A veteran and charity worker from Powys is playing a leading role in ensuring vital humanitarian aid reaches Ukraine.

Paul Taylor, from Hay-on-Wye, is International Operations Manager for RE:ACT, an emergency and crisis response charity. He has recently returned from Poland after ensuring vital food supplies reached war-torn Ukraine.

Paul served in the British Army Infantry for 26 years, and then spent another six years at the Infantry Battle School in Brecon.

Shortly after retiring from the army, he volunteered to help with RE:ACT’s response to the devastating earthquake in Nepal in April 2015. Since then, he has worked full-time for the charity and has been deployed on numerous natural disasters to Sri Lanka, the Caribbean, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Indonesia, and most recently Romania, Moldova, Poland and Ukraine.

Paul was sent to Eastern Europe just seven days after war broke out in Ukraine. His job was to assess exactly where RE:ACT was most needed. During the mission, Paul facilitated a partnership with a local charity, the Ukraine Education Platform (UEP).

“It was a huge privilege to deploy to Ukraine and support the efforts of the UEP. I have never before witnessed such determination to overcome their oppressor and with no small amount of bravery,” said Paul.

Since the beginning of the crisis, RE:ACT teams have been regularly working alongside Ukrainian refugees (mostly women, as the men stayed at home to fight) at a partner’s warehouse in Lublin, a city 100km from the Ukraine border.

It is here that they sort incoming aid from the UK and Europe, pack it and then ensure it’s loaded onto vans and lorries as soon as possible and driven into Ukraine.

Paul added: “We are now wholly concentrating on ensuring vital food supplies reach those most in need in the far east and south east of the country.

“Each box contains enough to sustain a family of four for a week but only costs £30. If any of your readers could help in any way at all we would be hugely grateful.”

You can read more about the food distribution in Ukraine here.