A COUPLE have joined the fight to help Ukraine by driving thousands of miles directly to the border to deliver aid.

Paul Long, 50, and partner Lucie Long-Booth, 36, have together collected boxes of supplies, before hand-delivering them to Ukraine.

The pair run their small business, the Café Bijou, together in Coggeshall.

After feeling helpless watching on like many, they wanted to help, so appealed to the wider community for supplies.

The response was overwhelming with Lucie saying: “It was hard to even make a cup of coffee, the café was full of boxes.”

Gazette: TOO MUCH TO COUNT: Lucie surrounded by boxes of donations at their cafe

However, Paul was concerned that the donations would not get to where they needed to be, so decided to hire a van and drive to the Ukraine border himself.

Lucie said: “Paul is ex-military, serving in Ireland and the Gulf War.

“He is trained for this kind of journey and truly understands the impact that the war will have on the Ukrainian people.

“He has also driven lorries across Europe for large companies”.

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Paul left his house at midday on Monday, March 7, not returning home until 3am on Wednesday, March 9, driving non-stop through the night.

He said: “We were regularly speaking to our contacts near the border, who initially asked for clothes and food items.

“By the end of the week, they were requesting bandages and medical supplies.

“This is what has really spurred us on to make the second trip with our mobile hospital.”

Following the success, they are now planning to drive to the mobile hospital to the border, with Paul leaving yesterday, March 15.

Lucie said: “Ipswich Council donated a bus that had been used as a mobile vaccination centre.

“We have a team of medics who are willing to volunteer but we need to get the bus to where it will be most valuable.

“The bus, which we have lovingly renamed The Quack Express, is set up with cubicles but it has no supplies, so we are raising funds to equip it and then fuel it to Ukraine.”

They have also set up a Go Fund Me Page for donations to help fund the trip, which can be found at bit.ly/36j7Nog.