Ukrainians moved to tears after seeing our readers’ heartfelt messages
GAZING at our readers’ heartfelt messages, Olga Kapinos’s lips quiver and she weeps.
The supermarket cashier and seven-month-old daughter Dinara had just fled Vladimir Putin’s bloody onslaught.
In floods of tears, she said: “It means so much that people are thinking of us.”
Reading through the kind words sent by Sun on Sunday readers, it’s the well-chosen sentiment of another mother of Sudbury, Suffolk, that had caused her to break down.
Karen Harris, 50, wrote of Ukrainian families: “My heart is bleeding for them. We can’t stand by and do nothing. We are supporting you.”
At Lviv’s teeming rail station, Olga, 42, said: “Thank you to everyone that wrote messages.
“People have raised a lot of money for us but kind words are important too.”
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Like many at the rail terminus in western Ukraine Olga is from Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of president Volodymyr Zelensky.
As Putin’s forces attack the city, women and children have fled with whatever they can carry while men aged 18 to 60 have stayed to fight.
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Clutching Sofija, three, teacher Anna Zmiezska, tells of waving goodbye to electrician husband Dmitro, 34.
Anna, 30, said: “I saw rockets hit homes.”
Scanning through readers’ letters, Anna’s sees one sent by Raymond and Boo Boo Proudlock of Newcastle.
“We stand with you all,” they wrote. “Freedom is something worth fighting for.”
Anna, who is fleeing to Germany, said: “It helps to know that people care about what is happening to us. Thank you.”
As we pinned printouts translated into Ukrainian on the wall, a crowd gathered.
Mum-of-four Nadia Mikhailovska, 33, left the heavily shelled southern city of Mykolaiv because she was “scared for my children’s lives”.
Married to builder Artur, 35, she said: “There’s bombing everywhere. It was very difficult to leave my husband.”
Tending to month-old baby Eliziveta, she said: “We’re heading for Poland. I just want there to be peace.”
Jean, of Plympton, Devon, had written: “As a mother and grandmother I have watched the scenes with horror. The courage of the Ukrainian people is awe-inspiring.”
Nadia said: “I’d like to thank everyone for the help we have received.”
Comforting daughter Anya, two, Tetiana Lukashenko, 40, told me: “I’m going to Germany and I’ll never return. I’ve been in so much fear.”
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The mum, from Kryvyi Rih, is buoyed by reader Keith Dowling of Crayford, Kent, who wrote: “We salute your bravery. Keep strong.”
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Then a shout goes up for a bus to the Polish border and the newly destitute pass the messages that our readers pray will offer a little solace.
Hundreds of big-hearted Sun readers share their messages of support for Ukraine
Help those fleeing conflict with The Sun’s Ukraine Fund
PICTURES of women and children fleeing the horror of Ukraine’s devastated towns and cities have moved Sun readers to tears.
Many of you want to help the five million caught in the chaos — and now you can, by donating to The Sun's Ukraine Fund.
Give as little as £3 or as much as you can afford and every penny will be donated to the Red Cross on the ground helping women, children, the old, the infirm and the wounded.
Donate here to help The Sun's fund
Or text to 70141 from UK mobiles
£3 — text SUN£3
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Texts cost your chosen donation amount (e.g. £5) +1 standard message (we receive 100%). For full T&Cs visit redcross.org.uk/mobile
The Ukraine Crisis Appeal will support people in areas currently affected and those potentially affected in the future by the crisis.
In the unlikely event that the British Red Cross raise more money than can be reasonably and efficiently spent, any surplus funds will be used to help them prepare for and respond to other humanitarian disasters anywhere in the world.
For more information visit https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/disaster-fund
