Thursday October 9th 2025
Dnipro Kids charity day out in Edinburgh
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Ukrainian orphans charity, Dnipro Kids, are facing difficult times struggling with recent deaths and the theft of their essential mini bus.
The Edinburgh-based charity is currently celebrating their 20 year anniversary which has been unfortunately matched with recent heartbreak and difficult circumstances with the deaths of a co-founder and an original orphan they worked with, alongside the theft of their essential mini bus that aids them with their work.
Started in 2005 by a group of Hibs fans after a UEFA tie against FC Dnipro in the Ukrainian City of Dnipropetrovsk, the charity was formed by Chairman Steven Carr, alongside co-founders, with the urge to make a change in Ukriaine after a turnstile donation collection at Hibs home leg.
Reflecting on the anniversary, Steven explained:
“For the next 20 years, we grew the charity and made a huge difference to the lives of hundreds of orphanage children in Dnipro.
“We’ve done excursions to all four corners of Ukriaine with the children, and left some impressions in their minds. Hopefully, they’ve gone on to better themselves on the back of some of the things that we’ve helped with.”
Starting with work at orphanages in Ukraine in the 2000’s, the charity’s work evolved over the years until Steven took it upon himself to travel to Ukraine and evacuate children when Russia invaded in February 2022.
Steven added: “The not-so-positive things are the Russian aggression in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea, and then the full-scale invasion in 2022, at which point there was a real worry around children in Dnipro.
“I travelled out to Ukraine, evacuated the very first displaced Ukrainian into the UK because at that time there was no visa route for them to come in. It took some real pressure on the government to allow our children in, which they eventually did.”
“So it was a real worry and I made the decision to travel to Ukraine and to go to Dnipro and evacuate these children.
Once Steven successfully evacuated the children to Scotland, they found their home in one of Edinburgh College’s Student Accomodations.
Unfortunately last night (9 October), one of the charity’s co-founders, Mark Strachan, sadly passed away from a heart attack only two days before the long-awaited 20th anniversary dinner.
He played a pivitol role in the charity, being one of the main men behind the initial fundraisers and excursions into Ukraine, with Steven explaining that he ‘was one of the driving forces behind the charity’.
“He’s one of my best frinds, he was right there at the beggining and supported myself and others”, Steven explained, “He was one of the driving forces behind the charity, he was in the charity starting and the charity continuing.”
“He travelled to Ukraine, he met children out there, so he was a big part of their lives and the children we brought over.”
Alongside this news, recently one of the charity’s first orphans they worked with, Misha, died fighting in the Ukraine Russia conflict.
Misha was one of the first children the charity worked with, living at a family orphanage in Ukrainian. Being a child when the Dnipro Kids began, when he turned adult age he joined the army, being a fully-trained soldier when the invasion took place in 2022.
Recently Steven and his team were informed by the orphanage house mother that Misha was killed in battle.
Steven explained:
“It was a good enviornment [the small family orphanages]. So Misha was brought up in this environment and he was a lovely lad. He was friendly, he was helpful. He would always be there to help his mother in the house.
“After 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and the trouble in Eastern Ukraine, he signed up for the army. When you’re in the army you are putting your life at risk defending your country and unfortunatly Misha’s life was taken away from him.”
“It’s easy to watch the war and sometimes you’re wondering what’s going on but when someone that you’ve spent time with on excursions, that you’ve visited them in his house, the war becomes very real when their life is taken.”
Steven reflected on his time spent with Misha and the hundreds of children they worked with in the charity’s early years, working alongside and supporting seven orphanages in Dnipro.
“The charity was highly invested in these orphanages. We would take the children on excursions a couple times a year. We have travelled from Dnipro to Kiev, to Odessa.
“Kharkiv was a place that we used to enjoy going to because there was a big indoor water park there with a hotel attached. The kids absolutely loved that during the springtime. It is probably destroyed by missiles and mortar shells now, but that was a favourite for the children.”
Whilst recovering from the news of Misha’s death, the charity have had to deal with the unfortunate theft of their minibus at the beggining of the month.
Minibus prior to the theft
The minibus was a crucial part of the charity’s work, helping the evacuated children living in Edinburgh get to school and access medical appointments. The bus was stolen just after an MOT in Eastfied, East Lothian.
Despite the recent sad news, Steven reflected on the 20 years of incredible work and the many lives Dnipro Kids have changed. Marking a significant milestone tomorrow at their 20th anniversary event, the charity’s future aims have shifted from the children they evacuated to Scotland, now looking back into Ukraine, continuing to provide similar support to when they were first established.
“The future aim is that we have these families in Dnipro that we used to support. Now these families are now here in Scotland and we’ve managed to support them brilliantly over the past three and a half years but we feel now is probably the time to refocus our efforts back to Ukriane.
In talks with local authorities in Ukriaine, Steven and his charity are looking to again support family style orphanages in the country.
“Obviously in Ukraine, there are soldiers who are dying and they’re leaving behind mothers, children and wives. Local authorities are having a real problem with trying to support these familys and we’re finding that there are children that are going back into the care system.
“So we’re hoping that we can refocus our efforts back to Ukraine and start assisting the local authority in Dnipro to support children in the way that we’ve done in the past.”
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