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Maidstone dad Kevin Tremain who drove to Ukraine border in campervan drives refugees fleeing to Poland

A Maidstone dad who drove a campervan loaded with supplies to the Ukrainian border has been helping transport families fleeing the conflict.

Kevin Tremain, a high-voltage cable technician for UK Power Networks from Boxley, set off from Chatham on Friday and arrived in the war zone on Sunday.

The 62-year-old, has now distributed the van-load of duvets, blankets, pillows, coats, food and care packages to refugees occupying a reception centre close to the border.

While he was there he teamed up with a German man called Irwin to drop refugees off to safety at various locations.

Kevin described the feeling of tension as they approached the Ukrainian border with military vehicles passing by.

He said: "Eventually when we got near the Ukrainian border, when you realise that nobody else is on the motorway and you're heading into the unknown, it's a bit weird.

Kevin Tremain with Ukrainian nationals he dropped to a safe location
Kevin Tremain with Ukrainian nationals he dropped to a safe location

"Police directed us to the right place, where people were receiving refugees coming across the border.

"I ended up speaking to a guy called Steve, from Leeds who showed us everything with the donations. It's absolute chaos there, but he helped us deliver all our stuff and equipment.

"Our idea was to get people away - families with woman and children - in my camper van.

"We ended up with 10 people on board to take - they were people who had somewhere arranged to go to. We actually got back to Dresden at about midnight/1am, after delivering five children and five adults."

A Ukrainian family in Kevin Tremain's camper van
A Ukrainian family in Kevin Tremain's camper van
A Ukrainian child Kevin Tremain transported along his journeys
A Ukrainian child Kevin Tremain transported along his journeys

He said: "There was an old lady, we had to contact the local medical people when we stopped where she was about to be dropped off because she was obviously suffering from something. It turned out how she had really bad high blood pressure and hadn't slept for two or three days at all.

"When we got her checked out we returned to the van, a few other people had been dropped off so there was a bit of room in the back, so she could lay down, we turned all of the lights off.

"She slept for a couple hours and she felt much better.

"We'd been topping off and refuelling quite a lot, she needed to go to the toilet, we were walking across the courtyard of the garage and she held my hand, it was lovely."

Kevin Tremain has driven a campervan full of supplies from Kent to the border of Poland and Ukraine to deliver to refugees forced to flee the war
Kevin Tremain has driven a campervan full of supplies from Kent to the border of Poland and Ukraine to deliver to refugees forced to flee the war
Supplies from Kent have been taken to a reception centre in the city of Przemyśl
Supplies from Kent have been taken to a reception centre in the city of Przemyśl

Kevin fed the passengers McDonald's and meal packages he prepared in the back of the van.

He said: "We couldn't get much information from them because of the language barrier but they looked mightily relieved people sitting in the back of my van with the gas heating on and all the coats and blankets we were putting over them."

Kevin, who is now in Bavaria, has plans to go back to the border to help further in the coming days.

A GoFundMe page set up by the Tremain family has raised £1,140, toppling its £600 goal for money to go towards fuel, crossing tolls, and essentials for the Ukrainian people.

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