Dundee United employee set for third aid trip to Ukraine
Ricardo Cerdan is planning to a trip to Kharkiv and Odessa
Dundee United's international business manager Ricardo Cerdan is set to make a third trip to Ukraine to provide aid.
Having already been to Kyiv and Lviv, Ricardo will this time take aid to those in Kharkiv and Odessa.
The Spaniard has been raising funds for his trip and has already raised over £25,000 but he hopes to raise more as he plans to take food, medical supplies and diesel generators.
Telling us what is drawing him back for a third time, Ricardo said: "I think it's helping those little kids and I mean you see little kids and you start thinking about your colleagues kids. You start thinking about the players kids, my niece and nephews.
"You know you start thinking about that you're thinking it's 2022 and once again in Europe we haven't learned a lesson. We are going again into another war."
A plan is in place to purchase a mini bus to transport refugees to the border. Ricardo said: "The whole idea with getting the mini bus is getting refugees, probably, down from Odessa to the Moldova border or the Poland border."
While on his first two trips to the country, Ricardo says he was far from the only representative from Scotland and saw plenty of people recognise the Dundee United badge. He said: "I met a couple of nurses and they are Dundee United mad. Over there doing their help.
"It was so nice, you know, that in the middle of the Poland Ukraine border and somebody walks to you and says to you, are you Ricardo the guy who's been in the newspapers, I'm also a Dundee United fan and I'm a season ticket holder and I'm a nurse and I came here on my break for five days to help."
He added: "It's surprising how much Ukrainians know about Scottish football. As soon as you say Dundee United they are talking about that they support Shakhtar Donetsk or Dynamo Kyiv and they know about the old firm. A few of them even knew about Dundee United, they knew about our club and I was quite surprised by that."
When asked if he ever felt scared while in Ukraine, Ricardo said: "On a trip like this you cannot be scared at any moment otherwise you wouldn't be taking it. It would be best to stay at home because once you're scared you put in damager everyone that is helping you. The last thing I want is someone to come and rescue me there.
"But, you are aware that in any minute anything can happen. I mean, it is a bit scary to be in your hotel at five thirty in the morning and then you listen to the sirens of the jets, the Russian jets going through. At the hotel they knock your door and say you need to go down to the bunker."
