Guys buy a burger and take it to the front line

Humanitarian hero Jon on the surreal horror of life in Ukrainian war zone

- NICOLE WOOTTON-CANE

JON Cunliffe's line of work has taken him worlds away from his birthplace of Bury.

The humanitarian hero and former nurse has seen first-hand some of the most agonising humanitarian emergencies of the last 20 years, including in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and more. Most recently, he has been deployed to Ukraine, working to clear the country's land of deadly landmines.

Two years on from Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has overtaken Iraq and Afghanistan to become the most heavily mined country on the planet.

Jon, who heads up Manchester-based charity Mines Advisory Group (MAG)'s demining task force in Ukraine, said the experience has been a 'surreal paradox'. 

"It's the normality of day-to-day life in Ukraine, which rams home the spectre of war on our doorstep for the first time in over 70 years," he explained. "It is strange to be operating in a conflict so close to home.

"Ukraine is very much a European country. It's just a two-hour flight from the UK to Krakow on the border with Ukraine.

"Despite the war, the trains run absolutely on time and the food is amazing here. I've never had a bad meal.

"It is just a surreal paradox that you can be living normal life and 20km away there's people dying in fighting. Guys can literally go to McDonalds and take their burgers back to the front line."