VOLUNTEERS from the fire brigade will be setting off to the Ukrainian border to help with the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion.
A team from the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service will join a convoy by the National Fire Chiefs Council and Fire Aid and International Development to deliver fire engines and equipment to their Ukrainian counterparts.
Firefighters in the country have been stretched to the limit as they have sought to put out blazes and rescue civilians from rubble in the aftermath of Russian airstrikes raining down on Ukrainian towns and cities.
Volunteers from the service held up the Ukrainian flag in solidarity with the country as the conflict enters its fourth week.
Rescue teams are still searching for survivors in the besieged south-eastern city of Mariupol after a Russian airstrike struck a theatre where hundreds of civilians had been staying.
Satellite imagery from the scene had shown the Russian word for children painted in white letters on the pavement outside the theatre to alert passing warplanes to those inside.
Russia has also expanded its missile strikes to the western city of Lviv, which has swelled with people fleeing the conflict from other parts of the country.
The city’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, said missiles hit a facility for repairing military planes near the city’s international airport.
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