A London shipbroker has just returned from the Ukraine border after delivering heavy-duty water pumps to help women and children dying of dehydration in cities such as Mariupol that have been blasted by Russian forces for weeks.

His urgent message is that more protective and life-saving equipment is needed.

Sale-and-purchase broker Henry Keighley, who set up his own business Hull Search International 18 months ago after leaving Galbraiths, decided to raise money from his mainly Greek owner clients to buy a pump capable of converting 2,600 litres of river water a day to clean drinking water.