12-Year-Old Boy Receives Response To Letter He Wrote To Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

A young boy who penned a letter to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has received a reply in response to his show of support.

Thomas Handley, a 12-year-old student of Durham Trinity School and Sports College in the U.K., heard about Ukraine’s ongoing conflict with Russia and wrote a handwritten letter to Zelensky to tell him that he was rooting for Ukrainians.

Thomas included the letter with a convoy of supplies that his classmates rounded up, according to BBC. The supplies were donated last month to a refugee center in Poland to help Ukrainians fleeing the war-torn country. And, fortunately, Thomas' letter did not get lost in the 270 parcels of medical supplies, clothing, food, toiletries and four wheelchairs that the schoolchildren donated.

Robin Haddon, a teacher at the special school that helps students with additional learning needs, said nobody was expecting a response to Thomas’ letter. But to everyone’s surprise, a typed letter signed by Zelensky arrived at the school for the boy on April 29.

“He won't let go of the letter yet!” Haddon told ITV. “He was absolutely blown away by it. His first response was to show everybody in school, he took it round the class to class … starting at the top with the headteacher.”

The personal letter, dated April 23 and addressed to Thomas, said: “Thank you for your letter of support. I am ok and thank you for your help. We hope to bring peace to Ukraine and food to the citizens of all the country and rebuild the towns.”

“What you say in our letter and what the United Kingdom does to support brings a smile to my face and to many others,” the letter went on to say.

Thomas told BBC he was happy to get a reply and added, “my school has given me a certificate and told me 'well done.’”

In the letter the schoolboy wrote to the Ukrainian President, Thomas said he hoped Ukraine would “win to beat Russia.”

“Putin is too scared about telling the truth about the war,” the young boy added in the letter.

When he received a response signed by Zelensky, the excited schoolboy waved the letter in his hand as he returned home from school, his mother said.

“I don't know whether we'll be able to prise it out of his hands but we're going to frame it and give it pride of place in our home,” Thomas' mother Kimberley told BBC Radio Newcastle.