A Derry man has been awarded Ukraine’s highest civilian honour for his humanitarian work.
Peter Jennings has just received The Star of Glory and Merit from the Presidential Office of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A lorry driver by trade, Peter set up the charity Derry Ukraine Aid in the wake of the 2022 invasion by Russian troops.
In the three years since, he has made 320 trips to Ukraine and struck up a personal friendship with the country’s president.
On receiving The Star of Glory and Merit, which is awarded for heroic deeds, outstanding achievements and significant personal merits, the 67-year-old said, “It came out of the blue, I wasn’t expecting it at all because I haven’t done anything other than my normal thing of going back and forward to Ukraine with aid.
“I know the Embassy and the Government over there and I am in constant contact with the Consulate of Ukraine in Edinburgh. But I genuinely don’t know who nominated me for this. It was a lovely surprise and I’m very honoured to receive it.”
Peter revealed how he was living in Kiev at the time of the Russian invasion. By pure chance, he touched down in Dublin just as Putin ordered his soldiers to attack.
“I was living in Kiev and I left the country the day the war started. It was a huge shock because when my plane took off that morning, everything was fine. When we touched down in Dublin I heard that war had been declared.
“The next morning I made some calls and started planning to fill a lorry with goods to take out with me. By the end of that week I was on my way to Bucha.”
Such journeys continue, with Peter having transported more than 20,000 tonnes of clothes, food, medicinal products and other aid to the people of Ukraine.
It was on his third trip that he first met Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the country’s president and the man currently involved in top level negotiations with his opposite numbers in both Russia and the USA.
“We’re good pals. Every now and then I get an email or a text from him asking how I am. He’s a nice guy,” said Peter.
While fulfilling in the sense that he is helping people in a country facing immense hardship, the journeys have not been without danger.
In May of last year Peter suffered serious injuries after being thrown from his truck when the military convoy guiding him during a delivery of medical equipment in Kherson was struck by a missile.
But the Derry man has returned to the country since and says he will continue to do so as long as help is needed.
“I hope the day will come when I don’t have to do what I’m doing, when there will be peace and quiet again. But at the moment it’s a bloodbath over there, every day and night, it’s just constant.
“We don’t know how many military personnel have lost their lives in the conflict but in terms of civilian casualties, it is almost always women and children who are suffering.”
Looking back to before the war, Peter Jennings said he could never have imagined the direction life would pull him in.
“It has changed everything. It has taken over my life, I never thought I would be doing this sort of humanitarian work. Everything else has been put on hold.
“But I enjoy it and when you see the smiles on the faces of the children, you just want to bring them home with you. Those smiles, they make it all worthwhile.”