Brave dad-of-four and pal 'driving into the unknown' on 1,400-mile mercy mission to help Ukraine war victims

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Two friends are braving a 36-hour drive to the Ukraine frontline with a van full of vital supplies to help thousands of war victims.

Joe Begley from Swinton, 41, and his colleague Rob Tinning, 32, set off for Lviv on Monday night with a van-load of donations.

Rob had asked manager and friend Joe for time off work to travel to the largest city in Western Ukraine - and was surprised when he actually offered to join him on their mammoth journey. READ MOREManchester foodbank and bar owners flying to Ukraine to aid refugees - and need your help The pair, who drive vans and lorries in their day jobs, met up near the hometown of Joe's family in Warwickshire on Monday evening, and headed to Dover before catching the ferry and travelling across Europe.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Salford dad-of-four Joe said: "This was all very last minute, so we were able to borrow my brother's van. "Of course we are driving into the unknown, but we anticipate lots of people will be coming out of Ukraine and not going in. "We are going into this mainly blind but all we know is we just want to do what we can to help. "We set up a funding page which has raised almost £8,000 which will more than cover our expenses and gives us good amount of money to spend on whatever is needed for these people when we arrive." It is a mission that will see their pair drive more than 1,400 miles over the two days.