People offer to fight as Ukraine donations flood in across Black Country
People from across the UK have been offering to travel to fight against Russia, a leading figure in the West Midlands Ukrainian community has said.
Andrew Duda, Wolverhampton branch chairman of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, said he had taken phone calls from people wanting to travel to fight in Ukraine.
He said: "There's nothing we can do to stop how they feel, but the official line now is to contact the Ukrainian embassy in London.
"We don't know what they will be telling them to do or what they will be advising as that's not something we're not privy to."
Russian forces have been closing in on Kyiv, with a military convoy around 40 miles long north of the capital city on Tuesday.
Mr Duda, who has cousins in Lviv in western Ukraine, said there was real anger and passion about the invasion and that he was overwhelmed by the global support.
He said: "The scale is absolutely immense and really hard to take in and I've just been watching the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking via video call to the European Parliament and seeing everyone clapping for him.
"You can see the Ukrainian flag up with the European Union flag and the support is really overwhelming and unprecedented.
"We've had so many donations come into the centre to send to Ukraine and we're having to direct people to the Red Cross as it's starting to get more than we can manage."
He also spoke about his family in Lviv, who could heard explosions from a distance outside the city, and said other members of the Ukrainian association were desperate to help their families.
He said: "Everyone's really passionate about getting stuff to their families and they are extremely concerned about them.
"What we know is that most of the families who live in western Ukraine don't want to leave, they want to stay there, while the ones who have left want to be able to come back at some point."
Mr Duda said anything state-sponsored was getting short shrift by members of the association and that his biggest concern was the damage being caused in the cities.
He said: "The ordinary people of Russia are going to feel the effects of this invasion a lot more as their economy is going south very quickly.
"The most concerning thing is about how the cities are being destroyed and the rebuilding and I'm hoping that the frozen assets of people such as Putin will be used in a reverse process to help rebuild the cities at the expense of Russia and Belarus once this is over.
"As long as the dictator Putin doesn't push the nuclear button, I can see us rebuilding a vibrant Ukraine.
"My message to everyone in Ukraine is to stay strong, stay safe, arm yourselves with whatever you can and work to repel those Russian tyrants."
There has been a wave of support for Ukraine, with services and vigils organised to pray for the country.
People of all ages and denominations attended a prayer vigil on Monday night at St Mary Magdalene Church in Bridgnorth.
It was Bridgnorth's contribution to a countrywide effort, with vigils, rallies and solidarity marches held, and locations decorated with or in the colour of the Ukrainian flag.
Another vigil is set to be held at St Joseph's Catholic Church in Darlaston on Thursday, February 3, with people of all faith or none invited to attend.
