Carlow med student Racheal Diyaolu en route to Poland after being rescued from Sumy, Ukraine

Irish medical student Racheal Diyaolu is en route to Poland after two volunteers finally managed to rescue her from Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, just 50km from the Russian border.

The first attempt to leave by travelling across the country was gut-wrenchingly foiled, but Scottish duo Gary and Joe from the TikTok account @ready2rocklandscaping have picked her up in Ukraine this morning.

Carlow native Rachel had been trapped at her student accommodation, but is now travelling across Ukraine to Poland, along with others. The daring rescue attempt appeared to have failed over the weekend after the volunteers encountered hostile Russian soldiers on their way to collect people stranded in Sumy.

Thankfully, the mission has now resumed and Racheal is travelling westwards towards the Polish border, a journey that will likely take at least 17 hours. Humanitarian corridors remain unsafe at this time.

Diyaolu's sister Christiana had been pleading for help to get her sister out of the country after war broke out 11 days ago when Russia invaded Ukraine. She posted an update to Twitter earlier today about the news:

"The account is ready2rocklandscaping on TikTok. They finally have my sister Racheal, her friends and the Ukranian families. We have our fingers, toes and everything crossed for the group. Please say a prayer for the safety of all of them. God bless Gary and Joe, absolute heroes!"

"While this is a victory for my family and I, and we are beyond grateful that my sister is currently on the way to safety, I’d like to remind everyone that there are hundreds of international students still currently stranded in Sumy, with no way out as of yet. #SaveSumyStudents"

While this is a victory for my family and I, and we are beyond grateful that my sister is currently on the way to safety🤞🏾I’d like to remind everyone that there are hundreds of international students still currently stranded in Sumy, with no way out as of yet. #SaveSumyStudents

— 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊 (@PrincxssTiana) March 7, 2022

The rescuers, Joseph McCarthy and Gary Taylor, are landscape gardeners from Scotland who travelled to Ukraine in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s invasion. After spending thousands on a van, the duo have said they'll continue to rescue people stuck in Ukraine until they run out of funds. The pair currently have £20,000 worth of donated funds to make use of.

They have already managed to transport several stranded civilians to Romania and Poland.

In videos posted on TikTok today the men detailed how they arrived in Sumy with the help of Ukrainians after Russian soldiers opened fire on their van and punctured the vehicle’s tires.

Donate to Joe and Gary through their GoFundMe account here.