TWO Scottish gardeners threatened at gunpoint by Russian forces have vowed to keep helping people across the Ukrainian border until it gets "too dangerous". 

Joe Mccarthy, 55, and colleague Gary Taylor, 45, travelled to Ukraine a day after Russia invaded the country on February 24.

They have since covered over 6000 miles and helped 12 people and one dog safely out of Ukraine.

Despite having their front tires shot out by Russian forces and having their van break down in freezing temperatures, they plan to keep the humanitarian effort going as long as it remains safe for them.  

The 45-year-old Mr Taylor told the Herald: "We’ve not even put a time scale on it.

"If it gets too dangerous for us or the Russians get too far, we will sit down and have a talk about it then.

"We have decided we are not going to go near Kyiv or Sumy again because those are the worst places to be."

He added: "Once is lucky enough to get away from them."

READ MORE: Russia bombs civilian homes in Kyiv as Ukraine diplomatic talks to resume

On Sunday, March 6, the duo was confronted by three-kilometre long convoy of Russian troops in tanks as they made their way into the Ukrainian city of Sumy.

"It was quite scary. They were going by with their machine guns pointing at us as well," the landscape gardener said.

"A group of them came out and started being bad to us. They pushed us up against the van and put guns to our head.

"They took all our food, our cigarettes and ripped off all the panels in the van."

The men were forced to drive for 15 miles on two flat tires until they came across locals who helped them.

 "When we were driving back we met some locals and they showed us a way into Sumy where the Russian hadn’t been."

The pair were struck by further difficulty after their van broke down on Sunday night around 20 miles from Poltava in central Ukraine.

Mr Taylor said: "The starter motor is out so we had to sleep at the side of the road."

"It was about minus four or five and we had no heating on.

"We don’t know how long it would take them to find a starting motor for the van so we will just have to wait and see."

The van had been bought in Romania after a van hired through Europcar created issues crossing the border because they did not have the right paperwork. 

Mr Mccarthy, who runs Ready2Rock Landscaping Ltd, put £10,000 in to fund the efforts in the first instance, but they have since raised nearly £45,000 through a GoFundMe page.

The 55-year-old decided to embark on the trip to help civilians after watching the news on the invasion on the day it happened.

The money is all going towards “keeping the van going, paying for hotels and feeding us and whatever is needed", Mr Taylor said.

READ MORE: Marina Ovsyannikova: Anti-war protester disrupts Russian state TV Channel One news

He added: "With all the driving we’ve been doing we still go through quite a bit of fuel."

While the two men will often sleep in the van, they strive to secure hotels for the people they help out of the country. 

Mr Taylor added that his two children, aged nine and thirteen, are "so proud" of him. 

"That's a nice feeling," he said but added that his family is concerned about their wellbeing.

"My mum, she is petrified for me. She’s not eating nor sleeping but I talk to her everyday and I talk to my kids everyday."

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