Digger-maker JCB is offering company homes to 70 Ukrainian refugees.
JCB properties in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, are being made available to families forced to flee the war in their homeland - and the first family has already moved in.
Nataliia Stepanenko has been welcomed to the property with her children Diana, aged 21, and 16-year-old Denis as her husband Serhii - who works as a JCB sales and service support business manager in the Ukraine - remains in Ukraine after being conscripted into the army.
Now 70 more refugees are also set to be welcomed to JCB properties over the coming weeks and months with JCB International House in Uttoxeter - a former Travelodge owned by JCB - being prepared for a large number of families.
The initiative is being spearheaded by Anthony and Carole Bamford.
Today JCB chairman Lord Bamford said: "No-one can fail to have been moved by the human suffering caused by the conflict and offering a home to Ukrainian families is the very least we can do. We stand ready to offer as much help as we possibly can."
Nataliia Stepanenko and her family woke to the sound of loud explosions on February 24.
Amid the threat of air raids, the family fled their apartment close to the city of Boryspil, near Kyiv, to the safety of an underground railway station - with just a few bags of essential belongings. They eventually arrived at the home of relatives where they spent the night before moving on to stay with other family members in the city of Chernivtsi, in western Ukraine.
At the end of March, Nataliia accepted JCB's offer of a home and arrived in Uttoxeter earlier this month.
Nataliia said: "Our whole journey from Kyiv to the Chernivtsi region lasted four days and on February 27 we arrived there on the same day that Russian troops reached Kyiv and the front line was just 10 kilometres from our home. Now we live in the beautiful town of Uttoxeter.
"JCB has provided us with a comfortable home and all the things we need to live. We are very grateful to Lord and Lady Bamford and the JCB team for their support and care for us."
Nataliia's daughter Diana has taken up work experience in JCB's industrial design department at the world headquarters in Rocester, Staffordshire. Meanwhile her husband Serhii continues to serve in the army while also trying to work to support JCB dealers and customers in Ukraine.
Among those on standby to help with the JCB re-settlement project is Rocester-based Ukrainian employee Viktor Melnykevic, who has worked for the company for 12 years.
Viktor, who works on the production line in the backhoe loader business unit, has volunteered to translate the welcome packs being prepared for refugees being hosted by JCB.
He said: "I was very happy to help. I was touched by the overwhelming way in which JCB is trying to help people forced to flee Ukraine. I have always liked working at this company and it has gone up even further in my estimation now."
