Ukraine war: Father-of-four heading to war zone from Northern Ireland in humanitarian mission was inspired by footage of child screaming in terror after Russian attack

Craig Patterson, a 30-year-old from Co Londonderry with medical training and experience in emergency situations, will be near the front lines of the brutal conflict when he links up with an American charity to volunteer delivering aid on the ground in the coming days.

He is set to join with the ‘Global Augmentation Group’, a charitable organisation registered in Wisconsin, USA, who have been in Ukraine for some time helping to rescue the elderly and infirm from front-line battle zones and deliver supplies to civilians in hard-to-reach locations.

Mr Patterson, whose charitable efforts in the past year have also included raising nearly £14,000 for various mental health, suicide awareness, cancer research and search-and-rescue charities following the loss of a friend who died by suicide, will be driving on the 3,000 mile journey in a converted mini-bus loaded with clothing and other items kindly donated by the local community.

Speaking with the News Letter, Mr Patterson explained his motivation to put himself in harm’s way as he described the difficult conversations he had with his children before deciding to press ahead.

The war could be set to escalate in the near future, after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a ‘partial mobilisation’ and the conscription of 300,000 soldiers who could be sent to Ukraine — and made fresh threats about the possible use of nuclear weaponry.

Mr Patterson, who has kept up to date with the news, said: “I have been planning this for months now, and I know the risks.

“The risk is that I won’t come back, that I am killed, or that I might get captured. But for me, it [the humanitarian crisis] is just something I can’t turn my back on.”

He explained why he is going, saying: “I watched a video, early in the war, of someone filming out their window from a flat, and a Russian jet flies over and fires into the block of flats — the whole video starts shaking, and you can hear a toddler crying, screaming.

“It was the sound of that child crying. I couldn’t let that sit.

“I have children here, and they’re all safe and well at home. I know someone might say ‘you can’t just leave your kids behind’.

“But I have spoken with them about it and they say I’m doing something kind. They’re all quite young, but I’ve explained to them that this could go wrong and — as scary as it is — I think they understand why I’m doing it.

“As a father, I couldn’t turn my back on it.

“I like to think I’m the type of person to run towards danger to help someone out, and this is it.”

He also explained how he got in touch with the American charity he is set to join in the coming days, saying: “I discovered them online, and reached out to them because I had been looking to go to Ukraine to help out really since February — not to fight, because it just wouldn’t be in me to kill anyone, but I wanted to help in some way.

“I reached out to the chief executive of the charity, a guy called Nick Shaw who is a former firefighter who has been involved in the Red Cross before, to make sure they were legitimate. I knew fairly quickly that this was something I wanted to do.”

He continued: “It was around mid July when I got in contact with them. What I’ll be doing is a mixture of delivering aid to areas where large convoys can’t reach. There’s a Ukrainian doctor who works with the organisation and is contact with people in the area. We will be informed if there’s a village where the people don’t have clothes, or food, or whatever it is. We will gather up whatever we can and take it out there to help them.

“The aid is sourced directly and delivered. It’s about getting people out of the firing line, putting them back together and getting them to hospital, care facilities or some form of safety as quickly as possible.”

He added: “They work near the front lines, and they evacuate the elderly and the infirm by travelling out in vans to lift as many people as they can to safer areas.”

Mr Patterson has self-funded the cost of carrying out the alterations to his vehicle, the cost of travel and other expenses.

He has also set up an online fundraising appeal if others wish to assist with the cost of supplies and other expenses, which can be found at gofund.me/3217c254.

The Co Londonderry man has also said he plans to document his journey if possible.