Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has hit close to home for one North Shields dental practice, which has launched a fundraising campaign to support refugees fleeing the war torn country.
Ewan Bramley Dental Care on North Shields Fish Quay is hoping to raise at least £5,000 to help friend and colleague Serhiy Hrybovskiy, who has stepped back from work to help fight for his country’s future in his home city of Lviv in western Ukraine.
The 37-year-old, who runs the Smile Energy dental laboratory in Lviv, has already sent his wife and young sons aged six and 10 to safety in the Netherlands via Poland as Russian forces continue their brutal and unprovoked assault on Ukraine.
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He is currently housing three families trying to flee the country at his flat 70km from the Polish border, and also volunteering at a displacement centre in Lviv, which has seen an influx of around 200,000 Ukrainians trying to escape the increasingly violent Russian attacks in the east of the country.
Now, following an appeal for humanitarian support from Serhiy as his country fights for the right to exist, Ewan Bramley, who runs the dental practice, and colleague George Dandanov, who studied dentistry in Lviv and still knows people in Ukraine, have launched a JustGiving appeal to help funnel vital funds to their friend and colleague.
George, who is originally from Bulgaria and spent five years living and studying in Lviv, said he had been left shocked and shaken when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Speaking with Serhiy and other friends in the capital Kyiv and the port city of Odesa on the Black Sea, he said it soon became apparent that action, not words, was needed.
“The people of Ukraine do not deserve what is happening to them. They are doing the best they can in a difficult situation, and I think raising money is the least we can do for them.
“If I was still in Lviv I would be doing what I could to help. Lviv is one of the safest places because it is close to the Polish border, but it is still not right to say it is safe, because the air raid sirens are still going off and there is a feeling it is only a matter of time.
“People from the east are escaping to the west and heading for Lviv and the Polish border. But it has also become a place to be for those who want to escape the fighting in the east but don’t want to leave Ukraine.
“Right now my heart is bleeding for them and for Ukraine.”
Russia’s advance into Ukraine has not gone as planned. As ground troops have become bogged down and they have met with fierce resistance from Ukrainians, the Russian Army has adopted ever more desperate and brutal tactics.
It has sparked the biggest humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War Two with the United Nations estimating more than two million Ukrainians – mostly women, children and the elderly – have already fled the country.
Those numbers are expected to grow – with the majority likely to continue journeying through Lviv.
In a message to ChronicleLive, Serhiy said Lviv is “choking” under the number of refugees descending on it from Eastern and Central Ukraine. He added that his cousin and his family in Kyiv had “spent three terrible days in a basement. Now, thank God, they are in Lviv with me, recovering from the horrors that they have experienced.”
He added that he is “ready to defend my city, my motherland and family,” and has started weapons training.
Serhiy told ChronicleLive there is a huge demand for NATO standard tactical first aid kits, tourniquets, paramedic backpacks, radio sets and any means of special communication.
He also likened Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hitler and said an independent Ukraine “interferes with his imperial ambitions and plans to create a new USSR with a totalitarian and inhumane regime.”
Ewan Bramley Dental Care has donated £1,000 to kick start its fundraising efforts and is appealing for donations from patients and the public who want to help.
Ewan said: “I’ve known Serhiy for around three years and we’ve used his dental lab here at the practice. Some of our patients will have dental work made by him at his company in Lviv.
“When the Ukraine crisis started, like everyone else, I thought ‘bloody hell.’
“We’ve been in regular contact with Sehiry since the Russian invasion 14 days ago, and as the situation gets ever more desperate for Ukrainian citizens, he has asked us to help support those fleeing to safety.
“The pedestrian queue for the border is now four people wide and 2km long. The vehicle queue for the Polish border is 20km long.
"They need food, they need places for people to stay in Lviv, and they need medical supplies that can be sent further into Ukraine."
