Midwife from Bury returns to Ukraine for 17th time as country marks 2 years since Russia's invasion

• Video from Granada Reports journalist Victoria Grimes

A midwife from Bury who has dedicated two years to helping women and children in Ukraine, has returned to the war-torn country for a 17th time.

Wanda Warrington, known as Wendy, gave up her job when the fighting first broke out two years ago. The fluent Polish speaker says she feels "compelled" to help Ukrainians fleeing the terrors of bombs and shelling as a result of Russia's invasion of their country.

Wendy said: "There is a fire in my belly that keeps driving me to do this.

"I'm very much all about family and about my grandchildren - and if anything like this happened, I would just want someone who would help them."

Thanks to the nurse's fundraising efforts, she has been able to provide incubators and medical equipment for the tiniest babies.

"They are always, always short", she said.

"With the formula milk, it's a constant supply and demand and we can't seem to be able to keep that up, there's so many children who need that."

Wendy now has an army of knitters who provide booties and blankets to keep new babies warm.

"You can imagine they're giving birth - there's sandbags on the windows, there's air raid sirens going off, the risks are so great", she said.

"For us to be able to give them a small gift - a brightly coloured box with a card in it - to say that we're thinking about them - the women just cry."Wendy's next mission is to help evacuate 130 people to safety in the west of Ukraine. She has vowed to carry on helping as long as she is able despite the constant dangers.

"Of course it's always in the forefront of your mind, but when we're here, we just have a job to do and these people are living under these conditions and these circumstances day in day out - I get to go home."

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