali Piper in April 2022 and there are now trips roughly every five or six weeks, with each trip delivering 16 or 17 tonnes of aid.

Ali explained: “This will go over and be unloaded by our team in Ukraine then I am going on the next run at the very beginning of April.

“That will be our Easter run and will accompany the aid to the front line, at Zaporizhzhia, Odessa and other places.”

Ali started the charity soon after the start of the war four years ago: “In February 2022 someone said we’ve got some spare medical aid, shall we take it over to Ukraine?

“I went along and when I got there there was a kind of epiphany moment when I saw the little children and the helicopters overhead.

“I said to myself I can do much more and I returned to Devon and started PUMA.”

The operation at the warehouse operates every weekday and Ali gets in at around 6.30am in the morning.

The team consists of second in command Sue Turner and five or six volunteers out of a total of around 15.

A network that has been created by Ali and others within Ukraine . These include churches and other organisations. Urgent medical and humanitarian aid is distributed to hospitals, orphanages and shelters, including shelters for the displaced, hospitals for the injured, OAP refuges and previously occupied villages.

To support the charity visit: https://www.plympuma.co.uk/