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A Fundraising Appeal in aid of Ukraine will be held on Saturday 13th May at the Influence Church in Richmond beginning at 7:30pm. This event has been organised by the Richmond Walking and Book Festival and the Richmondshire Refugee Support Group.

Ukrainian born historian, Dr Olesya Khromeychuk, will be in conversation with Peter Barron, MBE, formerly Editor of the Northern Echo and Deputy Lieutenant of County Durham.

The focus of the evening will be on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and what the war has done to the fabric of the country and its citizenry. This conflict is defining just how fragile democracy is when threatened by an autocratic neighbouring regime.

Dr Khromeychuk has written a poignant book, The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister, about the fight for Ukraine’s sovereignty through the personal account of her own brother’s death in Eastern Ukraine in 2017 while he was engaged in combat.

Killed in action as he served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Olesya Khromeychuk’s brother Volodya Pavliv died on the frontline in eastern Ukraine in 2017. As Olesya tries to come to terms with losing him, she also tries to process the Russian invasion of Ukraine: as an immigrant living far from the frontline, as a historian of war, and as a woman, a civilian, and a sister.

Signed copies of Dr Khromeychuk’s book, The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister will be available to purchase on the night.

Tickets are available for a minimum donation of £20.00 and can be purchased via the Walking and Book Festival website – www.booksandboots.org/news or Richmond Information Centre in the Market Hall.

The money raised will be shared between the Richmondshire Refugee Group’s appeal - Power to Ukraine - which is shipping generators to communities across the country and the Ukrainian Institute Charity in London.