Telford's Danylo Chepa set for glory bid after Ukrainian rescue mission

But Danylo Chepa’s, the powerlifting star who lives in Muxton, preparation was hampered – but for good reason – to rescue his loved ones from Poland after they had escaped their homeland of Ukraine, which is ravaged by war.

Danylo, or ‘Dan’, reckons he lost at least six weeks of training at his Foundry Gym in Stafford Park, Telford, due to an impromptu dash across Europe to salvage six helpless family and friends, who had fled their home city of Cherkasy.

Dan returned home to Telford with his parents, grandmother, two god-daughters and their mother. His house in Muxton is certainly much busier than a few months ago.

“Everybody is safe and well, thank you,” says Dan, who has lived in Telford since 2003 after initially arriving on a student exchange programme from Cherkasy, where he grew up and studied.

“I now have quite a crowded place in Muxton! I was on my own and now there’s seven of us.

“That can put a bit of pressure on but we’ve picked up another property so the parents can live separately.”

Dan, who is a negotiator for Stafford plumbing and heating firm Altecnic, travelled to Maromme, north west of Paris, yesterday for the World Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation (WDFPF) World Bench Press Championship.

He got into the sport in his early teens in Ukraine, where he was trained by a seven-time world champion.

Despite a lack of preparation Dan, previously world champion in 2013 and 2018, hopes to lift enough to claim a medal – around the 180kg mark, precisely.

The humble and unassuming weightlifter is also determined to help do more good closer to his adopted home of Shropshire and the West Midlands.

Dan is raising awareness and funds for Elle’s Angels, a charity supporting parents of disabled children, after they gave vital support to his friend and former training partner Greg and young daughter Julia, who is four.

That is a plight he is particularly passionate about. But a couple of months ago Dan was involved in a dreaded life-or-death race to Poland to save his family as Russian forces continue to blitz through Ukrainian towns and cities, causing mass civilian atrocities.

Speaking of the days when Vladimir Putin launched his barrage of attacks on his homeland, Dan recalls: “I was devastated, I couldn’t believe it, it took me a few days to realise what was happening.

“Because when you watch it on the news, it’s like a dream and at some point you’re going to wake up and think ‘it was a bad nightmare’.

“For me it’s easier because I’m safe here and taking them to my, let’s say, safe home, but for them to leave everything behind, their whole life.

“My grandma is 84, she was born in 1937, so she lived through the Second World War as a child and now at such an age at the late stage of her life she needs to live through another war.

“It’s very stressful for them, they are struggling, but they are safe.

To escape Cherkasy, fortunately positioned in the middle of the country on the banks of the Dnipro River and largely untouched by troops and missiles, the Chepa family and friends used road and rail.

Elder generations had to reach neighbouring Poland via train, younger people were driven via road to Lviv in the west and then caught a train across the border.

Their escape from hell at home took in the region of two-and-a-half to three days. The group spent three weeks in Poland with family friends, taking shelter while documentation to come to the UK was sorted.

“As far as I’m aware there is no civilian death, so they are one of the lucky ones,” Dan explains. “It’s not flat and people aren’t dying on the streets, it’s not like Mariupol, like Bucha, these horrible places on the news around the world.”

Dan, who revealed a neighbour in Muxton is waiting to take in a family from Mariupol, opened up on his gratitude to those around him in England.

“My employer was really helpful, when I said I had to go they said ‘go – family comes first’,” he adds.

“I was really overwhelmed with support of the English people I know who basically helped with clothes, vouchers, giftcards.

“What Telford Council is doing is really helpful, trying to create sessions in the local library for people to get details to register with doctors and vouchers towards food shops.

“Taking into account it (the war) happened overnight, nobody was prepared, it was really nice to see.

“What touched me was the response of the British community, anybody could register interest to anywhere with a spare bedroom. The willingness to accommodate a family from Ukraine. It’s more of a DIY rescue operation, if I could use the term, less of a government support and more of community support, which is unbelievable.”