Woman to run 48 miles in 48 hours in support of Ukrainian mothers

More than three million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the war

Jolanta has been running four miles every four years (PA/Jolanta Hanstein)

A woman is running 48 miles in 48 hours in a bid to raise money for Ukrainian mothers.

Jolanta Hanstein, who moved to the UK from Poland 18 years ago, has been running four miles every four hours since Friday evening.

She will complete the challenge, dubbed 4x4x48, on the evening of Mother’s Day, Sunday 27 March.

Ms Hanstein, from Buckinghamshire, has so far raised almost £2,000 in aid of Unicef to support Ukrainian children.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that more than 3.8 million Ukrainian people have fled their homes since Russian president Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of the country on 24 February.

Ms Hanstein decided to take part in 4x4x48 after seeing a photograph of a pregnant woman being carried out of a maternity hospital on a stretcher in Mariupol, southeast Ukraine, which was the target of Russian bombing earlier this month.

At the time, medics working to save the mother and her child told Associated Press that both did not survive the attack.

“She was meant to be a mother and she didn’t have a chance to experience that,” Ms Hanstein said.

“For a mum, the labour and pregnancy, it’s tiring but it’s the best time in your life, giving new life. They took that away from her.”

Ms Hanstein said her fundraiser is a show of solidarity with Ukrainian mothers, both who have stayed in Ukraine and those who have fled to neighbouring countries.

“I just want to feel a fraction of that physical and mental challenge,” she said.

Ms Hanstein, who is a mother to an eight-year-old daughter and three-year-old son, said she is not a frequent runner.

“I’m pushing, but whatever I do, it’s nothing in comparison to what those mums are going through at the moment,” she said.

“I thought, Mother’s Day is coming. I want to show those mums that we are with them, not on the front line and not next to them, but with our minds and efforts, we are with them.”

Ms Hanstein said her sister, who lives near the Ukraine border in Poland, has told of the mental toll of the war on children coming into Polish schools from the war-torn country.

“I spoke to her a couple of days ago and she said the kids from Ukraine, they are going to Polish schools, trying to provide them with a bit of normal life,” she said.

“She said, ‘those kids hear a noise and they jump’. They don’t trust anyone, they are stressed and traumatised.”

Ms Hanstein provided an update on her progress on Saturday 26 March, sharing that she was halfway through at the time.

“I have started feeling tired and sore but I am far from giving up,” she said.

The challenge has seen her go out for runs at 2 AM on some mornings.

“It’s emotional and it’s very challenging, mentally. It’s so easy to say, ‘I don’t need to do that, I feel nice and cosy in my warm bed’,” she said.

“But I’ve got that luxury to make that decision to either stay in that warm bed, or go there and feel physical tiredness, and those mums they don’t have that.

“They feel much worse than I do all the time - and the worst part is they don’t know when it’s going to stop and what the outcome will be.”

You can support Ms Hanstein’s fundraiser here.