The largest ever aid convoy to leave Ireland has arrived at a humanitarian centre on the Ukrainian border and the distribution of items has begun. 

“There’s six trucks that arrived last night at one o’clock in the morning,” Kevin Byrne, a spokesperson for Hendrick European Transport & Distribution, told The Anton Savage Show. 

“What’s getting offloaded is medical supplies, water, nappies, all types of items, non perishable foods for what could only be described as extremely needy people.

“It’s an incredible scene here to be honest.

“What you see is women, children and elderly people. But what is notably missing is the males from, I suppose, 18 up to 60 years of age. They’re not here, the fathers are missing and it’s just women and children and the elderly.

“It’s an extremely sad sight.” 

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So far over a million desperate Ukrainians have fled but men between the ages of 18 and 60 are banned from leaving. Queues at the border are long and many have found that transport costs have soared. 

“What happens is when they come in across the border, they’re processed at the border and they are moved onto coaches,” Mr Byrne described. 

“A lot of those coaches are army and police coaches, so they can escort them into where I am - which is the main humanitarian aid centre. 

“And then they are processed here and moved to different areas of Europe.” 

2HWGWE1 Medyka, Poland - March 5, 2022: refugees from Ukraine arrive at Medyka border after Russia launched a full-scale military operation in the country Credit: Piero Cruciatti/Alamy Live News

Between 25th February and 11th March 4,068 people from Ukraine fled the country to Ireland. 

One of them, Anastasia Kyshmar, told Newstalk that she had left on what should have been her wedding day and that she was suffering from survivor’s guilt thinking about the horrors unfolding in her homeland: 

“To be honest, it’s so hard,” she said. 

“I still have a lot of my family and a lot of my friends there [in Ukraine] and a lot of them are protecting our country right now. 

“A lot of them are dying and I love them. 

“It breaks my heart to see it and… whenever I see the news right now it really makes me emotional. It makes me cry. I just wish I could help myself. 

“Like I’m so grateful that Ireland has taken us and I’m so grateful that we can stay in a safe place but then I just feel like I’m being left out and I feel ashamed that I am alive for some reason - if it makes any sense.”

Main image: 2HTEW06 Ukraine refugees at Slovak-Ukrainian border, Vysne Nemecke-Uzhorod, on February 27, 2022. Picture by: CTK Photo/Martin Macak Gregor.