A grassroots initiative set up by a young entrepreneur from Deal is helping to save the lives of people with diabetes in Ukraine.

Charlie Cawsey, 25, whose fiancée is a Type 1 diabetic, understands the importance of insulin and equipment such as test strips to people with the condition.

As the founder of Type One Style, a diabetes devices retailer, he reached out to the diabetic community via a social media post appealing for spare items.

Within 48 hours, his scheme had escalated, with £70,000 in cash and £200k of medical supplies sent to his base in Sandwich.

He set up a non-profit charitable company, United with Ukraine (UWU), made links with pharmacists and doctors online, and has since helped deliver more than £600,000 in medical aid to 110 hospitals.

The impact has been phenomenal with official stamped letters of thanks being returned to his depot.

And the former Dover Grammar School for Boys pupil continues to be approached by medical centres, deputy ministers and military teams.

He told KentOnline: "It seems crazy that some of Ukraine’s top doctors are reliant on us, a completely new organisation with a grassroots delivery network.

"But we’re getting the job done and that’s why they come to us.

"We receive a request, source it, ship it, and it actually does get there.

"We don’t hesitate, there is no time.”

So far his campaign has delivered supplies such as sweets, test strips, continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, tourniquets, first aid kits, and some portable defibrillators.

Currently, shipments run once a week through a multi-national logistics operation Mr Cawsey has helped establish.

They take large consignments of medical aid as well as smaller mixed kits for ease of unloading and distribution in conflict areas.

He is targeting the harder to reach areas, such as towns on the outskirts of larger cities, which are not being reached by other aid sources.

So far goods have been delivered to Kharkiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa and Ternopil.

He added: "Our operation is distributing high-impact, targeted medical aid.

"Every single recipient receives a box that is actually immediately useful, and we can reach recipients inside Ukraine that no other channels can because we have built our own distribution channel."

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