Help Ukraine mother and children

Dear friends,

I want and need you to help a very special Ukrainian refugee family. My dear friends, Ivan and Tamara Rusev, have been chased from their home by Putin’s terrible war. While Ivan and Tamara have made it to Bulgaria with one grandson, their daughter-in-law, Julia, and three more grandchildren, the youngest age 6 months (pictured here), are trapped at the Romanian border in a crush of refugees. The mother and children have been at the border for six days and all of the children are now ill, preventing her from moving on. Julia’s husband, the children’s father, remains in Ukraine.

Over the past 20 years, Ivan and I have worked together on nature conservation projects in Ukraine. We have walked together across rare native steppe grasslands, boated through marshes along the Black Sea coast, and enjoyed Tamara’s amazing borscht, their children then still young, their lives peaceful.

Most urgently, we need to help reunite the Rusev family and keep them healthy. Then we can offer some stability to their desperate situation. We can help them replace personal belongings left behind in the exodus. They need food security, funds for medical attention, and materials for the children to continue their education.

Please, give generously. Help restore their belief in humankindness. We can make a difference in the lives of this family.

Ivan, Tamara, Julia and the children join me in thanking you for your help.

In solidarity with Ukraine,

Richard 'Omar' Warner