We seek a name...

The weather is a little milder and the snow is melting, although children still found a mound of snow to play on in Lviv city centre. We suspect this won't be the end of winter and it is still well below freezing where the fighting is fiercest in Ukraine.

I read, today, that it is 365 days since the Guardian’s news desk in London started what would be an unbroken live blog of the conflict, as signs built of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine. We rely on these continuous live updates every day, knowing that every fact is checked for accuracy from various sources.

I also read a sad story about a woman from a village near Vinnytsia who,  after nearly eight months of waiting for visas for her and her two sons, got a text to say that their British host had died suddenly.

We are not so involved in the ”Homes for Ukraine" sponsorship scheme now, but we know of families still waiting to be matched with a sponsor. Several months ago we met a lovely mother and daughter, in their 50s and 30s, at the refugee centre in Striskyi Park, Lviv. They want to come to England but most of the sponsors, then and now, are in very rural locations, which we felt would not be good for these two, who speak very little English and would benefit from being in a location where there are other Ukrainians nearby.

We urge anyone who may still consider housing a Ukrainian individual or family to contact us. We know organisations/people who can help with the matching process, complete the visa applications, assist with evacuations, if necessary, and provide transport to Poland.

We are still waiting for everything to be in place for us to be able to undertake our next aid trip to Kharkiv, hopefully on Tuesday. Yesterday, two of our much younger and stronger volunteer friends lugged a generator up 4 flights of stairs to our flat. This is the last of the 3 generators from our Radio Lancashire appeal, which we will take to Kharkiv.

The generator is in our bedroom now. On top is our latest van mascot, which we bought from a stall that supports the military charity, ЗСУ. We're not quite sure whether it's a dog, a sheep or something else. It also needs a name - all suggestions welcome...