Three workers with North Lanarkshire Council are heading to the Ukraine next month to deliver gym equipment to help in the rehabilitation of injured children(Image: DAILY RECORD)

Three council workers are to make a mercy mission to war torn Ukraine to help young children recover from horrific injuries suffered during the three year conflict.

They will drive 1500 miles miles to the Ukranian border in January to hand over specialist gym equipment including weights and exercise machines which can aid in their rehabilitation.

The gear will be stored in a warehouse before being delivered another 850 miles to a leisure centre in Ukraine’s second biggest city Kharkiv – only 25 miles from the Russian border – which provides treatments for the injured youngsters.

The three men, led by leisure centre manager and Unison union branch official William Shearer, had hoped to deliver the equipment directly but were unable to get the necessary insurance for their lorry due to the daily bomb strikes which Kharkiv residents suffer.

(Image: AP)

The planned trip follows an earlier fact finding mission visit in late September to Kharkiv by William and three North Lanarkshire colleagues to see how the union could help local people.

There, they got the idea for the sports equipment having seen the work of the Aquarena Sports Centre helping injured children between the ages of eight and 16 – some of whom have lost limbs.

Before the September trip, William and his colleagues set up a crowd funding appeal which raised £20,000 towards humanitarian projects in Kharkiv.

The money has since been donated to a city farm which helps traumatised children who have been affected mentally by the daily shelling.

It has bought drone detection equipment for local journalists covering the war and power packs for families who have lost their energy supplies as a result of Russian bombing attacks.

The money has also been used to fund a food bank operation there and provide books for an LGBTQ group who counsel gay men on leave from the frontline.

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A separate Crowdfunder has been launched to cover the £3000 travel costs to Ukraine with the gym equipment which has been donated by their employers at North Lanarkshire Council.

William said:”Kharkiv is the one place in the Ukraine that gets attacked very night and every day.

“When we were there in September we saw at first hand the work being done with injured children and how much the gym equipment is desperately needed.

“We want to deliver it as quickly as possible and we are hoping to go there early in the New Year.”

The 1500 mile journey will take the trio from Motherwell to Newcastle where they will get the ferry to Amsterdam in Holland then through Europe past Krakow in Poland and on to the Ukraine.

William added:”This trip is to help the children injured in the bomb attacks by the Russians.

“However the main thing is the trauma of living in a war zone for them.

“At school every day they are underground.

“At night they are subject to Russians firing missiles and their sleep pattern is completely shot.

“They have no release either than going to the Aquarena. It is a beacon in a war zone.

“This equipment is ideal for rehabilitation and physio programmes there.”

Due to its proximity to the Russian border, Kharkiv has been under daily shelling and a primary target during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

William added:”Hopefully peace will come soon, but those damaged by the war will need support for a long time to come. “it is hard to understand the trauma that these people are coping with and the impact that this is having on them, or how it will affect them in days to come.”

The trip is being supported by the exiled Ukrainian community in Lanarkshire, Ukraine Solidarity Campaign Scotland and the Ukrainian Consul in Edinburgh,

William will be joined by council colleagues Alan Clarke and Jamie Rush who will share the driving duties. All three have been given time off work.

(Image: DAILY RECORD)

Aquarena, which is run by charitable donations, has a special underground nursery for children to protect them from the bombing. The facilities are also used by soldiers injured in the war, as part of their rehabilitation.