Bristol University students gathering Ukraine refugee stories

Four university students from Bristol have flown out to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland.

One of the four, Matt Collins, is putting his language skills to good use as he is fluent in Russian.

The group, from the University of Bristol, will be cooking and serving food to refugees fleeing the conflict.

The four friends plan to make a documentary while they are in Poland to help people in the UK "connect more with the situation there".

Mr Collins, who speaks five languages, said: "There's definitely a need [for helpers].

"I've been speaking to people in Poland and, for volunteers, they're severely understaffed in certain camps.

"Obviously when you've got such big quantities of people coming in, millions flowing across the borders, then they're going to need hands and people to help."

Mr Collins flew out to the camps in Rzeszow in south-eastern Poland a week before his fellow students.

He said he had heard "heart-breaking" stories from people who had fled the fighting via supposedly safe areas agreed by Russia and Ukraine.

"They were being shot at with rockets, from planes - everything - while trying to pass through what was supposedly a green corridor," he said.

Photographer Omar Hamedbeato is part of the group and will be trying to tell the story of the students' trip in images.

He said: "I want to focus on capturing human stories and being able to portray them here in a way that helps us to help people there.

"I think people connect with each other by sharing stories so, if I can really capture those stories, it's going to help people connect more with the situation there."

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