Lancashire man had 'gun pointed at him for 45 minutes' while delivering aid in Ukraine

A photographer from Blackburn who splits his time between the UK and Ukraine says he was held at gunpoint by soldiers who thought he was a Russian saboteur.

Harley Whitehead and his friend Steven Dickinson were attempting to deliver aid when they were stopped at a military checkpoint near Lviv and had shotguns pointed at them for 45 minutes.

Harley says the soldiers initially thought the pair might be Russian saboteurs after finding a Russian textbook in his bag.

Harley, who lived in Ukraine before the Russian invasion said: "I used to study Russian and I had a Russian textbook in my bag, along with a construction book from my time at Salford University.

"The driver accused me of making bombs. We had a van full of sanitation products like hand sanitiser and they thought they were explosives.

"I was in the driver's seat and Steve was at the back of the van searching with the soldiers, and I heard them say 'big problem for you'".

• Harley Whitehead speaking from a school in Ternipol, western Ukraine, where he is staying.

Harley said after a few phone calls confirmed who they were, they finally managed to get through the checkpoint.

He said: "This happened in Lviv and Lviv is a very patriotic Ukrainian city. It's not a place where you want to be speaking Russian anyway, even before the war."

Harley was living and working in Ukraine just two weeks before Russian invaded the country, but after the attack he headed back to Lancashire for safety.

But he was quickly drawn back to help out his friends in a country he calls home.

Harley and Steven, who travelled to Ukraine with a van full of aid, are currently staying at a school in Ternipol in western Ukraine, with around 160 Ukrainians who have fled Russian-held cities in the the East of the country, like Kyiv.

The friends are delivering supplies to villages and communities where there isn't much aid, or where people can't get to cities to pick any up.

Steve said: "It's heartbreaking. Over the border there are around 30,000 people who have been there for days without anything.

"We want to help as much as we can."

Harley says he wants "to avoid fighting", but said "if it happens - it happens."

He says if they do not fight, they will be killed.

• "They don't take prisoners, we would just be killed."

Both Harley and Steve say their families are a "bit worried" but they are very supportive of their mission.

The community in Blackburn has also rallied around them, donating to their charity fund EastLancs4Ukraine, which has five collection points in Lancashire.

The pair plan to stay in Ukraine for as long as possible and will only leave the country when travelling becomes a major problem.