Groundswell of Inishowen support for Ukraine as Russian invasion continues

“Buncrana for Ukraine” is the name of a new Facebook group created to promote a local donation drive for Ukrainian refugees and share information about the Russian invasion.

The donation drive is being held in the Buncrana Polish shop. The group was created by Dorata Nieznanska, Kasia Wojtach and Patryca Radwanska and helped by many more. The collection has been a huge success so far. It will continue until March 16.

Following the closure of the collection they plan to start a GoFundMe page to donate to Polish Humanitarian Action who are providing much needed support at the border.

Kasia Wojtach described the importance of getting help to people in both Poland and Ukraine: “At this moment everything is happening on the border.

“We have over 670 thousand Ukrainian refugees and they reckon in four weeks it’s going to be four million. That’s why it’s important to help the refugees in Poland. At the same time there’s a big need to get the money to those people who are still in Ukraine who are not going anywhere because they are stuck somewhere,” she said.

The collection has been a huge success so far, so successful in fact that they are beginning to wonder why they didn’t heed a warning given to them by another donation drive.

“I read an article about Letterkenny - about Karolina and I rang her, and she said ‘think twice before you start’ because she was overwhelmed with the help and with everything people were coming with.”

Despite the stress and long hours of the collection they remain resolute in their desire to help.

“It’s not about us, it’s about the people. We think we are very far away from them – and in distance we are far away – but they are very very close to our hearts. It’s hard to believe what is going on,” Ms Wojtach said.

A mini crisis began to emerge once they had amassed a significant supply of donations. A lorry that was set to transport the donations got in accident and subsequent arrangements fell through when drivers got cold feet.

“Some transport guys just pulled over from the whole idea. They took the lorries and said they just weren’t going to do it.

“That’s what happens sometimes, and we didn’t know if we would be able to deliver the stuff,” she said.

But after sifting through information from the Embassy and finding help on Facebook they found transport.

Ms Wojtach says the Polish and Ukrainian people have always had a strong connection.

“We’ve always shared the border. We always fight and we always love each other, that’s how it was. Also, at this moment I know that the President of Ukraine is very friendly with the President of Poland. They are ringing each other, and they support each other,” she said.

A relation of one of the women at the collection is currently providing aid at a refugee camp in Poland where the provide psychological and medical support and help the organise their documents.

They have shared photos of the camp but have asked that we do not name it for the safety of the refugees.

Buncrana GAA and Carndonagh SuperValu have also hosted donation drives for Ukraine.

The support for Ukraine has been so huge across Ireland that the Russian Ambassador to Ireland, Yury Filatov, has accused the country of being at the forefront of “anti-Russian events”.