A group of 54 Ukrainian orphans fleeing the horrors of Vladimir Putin’s war arrived safely at Heathrow airport on Wednesday night.
None of the children, from orphanages in Dnipro, central Ukraine, had been on a plane before. Aged between two and 18, they ran up and down the aisles, watched TV shows and played with Disney stuffed toys as they escaped the escalating Russian violence.
Accompanied by five carers and a translator, the group had been due to arrive from Poland on Monday but were held up by 48 hours owing to a delay in providing crucial paperwork.
Late on Wednesday they touched down on British soil and were en route to western Scotland, where temporary accommodation has been arranged for them.
The mammoth operation to bring the children to the UK was a joint effort by Dnipro Kids, a charity established by Hibernian FC supporters who travelled to Dnipro for a match in 2005, and the global paediatric network Save a Child.
Sally Becker, Save a Child’s founder, said the organisation became involved when Dnipro Kids, who lacked funding for transport, approached her for help.
“[The children] spent most of their time [during the flight] on old phones, those that had one, and sitting around looking into space wondering what’s going to happen next,” she told the Guardian at Heathrow. “The saddest thing is I couldn’t talk to them, although some had Google Translate on their phone.
“There was one boy who, while doing Google Translate about mundane issues, showed me his message and it said ‘Thank you so much, I am grateful that I’m not sitting under the shelling any more’. That probably touched me more than a lot of other things in my life.”
She added: “It just makes you realise how many more need help, how many more are out there and I just wish we could get all the countries together and evacuate all the children, all the disabled, all the vulnerable and the men can defend their country without worrying what is happening to their families. It’s just a terrible situation.”
The operation, nicknamed “Project Light”, was supported by the media personality Rob Rinder in his role as ambassador to the aid group Magen David Adom (MDA) UK, which organised the flight. Rinder has already been involved in the Ukrainian aid effort, including tracking down the family of his former partner on Strictly Come Dancing in Poland after they fled the fighting.
MDA UK’s chief executive, Daniel Burger, worked with Virgin to coordinate the flight from Poland, a country the airline does not usually operate from, while speaking to the Ukrainian authorities in Warsaw and London.
He told the Guardian: “I’d been talking with Rob Rinder, who is a friend and also a brand ambassador of MDA, and he was telling me some of the harrowing stories and what he had seen out there. It made me realise even more of the compelling argument to help.
“There are so many more [children to help] but you have to start somewhere … We made this happen and it was a very, very special moment watching those children firstly get on the plane in Warsaw and then descend the stairs at Heathrow and get on the buses. All of the crew, the engineers, all of us were in tears. … they’re beginning the next chapter of their lives.”
The outgoing flight carried five tonnes of humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
The home secretary, Priti Patel, tweeted on Wednesday evening that the group had arrived in the UK “to a safe and warm welcome”.
She added: “Huge thanks to my team at the UK Home Office, the Ukraine and Poland authorities, the Scottish government and Virgin Atlantic who worked urgently on their swift arrival. The care they will receive will go some way to heal their suffering.”
