This year, the Telegraph is honouring the life and work of our late colleague David Knowles, co-host of the award-winning podcast Ukraine: The Latest, by working with Humanity & Inclusion, a charity helping the ill, vulnerable and disabled left behind in Ukraine’s warzones. Here we talk to Oleksandr Sambur, 44, who as a father to five children – one of whom has special needs – is struggling to survive

Before war broke out in eastern Ukraine, my life was quite different. I was a mining engineer, living and working near the city of Donetsk, which is now the capital of the Russia-aligned Donetsk People’s Republic. My wife Nina, who is now 41, and I tried to build a good life for ourselves and she was pregnant when we had to leave it all in 2016 – the attacks became too intense in our area.

We moved to Chaplyne, in the Dnipro region. It was a big change, but we knew we had to do it to keep our family safe. When we arrived, things were tough. There wasn’t much work, especially for a mining engineer like myself as there are no mines here. I had to completely change my line of work, and ended up taking on odd jobs around the village – construction, gardening, and other manual labour. It was a far cry from my old career, but I knew I had to do whatever it took to provide for my family.