Equipment donated by Nottinghamshire firefighters has been sent to rescue workers in Ukraine as they continue to battle the Russian invasion of their country.

Old firefighting kit, burns dressings, and casualty handling equipment was delivered to volunteer fire and urban search and rescue (USAR) teams in Zaporizhia, the regional capital in the southeast of the country.

The city and surrounding region has been regularly shelled, with a strike on residential buildings last October killing at least 17 people.

The equipment was donated because some of it has been replaced due to reaching the end of manufacturers’ recommended shelf-life and others were redundant due to a recent change in how Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service deals with burn injuries.

A spokesperson for the service said rescue teams in Ukraine were very grateful for the donations.

Retired Nottinghamshire firefighter Grant Smith travelled to Krakow, Poland to deliver the equipment over the border to Ukraine. He has been heavily involved with charity and projects to help other fire and rescue services in eastern Europe for eight years, mostly in Croatia.

“The people in Ukraine are in a desperate situation and we hope to help them with donations of kit that they need,” he said.

“There is a clear benefit to the donations as aid is unfortunately not always getting where it’s needed.

“If this aid can go some way to make a better response for those who need it, then it has been worth it.

“There are lots of people in the service I could not do this without. Everyone has a positive, can-do attitude to want to help.”

Filippo Migliorino, engineering manager at Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, added: “We are very pleased to give our old equipment a new home in Ukraine, where it will be used to save lives and help injured Ukrainians.

“Ukrainian fire services and rescue teams are doing amazing work in extremely challenging circumstances, and we wish them all the best.”