The relief flight, donated specially for the journey, departed Heathrow airport for Warsaw at around midday on Wednesday (23 March), loaded up with thermal blankets, hygiene packs, medical and surgical supplies, PPE, and medicines.
After dropping off the vital supplies, the children – aged between two and 17 – will board and fly back to the UK, with the flight due to arrive into Heathrow at around 8pm. The children and their guardians will then travel to Callander in Stirling, Scotland, where they will spend their first few weeks in the UK.
Ian Blackford, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in Westminster, spoke about the undertaking at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday.
“In a matter of seconds, at 12.16pm, a Virgin Atlantic aircraft is due to depart Heathrow airport to go to Warsaw to pick up 50 young orphans that have left Ukraine [and] are coming to spend the next period of their life in Scotland with the sanctuary we can offer them," said Blackford.
Dnipro Kids is an Edinburgh-based charity set up by football fans. Its chair Steven Carr oversaw the children’s evacuation from Ukraine to Poland several weeks ago.
Virgin Atlantic chief executive Shai Weiss said: “All of us at Virgin Atlantic will do whatever we can to support the innocent people caught up in the war in Ukraine. We are pleased to partner with the Dnipro Appeal, MDA and Save a Child.
"We will continue to look for ways to use the power of our people and planes to support the humanitarian relief effort in Ukraine and stand ready to act as opportunities arise.”
