Monday 9 May 2022 01:23 AM Mail's meals lifeline: Villagers thank kind readers as donations fund vital ... trends now Mail's meals lifeline: Villagers thank kind readers as donations fund vital food boxes for desperate families in Ukraine Readers have donated £11million to help Ukrainians caught in Putin's cruel war Vital food boxes have been part-funded by our Mail Force appeal The life-saving mission has despatched hundreds of thousands of boxes By Michael Powell For The Daily Mail Published: 01:14 BST, 9 May 2022 | Updated: 01:14 BST, 9 May 2022 Viewcomments Generous Daily Mail readers have been praised for their donations after the first of our 500,000 food boxes were handed out to families in wartorn Ukraine. Villagers living in areas close to the Russian border were delighted to receive the first shipment of vital aid packages, which have been part-funded by our Mail Force appeal. Readers have donated an astonishing £11million to help Ukrainians caught in Vladimir Putin’s cruel war. The life-saving mission has despatched hundreds of thousands of boxes on an epic 2,000-mile journey from an East Midlands depot to families in the warzone. Seeking answers: Evhen, Valentyna and Kateryna Mohelenets clutch a picture of Olexander who went missing in March The ambitious initiative, which has been praised by Boris Johnson and President Volodymyr Zelensky, was joint-funded with the Ukrainian Embassy in London. Vadym Prystaiko, Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, said: ‘I am delighted that our food boxes have been delivered to people in need who have faced unimaginable horrors on the front line of this war. ‘I am very grateful to the Mail readers and the Great British public for all of their support and their generosity... Ukrainians will never forget what you are doing to help us in our darkest hour.’ Families in the frontline village of Mezenivka, three miles from the border with Russia, were among the first to receive our boxes. When invading troops ordered the villagers to surrender their weapons in March, former border guard Olexander Mohelenets, 35, did as he was told and left home to hand over his hunting rifle. But he never came home and has been missing ever since. Clutching his picture, his wife Kateryna sobbed: ‘He called and said he had been taken as a prisoner. We don’t know what happened to him.’ The family – including Olexander’s 62-year-old mother Valentyna – were forced to cower in their basement a few days later as Russian missiles destroyed their garage and outbuilding. Olexander’s son Evhen, 17, told the Mail: ‘Only ruins remain. All the windows are broken and there are a lot of bomb fragments. Our car is completely destroyed.’ For weeks, frightened villagers hid in their basements, surviving on meagre rations of potatoes and bread as the fighting raged on. Many managed to cook their first full meal only after our aid packages were handed out. The boxes travelled by lorry from Oakland International in Leicestershire to a secret depot in Poland. From there, they were packed onto freight trains and sent into Ukraine. The journey took more than two weeks after military strikes on Ukraine’s railway network. The boxes were finally unloaded in the north-eastern region of Sumy and taken by military truck to villagers on the border. Each package contains 14 items including pasta, baked beans, rice, biscuits, cans of tuna and porridge, and provides around 12,000 calories – enough to last someone for a week. The appeal was started with £500,000 from the Mail’s parent company DMGT at the request of chairman Lord Rothermere and Lady Rothermere. Serhiy Myronov, a Sumy community leader in charge of 11 villages receiving aid, said: ‘I want to thank all the British people who donated for this help. I hope that you never know what war is.’ The project was co-ordinated by the CBI and managed by consultants from Accenture. CBI president Lord Bilimoria thanked Mail readers and businesses for ‘doing their part to help save lives’. The Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and MailOnline UKRAINE REFUGEE APPEAL Readers of Mail Newspapers and MailOnline have always shown immense generosity at times of crisis. Calling upon that human spirit, we are now launching an appeal to raise money for refugees from Ukraine. For, surely, no one can fail to be moved by the heartbreaking images and stories of families – mostly women, children, the infirm and elderly – fleeing from Russia's invading armed forces. As this tally of misery increases over the coming days and months, these innocent victims of a tyrant will require accommodation, schools and medical support. All donations to the Mail Ukraine Appeal will be distributed to charities and aid organisations providing such essential services. In the name of charity and compassion, we urge all our readers to give swiftly and generously. TO MAKE A DONATION ONLINE Donate at www.mailforcecharity.co.uk/donate To add Gift Aid to a donation – even one already made – complete an online form found here: mymail.co.uk/ukraine Via bank transfer, please use these details: Account name: Mail Force Charity Account number: 48867365 Sort code: 60-00-01 TO MAKE A DONATION VIA CHEQUE Make your cheque payable to 'Mail Force' and post it to: Mail Newspapers Ukraine Appeal, GFM, 42 Phoenix Court, Hawkins Road, Colchester, Essex CO2 8JY TO MAKE A DONATION FROM THE US You can donate via CAF America at: https://donations.cafamerica.org/mail-force/ Or US readers can donate to the appeal via a bank transfer to Associated Newspapers or by sending checks to dailymail.com HQ at 51 Astor Place (9th floor), New York, NY 10003. Checks in the US need to be made out to 'CAF America' and have 'Mail Force Ukraine Appeal' in the memo. 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