Volunteers helping Ukrainian refugees at Polish border reveal just how chaotic things have become

By Sarah Ward in Poland via SWNS

Volunteer aid workers at the Polish border told of being "pressganged" into joining the Ukrainian military on the day a base was bombed.

Ex-army medic Carl Walsh, 50, from the Rhondda Valley, and dad-of-five Ollie Funnell, 45, from Eastbourne, England, are working in Medyka, southern Poland, along with ex-police officer Rob Wadeley, 53, from Derbyshire.

The men raised concerns about a lack of safeguarding and said it was known that human traffickers were operating at the border and that rape victims had sought medical help in Poland.

A paramedic waits to help refugees at a cold Medyka border crossing, Poland from Ukraine. (Tom Maddick via SWNS)

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Both Ollie and Carl claimed to have been pressured into joining the Ukrainian military after being taken to a base on March 12 - the day of an explosion which killed 35 people.

Ollie, who works as a teacher, described the situation as "chaos" and said the United Nations needed to get involved at the border describing it as a safeguarding issue.

He and Carl traveled to the border together on March 11 and planned to offer their medical skills in Ukraine - but were asked to give up their passports and branded "cowards" when they said they were there to do humanitarian work.

All three men raised concerns about the prospect of human traffickers preying on vulnerable women and children, as well as a lack of checks on volunteers at the border.

They said many refugees had left middle-class lifestyles behind and were clutching Gucci handbags and Nike gear while making the five-day journey on foot with children and pets.

Three times a day they are crossing the border to feed refugees lining up to get into Poland.

Ollie said: "There have got to be hundreds, if not thousands, women and children who will go missing.

"The moment Russians crossed the border there should have been safeguarding, the need is here.

"There's a lot of people smuggling going on here, I'd like to say it is 95 percent decent people but it is all about minimizing the risk.

"People are taking the opportunity because one person to them might be hundreds of thousands of pounds."

He said Ukrainian military chiefs had "pressganged" volunteers in a bid to send them to Kyiv.

Ollie said: "We were taken to an independent depot and told to sign for the military.

"We were told 'if you have not come to fight you are cowards,' they were getting really aggressive, in the end we just got back on the bus.

"We were told if we wanted to fight, to join the army and be given 48 hours training, and we would be sent to Kyiv.

"We were there in the morning and it got shelled in the evening.

"It is chaos, they promise you everything and give you nothing."

An email signed by the Ukrainian London Foundation showed an itinerary and said that volunteers would be accommodated at the military base.

It was titled volunteer fighters but a form was required to be filled in explaining relevant experience.

Carl added: "I served in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, when this happened I wanted to come out and help in any way possible.

"I sent an email to the Ukrainian embassy in London and met Ollie at the airport.

"When we crossed the border we were with people from the regiment who took us to a school.

"We were there the day before the center was attacked, they took us on a bus there.

"They wanted to take our passports off us and sign a year's contract, within 48 hours we'd have been fighting in Kyiv.

"An ex-officer said in 48 hours we'd all be dead.

"The bus driver and interpreter both had attitude, I think the Ukrainians just want people to go on the front line with a rifle.

"There was no weapons in the center.

"That night it was attacked - we were so, so lucky. It's frightening."

Dad-of-one Rob said his police pension allowed him to stay for 90 days, which he plans to do.

Rob said: "It's so obvious it's women and children crossing the border.

"A lot of people are suspicious of us when we try to give them stuff, some people are grateful, I just try to make people smile.

"People laugh at me because I try so hard to get people to take some food."