A FUNDRAISING appeal for Ukraine has attracted £5.3 million in donations from Northern Ireland.
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal was set up following the Russian invasion in late February.
The money is supporting vital projects, including one which delivers food to the elderly and people with disabilities in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.
Funds are also being spent on essentials including medical equipment, food, shelter and cash to support refugees.
The DEC appeal, supported by the British Red Cross, Save the Children, Concern Worldwide and Tearfund in the north, has raised more than £350 million in the UK so far.
DEC member charity, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, has so far supplied food baskets to 21,000 people through fellow charity Depaul Ukraine.
A team of cycle couriers are delivering food in Kharkiv.
Father Vitaliy Novak, from Depaul Ukraine, said the city is facing a huge humanitarian crisis.
"Love is inventive until infinity," he said.
"We now have a big problem with petrol, but our work to distribute aid will never stop because of human energy.
"There are so many young people who want to help others and together they started this great initiative.
"One of the co-ordinators saw how her friend was paralysed and needed someone to bring him food. Her friend offered to deliver food to him on his bicycle – it was 30 kilometres away – and an idea was born."
Aleksander (50), an engineer-designer of radio equipment, is helping to deliver the food. He said he insisted that his wife and two daughter leave Kharkiv. They are now in the Czech Republic.
"It was the hardest decision of my life," he said.
"Saying goodbye to them at the train station felt unreal. Afterwards, I returned home and just lay on my bed, emotionless. I want to be useful and to be an example to my kids for the future.
"As bicycle delivery volunteers, we are united by a common goal - to help. We live without making plans for the future. We simply wake up, make our deliveries, spend a couple of hours of free time, and repeat. We are alive, and that is enough to be happy."
Saleh Saeed, CEO of the DEC, said she had been humbled by the UK public's generosity.
"I am in awe of the aid workers and volunteers in Ukraine and neighbouring countries who are selflessly putting their needs aside to help others to cope with this devastating conflict," she said.
