A convoy of five vans containing more than 12 tonnes of medical supplies, food and warm clothing has left Cork en route to the Polish/Ukrainian border.
The aid was put together by volunteers from Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery and by the driving force behind the Penny Dinners charity in the city, Caitriona Twomey.
They had originally planned to bring just one van of aid to Ukraine, but were forced to revise their plans several times due to the public response to their appeal for support.
Ms Twomey described the journey as a personal one for her, mirroring a similar trip taken by her late mother, Breda Lynch, who travelled to Kosovo to deliver aid during the conflict there in the late 1990s.
"We are packed and ready to go," she told RTÉ News this afternoon. "For the last few days, when we decided we would go, we sat down and we planned. Everybody came together and this is the result."
The convoy will travel to the continent via Rosslare and Cherbourg, before driving through France, Belgium and Germany and into Poland.
They will receive logistical support to transfer the aid into Ukraine from the redemptorist congregation there.
"What we are trying to do is to help the Ukranian people who are becoming refugees."
Fr Gerry O'Connor, a redemptorist priest from Mahon in Cork, established a link between the organisers of the convoy and the redemptorists in Ukraine.
"We are taking help to people - especially medical supplies - because there is a big cry out for them. So, we are taking first aid supplies, but we are also taking hospital supplies to them as well," Ms Twomey said.
Chris O'Donovan said he felt compelled to help
Travel costs for the group have been part-funded by the Church of Ireland and by the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Dr Paul Colton, while the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr Fintan Gavin, facilitated the assembly of the convoy at the North Cathedral Visitor Centre at Shandon in Cork.
Search Co-ordinator with Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery Chris O'Donovan said he felt compelled to help.
"We are just trying to do our little bit to help those people," he said.
"We saw a need for humanitarian aid to be brought to Ukraine, so we were in contact with the Redemptorist Order in Ukraine and Poland. They requested that we have a targeted delivery out there, aimed specifically at children and women. So, what we are trying to do is to help the Ukranian people who are becoming refugees."
The convoy is expected to reach the Polish/Ukranian border by Friday, when the distribution of aid will begin.
They hope to be back in Ireland in nine or ten days.
