Judi Dench and Michael Palin back The Mail's Ukraine Refugee Appeal as it raises over £2m


The Mail’s fund for refugees surged past £2million yesterday – thanks in no small part to a £250,000 donation from a British firm with business partners trapped in Ukraine.

Peak Scientific pledged the astonishing sum as Dame Judi Dench and Sir Michael Palin became the latest big names to back our appeal.

The firm’s chief executive Jonathan Golby said: ‘This is a huge crisis and the people of Ukraine are in a desperate situation.’ 

His Glasgow-based company, which makes gas generators for laboratories, has 650 staff in 24 offices around the world. 

‘We have close business partners in Ukraine, and our hearts go out to them and all the Ukrainian people under siege,’ Mr Golby added.

‘We do stay in touch with our friends there and of course their businesses have all shut down as everyone just waits with bated breath to see how the next week plays out. 

‘Whatever we have going on in our day-to-day business here is irrelevant when you think of the families being separated, newborn babies in underground bunkers rather than being in specialist hospital units, and untold suffering. 

‘We are a family-owned business, and we just hope this £250,000 will help in some way.’

Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi, who has also offered a generous donation, urged others to back the Mail Newspapers crusade to help families caught in the horror.

A woman carries her child as she arrives at the Medyka border crossing after fleeing from the Ukraine on Monday

A woman carries her child as she arrives at the Medyka border crossing after fleeing from the Ukraine on Monday

Oscar-winning Dame Judy Dench, pictured at the Chelsea Flower Show, has backed the campaign

Oscar-winning Dame Judy Dench, pictured at the Chelsea Flower Show, has backed the campaign

The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday UKRAINE REFUGEE APPEAL

Readers of Mail Newspapers have always shown immense generosity at times of crisis.

Calling upon that human spirit, we are now launching an appeal to raise money for refugees from Ukraine.

For, surely, no one can fail to be moved by the heartbreaking images and stories of families – mostly women, children, the infirm and elderly – fleeing from Russia’s invading armed forces.

As this tally of misery increases over the coming days and months, these innocent victims of a tyrant will require accommodation, schools and medical support.

All donations to the Mail Ukraine Appeal will be distributed to charities and aid organisations providing such essential services.

In the name of charity and compassion, we urge all our readers to give swiftly and generously.

TO MAKE A DONATION ONLINE

Via bank transfer, please use these details:

Account name: Associated Newspapers

Account number: 20769512

Sort code: 50-00-00

TO MAKE A DONATION VIA CHEQUE

Make your cheque payable to ‘Mail Newspapers – Ukraine Appeal’ and post it to: Mail Newspapers Ukraine Appeal, GFM, 42 Phoenix Court, Hawkins Road, Colchester, Essex CO2 8JY

TO MAKE A DONATION VIA CHEQUE FROM THE US

 US readers can donate to the appeal via a bank transfer to Associated Newspapers or by sending checks to dailymail.com HQ at 51 Astor Place (9th floor), New York, NY 10003

She said yesterday: ‘If, like me, you are appalled by the desperate plight of the people of Ukraine, I urge you to get behind this worthwhile appeal and donate as much or as little as you can.’

Immediate help is needed as hundreds of thousands of innocents flee the Kremlin’s brutal onslaught. 

Aid agencies are mobilising to provide shelter, clothes and food to refugees flooding over the borders in freezing conditions with their children and just a handful of belongings. 

This essential work costs money, and there is no time to waste – which is why the Mail launched its appeal within three days of Vladimir Putin’s assault on his neighbouring nation.

Monty Python star Palin said: ‘This war is outrageous. Please support the Daily Mail’s campaign and help the people of Ukraine any way you can.’

Children’s TV presenter Konnie Huq also urged people to help, saying: ‘This humanitarian crisis will devastate millions.

‘Four million people could be displaced, not to mention the death toll that comes with such conflict. Please help and support this Daily Mail campaign.’ 

Harrowing images from Ukraine have spurred record-breaking generosity, leading our appeal to become the fastest newspaper fundraiser in world history.

Since Sunday morning, readers of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and MailOnline have sent in more than £1.25million. 

At the request of Lord and Lady Rothermere, the Mail’s parent company DMGT has donated £500,000.

All this money will go to charities helping those most in need. In the town of Przemysl in Poland, near the main border crossing from Ukraine, exhausted refugees expressed their gratitude to the Mail’s readers.

Viktoriya Luchka, a 29-year-old mother-of-one who fled the city of Lviv on Monday, said: ‘I am touched and proud that so many of your readers have mobilised so quickly to help Ukraine.

‘When it’s a public effort, I feel moved with the support people are providing us with. Both the British and Ukrainians stand for common values, for freedom, for human dignity.’ 

She said her husband, brother and father have all stayed behind in her homeland, where men of fighting age have been ordered to take up arms.

One of Poland’s top humanitarian organisations also hailed the Mail’s readers yesterday.

Sir Michael Palin (pictured at the National Television Awards 2020 at The O2 Arena) has given his backing to the campaign. He described the war as 'outrageous'

Sir Michael Palin (pictured at the National Television Awards 2020 at The O2 Arena) has given his backing to the campaign. He described the war as ‘outrageous’

People fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine arrive at a border crossing in Vysne Nemecke, Slovakia, on Tuesday

People fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine arrive at a border crossing in Vysne Nemecke, Slovakia, on Tuesday

A woman pictured with a young child as they arrive at a temporary camp in Przemysl, Poland, on Tuesday

A woman pictured with a young child as they arrive at a temporary camp in Przemysl, Poland, on Tuesday

Rafal Sakowski, chief rescue coordinator for the Polish Red Cross, said: ‘We need to help the Ukrainian people in Poland with food and trying to find a place for them to stay. 

The money from the Mail will be very useful to help those fleeing Ukraine, so thank you very much. The British people are very generous.’

Of course, the cash is not just coming from individuals – and yesterday’s pledge from Peak Scientific paves the way for other businesses to step forward. 

The offer of £250,000 follows the same company’s generous donation to the Mail’s lockdown campaign to fund laptops for schoolchildren.

One of the firm’s gas generators even played a small but important role in the discovery of a Covid jab. 

Its machines can produce nitrogen gas – literally out of the air – saving the need for compressed gas bottles. 

The nitrogen is then used in mass spectrometers, the devices used to calculate the exact molecular weight of a sample.

One of Peak Scientific’s gadgets was duly used by Pfizer’s partner BioNTech during the creation of its coronavirus vaccine.

Now 200,000 refugees can come to UK 

The number of Ukrainians eligible to come to the UK was pushed up to 200,000 yesterday along with a scheme for families, businesses and churches to put up refugees.

Visa rules will be relaxed so that those already here can bring over their parents, grandparents, adult offspring and siblings.

Boris Johnson had already said that those settled here could be joined by their spouses and children. On top of this, the Government will introduce a community sponsorship scheme to enable individuals and groups to take in refugees who do not have family in the UK.

But ministers are resisting calls for a mass resettlement scheme because of concerns ‘it would give Putin a propaganda tool’.

A Home Office source said: ‘There’s a danger a narrative takes hold that ‘they’re all leaving, they’re off to Berlin, Paris and London’.

‘Putin would take advantage of this and put out the message that the Ukrainians are fleeing, they’re not putting up a fight. The Ukrainian government are saying ‘we need people to stay, and we need people armed with guns’.’

The Prime Minister said the widened eligibility criteria for family members would increase the number able to come from 100,000 to 200,000. On a visit to Poland – where refugees have been crossing the border from Ukraine following the Russian invasion – he vowed that ‘we stand ready’ to help.

Those taking part in the sponsorship scheme will have to provide accommodation and help refugees integrate. A similar scheme for Syrian refugees has benefited fewer than 1,000.

In the Commons yesterday, Home Secretary Priti Patel said the scheme would ‘require a national effort from the entire country’.

She suggested further measures could follow and the Government would continue to think ‘robustly and creatively’. 

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