Worthing's support for Ukraine: Vintage motorcycle enthusiast travelled to war-torn country with van-load of generators

Richard Johns, 71 – from High Salvington – took 19 generators of various power, ranging from 2.2kW to 6.5kW, to Lviv in western Ukraine. He started the journey on Tuesday, December 13 – returning home on Sunday, December 18.

The generators were due to be taken to eastern Ukraine – in areas that had suffered some of the most damage to the electricity infrastructure after Russian bombings.

“The generators will be dispersed mainly to resilience centres in the eastern part of Ukraine where much of the power infrastructure has been destroyed,” Richard said.

"They hopefully will provide a useful amount of power for wherever it is needed most.”

Richard’s connection to Ukraine was formed when he and his wife took in a Ukrainian refugee, Tanya Gres, 32 – along with her eight-year-old daughter – when the war in Ukraine broke out last year. The pair came to the UK from Kyiv under the UK Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme.

"You have to feel unbelievably sorry for these people,” Richard said. “She was just a normal girl, slightly younger than both of my daughters, trying to lead her own life.

"She is very stoic person and wouldn't complain about things. We have got a fairly decent sized house and it was a nice safe environment for them.”

They stayed in Worthing until the end of October when Tanya decided to go back to be with her family. Shortly after returning to Ukraine, the missile and drone attacks on infrastructure started.

Richard said: "They went back because they thought it was safer and the worst had passed.

"We had kept in contact and when I asked if she was OK, she said ‘yes, we’re fine, we have power for two to three hours a day. That is not exactly my idea of ‘fine’ and so I decided to try and help in a small way by providing small generators to help the people of Ukraine.

"I asked Tanya about the availability of generators and she told me there is a waiting list of minimally a month, if you can afford one. They were trying to rig up a car battery in their small flat to get lighting. My guess is that, being in a city, they are better off than many.”

He immediately set upon purchasing petrol generators – as well as other items such as rechargeable torches – and started raising funds for his journey to Ukraine in his old Ford Transit van. After an overnight car ferry to France, and then a three-day drive through snow-covered Europe, Richard ended up in Lviv.

"I'm told I did well in getting across the border in five hours,” Richard, who usually spends his time restoring vintage motorcycles, recalled. “It's a long drive to get there, through Europe.

"There was hours of queuing at the border on day three. I met up with Tanya and her husband and followed them to Lviv which should have been a 50-mile journey.

"But there were 10km of trucks trying to get out of the country back to Poland, after dropping off supplies and fuel in Ukraine. It takes them three days after all the paperworks and checks. It’s a single carriageway road, with cars parked up in long line with stuff coming the way. We had to drive in a ditch to get passed.

“It was a roundabout trip to Lviv so it took double the time.”

Upon arriving at the hotel, it became apparent that the building had no power – but Richard came prepared with torches.

He said such experiences ‘make you think about the simple things’.

Richard recalled seeing people with apps on their phone telling them when there's incoming drones or missiles – with one alarm sounding whilst he was unloading the generators from his van.

“People just get on with life,” he said.

Richard unloaded the generators at the Catholic University of Lviv, which is a repository for humanitarian aid. He also handed his van over to the Ukrainian military on the Sunday morning, to help soldiers move humanitarian and military supplies around.

Richard said he has since been sent photos of the van, which has been resprayed it ‘in glorious Ukrainian military grey’.

"It looks so good, I'd like it back now," he joked. “They were all dead pleased to get it

“It has a respectable 1900kg load capacity and will be used in the Donbas for transporting civilian supplies around 100 miles back from the front lines.

“It's important that we continue to support those in Ukraine. We might be a bit poorer in this country but they are giving their lives.”

The total cost of Richard’s mammoth task was around £10,000, with generous people – including local charities and MPs Tim Loughton and Sir Peter Bottomley – chipping in to raise more than £7,000 in online donations.

Richard said any excess funds will be be donated to the UK for UA charity, which supports Ukrainians.

Writing on his JustGiving page, Richard added: “A big thank you to everyone that has contributed. I have been overwhelmed by your generosity.” Click here to read Richard’s blog.

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