An animal-loving former charity worker from Sheffield is heading back to Ukraine with a trailer of supplies to help support locals and save the lives of dogs and cats. 

Jules Hales – known on social media as Cat Man Jules – visited the war-torn country last year and had witnessed first hand the conditions faced by both the people and the animals. 

He said: “It’s bitterly cold. One minute it’ll be dry and not too bad and the next it’ll be a blizzard. 

“It was daily shelling by the Russians. When I was in places like Odesa or I was in Kiev for a while, there would be missiles coming in day and night.” 

The 53-year-old who used to work for the Red Cross said he had been involved in animal welfare since the mid-1990s.

He said that when he saw the build-up of the war two years ago he knew there would be animals suffering and that he was not just going do nothing. 

“I wasn’t just going to watch it on tv and say ‘oh that’s so sad, poor animals’, poor people, and then just turn it over and watch something else,” he added. 

He is due to return to Ukraine later this month and has encouraged a wide range of donations from the public to aid in his work, including pet food and bedding.

He said: “I know there’s lots of people who see it who wish they could do something but feel like they can’t, but its help getting the food and the aid.” 

Mr Hales has experienced the effect the war has had on the remaining locals in Ukraine and their responsibility to care for the domestic animals. 

He said: “I came across a woman who had over 100 dogs to care for and over 100 cats and she showed me in very bad English where her house was blown to pieces with all the animals and people in it.” 

After losing his wife two years ago Mr Hales said that on his previous trip, the thought of her being proud of him kept him going.

“Nobody can do everything, but I just try to do what I can, and that little bit makes a difference,” he said.

“The two most important things to me are a dog wagging its tail and a cat purring, they’re the only two things, that’s why I do it and that’s why I’m going back.”