Former Scottish rugby star Iwan Tukalo has made his way to his fathers homeland of Ukraine to deliver vital aid.
Iwan, who played in Scotland's legendary '90s grand slam winning team, led a convoy of jeeps that left Edinburgh for the war torn country. They carired food, medicine, generators, and Irn-Bru.
The first stop was Lviv in Western Ukraine where the convoy dropped of most of the aid and two of the jeeps. On route the 60 strong entourage visited the village of Nyzhniv where Iwan’s late father Dmytro was born.
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There he met his aunt Paraska Tukalo, who is in her mid 80s, and cousins for the first time. Final stop was Kolomyia at the frontline where they dropped off the remaining 25 jeeps, food and parts.
The convoy was a joint operation involving two British aid organisations in Ukraine, Jeeps for Peace and Breaking the Chains. Iwan, who is an ambassdor for both, led the 60 strong group and was joined by three other former Scottish rugby international stars Finlay Calder, Colin Deans and Colin Hunter.
Iwan, 62, who flew back to Edinburgh on Friday, said:”It was an emotional rollercoaster from start to finish.
“You watch the conflict on the news and hear about the numbers killed but nothing prepares you for what you see there. We went to a cemetery in Lviv and every grave there had a photograph of a person looking out at you.
“Some were children the same age or younger than my own son who had died in the conflict.”
The convoy took the ferry to Newcastle and then travelled more than 2000 miles to Kolmyia via Holland, Poland and the Ukranian capital Kiev.
Much of the aid was being supplied to people whose villages had been razed to the ground by Russian troops.
Iwan added: ”It really brought home the reality and futility of war.
“I saw one grave with a young face looking at me and burst into tears. We were told that every village and every town in Ukraine has the same thing.
“That was the abiding memory of our time there.”
The 27 vehicles that Iwan helped deliver are used to evacuate wounded soldiers and civilians from the frontline. Iwan, who scored 15 tries in 37 matches for Scotland as a winger, says they can be the difference between life and death.
The jeeps were all donated by members of the public and people in the Scottish business community. One of the most popular items with the Ukranian soldiers is Irn Bru which Iwan says they love and can’t get enough of.
His father was part of the Galician regiment, a Ukrainian unit of the German army, forced to fight the Russians during World War Two. Dmytro was captured by the Allies in 1943 and sent to a POW camp in Italy before being transferred to one in East Lothian.
When he was released at the end of the war he set up his own business in Corstorphine, Edinburgh where he met Iwan’s mother Rosina, who had fled war torn Italy with her two sisters. Iwan also visited the school in Nyzhniv where his dad was held prisoner by the Germans at the age of 18 and made to fight the Russians.
Dmytro died in 1994 and never made it back to the Ukraine to see his family. Iwan is planning to return to the Ukraine and hopes to encourage other ex Scotland stars to take part in the next convoy.
He added: ”It was an immensely emotional and humbling experience visiting the village where my father was born and meeting my relatives for the first time.
“Most of the village had turned out to greet me including the Mayor. I was quite overcome. However there was also sadness that dad wasn’t around to see the reunion.”
Since Jeeps for Peace was started in Edinburgh in February last year they have delivered aid worth £1million to the Ukraine including 87 jeeps, three ambulances and a boat.
Co founder Stewart Ford, 59, said:”We cannot say how highly we value Iwan.
“He is an incredible man and the amount of work he has put into this project is substantial and cannot be underestimated.”
