A STUDENT from West Somerset is travelling to Ukraine’s frontlines for a second time to deliver life-saving supplies.

Freddie Clayton, 20, from Brompton Ralph, will be one of twelve to travel to Lviv, Ukraine, in May, on behalf of the charity Driving Ukraine.

He took on the challenge for the first time in May last year, driving across seven countries in three days. Setting off from Oxford, the team travelled to Calais, onto Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland, before arriving into Lviv to hand over the vehicles and aid.

Freddie, Oscar and the other volunteers travelling to Lviv in May 2024
Freddie, Oscar and the other volunteers travelling to Lviv in May 2024 (Photo: Oscar Prior-Palmer)
The workshop in Lviv where the delivered vehicles are camouflaged for use on the frontlines: Freddie and Oscar travel to Lviv, Ukraine with Driving Ukraine
The workshop in Lviv where the delivered vehicles are camouflaged for use on the frontlines (Photo: Oscar Prior-Palmer)

For the initial trip Freddie and his friend, Oscar Prior-Palmer, 20, were among a group of twelve to travel in a convoy of four trucks. The duo were the youngest volunteers to have taken part in one of Driving Ukraine’s expeditions.

In May, Freddie and Oscar will be returning to Lviv with ten new volunteers, including two parents, under the team name of ‘Devon for Ukraine’, travelling the 1,318 miles to deliver further transport vehicles that will play a crucial role in saving lives in Ukraine.

Freddie said: “I am super excited about this convoy to Ukraine in May. I think that’s its an incredible way to help a country that is still very much at war.

“We are planning to deliver trucks filled with aid of all kinds that will go straight to the frontline after being modified and camouflaged in a workshop in Lviv. The trucks are going to be used as medical evacuation vehicles to remove injured soldiers from the fighting.

“Being able to deliver that aid first hand to the people who are genuinely going to be using it the next day is really powerful.”

Having been delivered by Freddie and the team of volunteers to Ukraine, the vehicles, pick-up trucks and ambulances purchased in the UK and modified in Lviv will be placed with essential teams in Ukraine, including for use as an ambulance, for first-aid responders, and humanitarian bomb disposal.

Since it began in March 2022, the Driving Ukraine team has already completed 36 successful missions, with the help of 1,400 volunteers, donating 156 vehicles to Ukraine’s frontlines. A new convoy of five vehicles with ten volunteers departs from Oxfordshire at the end of every month.

Freddie and Oscar meet North Somerset MP Sadik Al-Hassan in advance of their trip to Lviv, Ukraine, in May.
Freddie (middle) and Oscar (left) meet North Somerset MP Sadik Al-Hassan (right) in advance of their trip to Lviv, Ukraine, in May. (Photo: Oscar Prior-Palmer)

Freddie added: “I am very proud that it is a mixture of lads and dads from Somerset and Devon who have all come together in our spare time to try and fundraise a whopping £20,000 whilst trying to get on with our normal lives.”

The group of twelve have already raised more than £5,000 of their £20,000 goal to acquire and transport a 4x4 vehicle to Ukraine.

Any money raised beyond the goal will go to future convoys that the Driving Ukraine team are already planning for the rest of 2025 and beyond.

To find out more about Driving Ukraine and the Devon for Ukraine team, visit www.DrivingUkraine.org or https://donorbox.org/devonforukraine