‘We felt so sorry for the people’: West Cork truckers tell of Ukrainian refugees sleeping in tents

Four Cork drivers have travelled across the continent to  the Polish-Ukraine border with a lorry, van, and transporter full of goods, collected by West Cork Appeal volunteers to assist families fleeing war in their homeland.

Drivers Kevin, Paul, Páidí Twomey, and Tomás Hughes with forklift driver Declan McNamara.

“We felt so sorry for the people. As soon as we stepped out of the truck the cold hit us. It went straight through your bones it was so cold — and these people were sleeping in tents,” said Tomás Hughes, part of a team of Co Cork drivers returning after delivering supplies to the Poland-Ukraine border.

Taking a lorry, van, and transporter full of goods collected by West Cork Appeal volunteers, the men drove through France and across Europe, arriving first in Przemysl near the Ukrainian border before heading north to Cieszanów.

Mr Hughes, who works for Christy Lucey Transport in Baile Mhic Íre, took turns with Cúil Aodha man Páidí Twomey to drive the truck, with Mr Twomey’s sons Paul and Kevin bringing the van and transporter.

Their journey to deliver goods including medical supplies, nappies, battery packs, and sleeping gear initially brought them to a reception centre for Ukrainians crossing the border into Poland, where they witnessed the reality for people forced to flee their country with only the few possessions they could carry.

Picture used, with permission from the Twitter feed of Manny Marotta, of refugees fleeing the Ukrainian city of Lviv towards the Polish border.

Danger

An issue with unloading the goods saw the Cork contingent head next for a Red Cross site further north, where the supplies were welcomed by a team of volunteers.

“We were just relieved to get the load off,” said Mr Hughes. 

“It was dangerous. We saw a military vehicle carrying troops and when we were offloading the stuff a helicopter flew over us and we were told it was an American helicopter patrolling the area, making sure there were no Russians around.

“The second place we went to was 20 miles from the border and we had to cross really bad roads and that’s where we met the troop carriers, near Cieszanów,” he said.

Not long after leaving the border area, the Cork men heard of the dozens of fatalities in the Russian attack on Ukraine’s Yavoriv military base.

“Only 10 miles from the Polish border they dropped a bomb, a little bit further north towards Lviv, but where will they drop the next one? You don’t know,” said Mr Hughes.

Ukrainian military servicemen fire salutes during the funeral of their comrades, Roman Rak and Mykola Mykytiuk, in Starychi, western Ukraine, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Rak and Mykytiu were killed during Sunday's Russian missile strike on a military training base in Yavoriv. Picture: AP Photo/Bernat Armangue

Honoured

Despite the challenges of the trip, he said he was “honoured” to be able to help displaced Ukrainian people.

“It was Páidí and his two sons that came up with the idea and they started off thinking that they’d only get enough to fill the van and car transporter. Then they got a little bit too much stuff,” he said.

When asked to join them, he added, “straight away I said yes, I wanted to”.

“I was a bit apprehensive to be honest because they did say it would be a dangerous trip, but I found myself in a position that I could help and I was honoured to do it.

In Poland, said Mr Hughes, “the reception we got was unreal”.

Ukrainian refugees arrive at the Medyka border crossing on the Polish/Ukraine border. Picture: AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

“When we got to the second site they were so delighted to see us and we were given soup and sandwiches and a gang of about 20 of them had it unloaded in about three hours and they were delighted with the stuff. It was a Red Cross site and there were about 100 volunteers there.

“We had medical supplies, nappies, sleeping gear, Folláin gave three pallets of stuff; there were pallets of battery packs for people who were walking across the border and had no way of charging their phones.”

Though Mr Hughes is not currently planning to repeat the journey, saying “that’s it for the time being”, further trucks have already left Bandon with more supplies donated to the West Cork Appeal.