Father and son heading to Ukrainian border to support fleeing families

Paulo Arrigo, who lives in Harrow, will be joined by his boy Vincenzo, who attends St Joan of Arc Catholic School in Rickmansworth, and has ambitions of serving in the British Army.

Mr Arrigo was in eastern Poland earlier this month and spoke of the "sobering" experience of stepping in to rescue a family.

He said he helped a Ukrainian mum and her two daughters flee from close to the Poland-Ukraine border. She told him a week earlier the family were going to the cinema and having family arguments and now "we’re in Poland and their dad’s got a Kalashnikov".

Mr Arrigo, who runs Franchi Seeds of Italy in Harrow, took 26 hours to drive 2,600 miles from the UK to eastern Poland to support the plight of the growing number of refugees. 

He and his friend Ali Fawzi delivered supplies to charities running relief operations from the Polish city of Lublin.

They then drove 60 miles to picked up a Ukrainian family, Marina and her two daughters, Agnuta, 14, and Aleksandra, 17, from Dorohusk which is right on the Ukraine-Polish border. They took them on a six-hour journey to Katowice to meet up with a friend. 

Mr Arrigo said "a lot of tears were shed" as the Ukrainians came to terms with leaving their homeland for the first time and their husband and father staying to fight. 

He said: "When we drove to the border, we were told to brace ourselves – and rightly so. It’s extremely sobering, but everything is very organised and everyone is united. 

"We were assigned a family and it was very emotional. The mother was sobbing, the kids were exhausted. As a dad, it hits you."

He explained how they communicated with the family through a mixture of Google Translate and three-way calls with Ukrainian contacts back in London. 

Mr Arrigo said a number of translation errors on his phone brought a smile to everyone’s faces which was "nice to see" given the horrific circumstances.

He said: "They were telling us how a week ago they were going to after-school clubs, going to the cinema, having family arguments. Now they’re in Poland and their dad’s got a Kalashnikov."

The journey to the Ukraine border took 26 hours. Credit: Ali Fawzi

Mr Arrigo is heading back to the border this weekend, this time with his 18-year-old son Vincenzo.

He said it will be an eye-opening experience for Vincenzo, but that he is "up for it" and has received the full backing of his school. 

He said the whole of Europe was united in its support for Ukraine and its people, as he witnessed convoys of "aid trucks, tanks, ambulances and fire engines" heading east towards the border. 

Mr Arrigo added the response to their efforts has been "unbelievable" and they have been inundated with calls and emails from people asking how they can do something similar. 

He and Mr Fawzi have put together a checklist detailing their experiences for others who might want to replicate the journey. 

He said: "This is not a drive for the faint-hearted. It’s long and can be boring with lots of motorways. 

"Make sure you check all the requirements around Covid and Brexit – we weren’t allowed to take any meat or fish in tins, or leather goods because of the new rules."

Paulo and Ali

And he has urged the UK Government to "do much more" to help support Ukrainian refugees, both those stranded at the Polish border and in Calais. 

He said: "They say they’re doing all they can, but they’re not. It’s not good enough. We’ve seen people at the visa centre in Poland not being let into the building and, let me tell you, it is really cold out there. 

"Others who are in Calais are being told to go to Paris, why can’t they help them where they are?"

Local authorities across the country have been offering advice on how people can help the relief effort in Ukraine through donations. 

In Harrow, council leader Councillor Graham Henson said it would "stand ready to support those fleeing the conflict and persecution, as we did last summer for Afghanistan".