Two Welsh firefighters have taken the week off work to fly to the Ukraine-Poland border and help fleeing refugees as Russian's invasion of the Ukraine intensifies.
Nathan Jones, 29, and Dominic Davies, 24, from Crickhowell, made the impulsive decision to fly to Medyka in the south east of Poland last week.
Speaking from a small tent at midnight, 500 metres from the border where he describes swathes of freezing mothers and their children approaching him, Nathan says he has been overwhelmed by what he is seeing every day.
Read more: For more news on the situation in Ukraine go here
“It’s unimaginable that what I’m seeing here is happening in 2022,” he said, preparing himself for more hard graft which is likely to last until well into the night before a four-hour sleep in a hired car. Then it starts all over again.
He goes on: “So far today I’ve fed 5,000 people. There is a team of eight of us. There are many brilliant volunteers here, from the US, France, Italy, Germany - but it is not enough. They [refugees] just keep coming.”
More than two million people are now predicted to have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded according to the UN. 1,300,000 of them have fled to Poland.
A week ago Nathan, who is also a prison officer at HMP Parc in Bridgend, was at home in Crickhowell with his two children, aged six and three, when he described being “gripped by the news on the TV”.
“Having two children and watching these kids coming through I thought to myself I’ve got a week off and I can’t sit here doing this,” he said.
“I had a week off work and I had a chance to come out here and make a difference. I thought bugger it let’s go.
“I told the lads at the fire station that I wouldn’t be in this week and Dom said he was coming with me.
“I went on Facebook trying to find the best place to come to help, and a lot of Polish people were telling me it was here where many would need us.
“I came here prepared to do anything and within ten minutes of being here a lorry turned up. The people seemed to be struggling getting stuff off the lorry so I approached them and asked if I could help, and it’s all gone from there.
“We’re in a team of people volunteering for World Central Kitchen serving food on the main strip out of Ukraine.”
Even having been glued to the news, what they have found has been far beyond what they expected.
“It’s changed my outlook completely,” Nathan explained. “There are a lot of very sad people here, cold and with nowhere to go. At times it’s been desperate. It’s been a constant flow of thousands upon thousands.
“I’m on a long strip, around 100 metres in length, where rows of refugees are coming through the border. They come by us before queuing for the bus into the town. Then they are distributed to wherever they are going. Some of them don't know where they are going.
“It’s been as low as minus four in the evenings. I’m now looking at 50 or 60 people walking towards me and it never stops.
“There have been many coming to me and asking for help, crying. I’m struggling at times with the language barrier.
“The majority of people here are women and children. There are not many men or older people at all.”
The pair are a couple of days into their week-long stay, and Nathan has already decided he will be returning in two weeks’ time.
“I haven’t brought anything with me, I just came out here ready to graft,” he said. “I know what I’m doing is making a difference to these people, but I know I can do more. I’m hoping to raise money to make sure I can return to Medyka with more supplies like warm clothing. What has really struck me is how freezing the refugees are here.” You can see Nathan’s fundraiser here.
“I have to come back,” he said. “I am now looking at kids freezing and hungry. I see them and just think of my kids and how I’d feel as their father if they were stuck in this war.
“I went on my phone briefly this morning to look at the news but I couldn’t read it. Now I’m here and face to face with these people every day I can’t watch the news. I know the reality of what they’re going through.
“Until you’re here you wouldn’t get it. It’s unbelievable what you can see at this place.
“I’m so focused on what we’re doing here I really don’t want to leave, but I have to get back to work next week.
“I’m going to struggle to go home and think straight for a few days because I want to stay here and because I know I’m needed here.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. It’s the only time in my life I’ve been really proud of myself.”
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