Prince Charles goddaughter India Hicks has shared photos of her second charity visit to help Ukrainians whose lives have been devastated by the war.
India , 54, who lives on Harbour Island in the Bahamas with her husband David Flint Wood and their five children , told her 325,000 followers last week that she had travelled to the country to help communities impacted by Russian attacks.
It comes two months after she travelled to Poland to help Ukrainian refugees.
India is the daughter of celebrated interior designer David Hicks and Lady Pamela Mountbatten, Prince Philip’s cousin and the daughter of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
On the ground: Prince Charles goddaughter India Hicks has shared photos of her second charity visit to help Ukrainians whose lives have been devastated by the war
Family visit: Together with her son Felix, 25, she travelled from Warsaw to the Polish border before boarding a 14-hour train across Ukraine
Helping hand: India was supporting Global Empowerment Mission, a nonprofit that provides assistance in the wake of international disasters
Together with her son Felix, 25, she travelled from Warsaw to the Polish border before boarding a 14-hour train across Ukraine. They stopped in Fastiv, in central Ukraine, and Chernihiv, in the north of the country.
India was supporting Global Empowerment Mission, a nonprofit that provides assistance in the wake of international disasters.
She transported clothing for families affected by the war and spent a day in a therapy shelter helping Ukrainian children.
The mother and son also spent time with an elderly woman named Anna who was making tea when her home in Bucha was bombed by Russian forces.
Sharing a slideshow of images at the end of the trip, India wrote: ‘Disturbing, unsettling, stunning in its intensity.
‘I could not have coped without Marzena and Felix beside me, traveling together across this fraught landscape.
On the move: India Hicks waiting at the station with her son, Felix, in an Instagram photo
On the frontline: India’s son Felix, pictured, joined his mother to distribute aid across Ukraine
Team work: India was joined by her son Felix, left, and friend for the journey last week
Destruction: India’s Instagram posts highlight the damage caused by the Russian attacks
Support: India transported clothing for families affected by the war and spent a day in a therapy shelter helping Ukrainian children, pictured
‘Understanding ways that @globalempowermentmission can bring more love, hope and relief to this country. #ukraine.’
Two months ago India made a journey to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland – but was criticised for using a post to also plug a ‘posh framing company’ she’s previously been paid to collaborate with.
In a post announcing a visit, Hicks mentioned a photo frame ‘edit’ she created for upmarket UK homeware company Addison Ross to mark International Women’s Day- saying there was only one day left to buy one and pushing followers to the ‘link in my bio’.
The post was branded ‘awkward’ by one person, while another responded: ‘Are you really mixing a post about helping refugees with an advert for a posh framing company?!’
Heartbreaking: In one harrowing video, India captured a young Ukrainian boy trying to pull a charred bicycle from the rubble of a collapsed building
Devastation: India was joined on the journey by her son Felix, who was photographed distributing aid in Ukraine
10 per cent of sales from Hicks’ four-piece frame collection, where prices range from £28 to £45, are donated to the The Prince’s Trust.
A spokesperson for Addison Ross confirmed to MailOnline that Hicks has been paid as an influencer for previous posts – using the hashtag #ad for transparency – but said the company had no knowledge of yesterday’s post.
Russian and Ukrainian troops are now locked in intense fighting in Severodonetsk and its neighbouring town Lysychansk.
Moscow’s soldiers, supported in their advance to the city by heavy artillery, are now facing bitter street-by-street fighting, while Ukrainian regional officials reported the conflict has knocked out power and mobile phone services and terrorised civilians who have not fled.
Personal stories: The mother and son also spent time with an elderly woman named Anna who was making tea when her home in Bucha was bombed by Russian forces
Severodonetsk, a manufacturing hub, has emerged as an epicentre of Russia’s quest to conquer Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region along with nearby Lysychansk, where Ukrainian officials reported constant shelling over the weekend.
The two cities, with a combined pre-war population of around 200,000, are the last major areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk province, which together with the Donetsk region constitutes the Donbas.
Putin’s troops are focused on capturing parts of both not already controlled by pro-Moscow separatists and have made painstakingly slow but steady advances in recent weeks as their heavy artillery eats away at Ukrainian positions, allowing infantry to slowly creep forward.
In last night’s video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: ‘Some 90 per cent of buildings (in Severodonetsk) are damaged. More than two-thirds of the city’s housing stock has been completely destroyed. There is no telecommunication.
‘Capturing Severodonetsk is a fundamental task for the occupiers… We do all we can to hold this advance.’
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