Farmer raises funds for Ukraine with Zelensky and Sunak help

A Sussex farmer is raising money for war-torn Ukraine with the help of a unique painting signed by the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and UK prime minister Rishi Sunak.

Arable farmer James Baird is passionate about helping the Ukrainian people, many of whom are from agricultural backgrounds.

He has previously welcomed 16 Ukrainian refugees into his home, and has completed several trips to the country with the charity Pick-ups for Peace to deliver vehicles and vital aid.

See also: Pick-ups for Peace donates 100 vehicles to Ukrainian military

At a recent Ukrainian cultural day at Worthing Museum, James spotted a collection of paintings by an 11-year-old Ukrainian girl, Yaryna Zakaliuzhna, whose father was fighting on the front in the Donetsk region.

He explains: “They were of animals that had been abandoned as a result of the war. This girl painting them gave me a real sense of the trauma that these children are all going through, and this was her way of processing it.

“She had a picture of Patron, a little Jack Russell and a very famous dog in Ukraine – an explosives sniffing dog – and I wanted to buy it.”

James was told the painting had already been sold, but he approached Yaryna’s mother and together they agreed that Yaryna would produce another painting to use to raise funds.

“I said we would get Zelensky and Sunak to sign it, and raise money to send more support. To get a wartime president to sign it is something quite unusual,” he says.

Signed up

True to his word, James got both political leaders to sign the new painting, and he will display it in more than 20 cities across the country to raise funds through auction and donations.

The money raised will go to support three organisations: the Antares Squadron, Hospitallers Medical Battalion, and Pick-ups for Peace, which donates used 4x4s from UK farmers to the Ukrainian military for use on the front line.

“These guys fighting are rural people,” he says. “It is a rural nation, with lots of farmers fighting out on the front.

“These are brothers and sisters of ours. Any spare ability – driving vehicles, donating vehicles, cash for Pick-ups for Peace – it goes to really good use and really does make a difference.”

Donations can be made through the Pick-ups for Peace website.