*** UPDATE | We're in the top 1% of ALL Just Giving campaigns and delivering real help to brave soldiers and refugees in need. We've delivered two vehicles, body armour and specific supplies requested by a refugee centres in Mykolaiv. One of the vehicles we have sent has been destroyed by a Russian mine. Two men were killed and two injured. We're going to help their families and buy more vehicles and kit. Can you help? ***

We've built Blake & Bull patiently in our peaceful corner of England. Seeing the destruction wrought in Ukraine by Russian forces is appalling. There are many ways to help, we've found a very direct route to do so.

My friend Dr Daria Mattingly received her Ph.D from Cambridge University, lives in our lovely town of Bradford on Avon and is a Ukrainian from Kyiv. Daria has friends and family all over Ukraine and in Kyiv, she knows what they need and how we get it to them. It's the Territorial Army who need the most support. These are civilians, including friends of Daria, recently pressed into military service.

The chap in the main picture? He graduated Kyiv Shevchenko University with Daria and was, until very recently, a civil servant. He is a father of two in remission from lymphoma. Now he finds himself on the frontline with a uniform and a rifle.

We'll be buying, with your help, what he and his unit need but cannot source locally or in Poland. This will include (but is not limited to) radio equipment, body armour, medical supplies and specialist clothing. The most urgent requirement right now is for vehicles for mobility and medical evacuation.

Why donate here?

We've donated £3000 of company funds directly already, matching the first £3000 of donations. Our success has been a welcome surprise though and we've gone far beyond this. Every person at Blake & Bull has contributed in some form though and we'll continue to do this at no charge to the campaign. From our customer happiness team taking phone donations to fabrication team making parts for the vehicles donated we are happy to help.

Our effort is completely transparent with every item of expenditure publicly recorded by Blake & Bull's Finance Director . We update regularly on the purchases and shipments we make.

If peace comes to Ukraine soon, and we hope it does, we'll redirect our spending to items useful for rebuilding and supporting normal and happy life in Ukraine.

I hope you can help. Matthew, Blake & Bull founder.