A CARING community has rallied around after an alleged attack on an 11-year-old Ukrainian boy in Malvern.

One witness said they saw the incident near the Moat Way shops in Pound Bank at around 5pm on Monday and West Mercia Police confirmed it was investigating a report of an assault.

Concerned posters on the Malvern Hills Display Board Facebook group quickly organised a collection to support the boy and his family from the war-hit nation with cards, well wishes or gifts being dropped off at London House Café, Worcester Road.

Amy Hodges said: "After that incident with the 11-year-old boy, would anyone else be interested in coming up with some sort of treat for him?

"To show we all care and, as a community, we want him to feel safe and cared for. Childhood should be carefree and it seems this boy has been through a lot.

"He is from Ukraine and, as if not going through enough, now his family is experiencing this.

"We can't change what happened today but we can try and make tomorrow a bit brighter for him."

John Clark, co-owner of the Malvern Link café, said: "We wanted to help collect cards and donations to hopefully show the young lad that the world is not as cruel and horrible a place as it probably seems to him to be now.

"They are getting picked up by a friend of the family. We should do whatever we can as a community to show him this is not indicative of what Malvern is like."

Malvern Homes for Ukraine bids to help rehome and support refugees from the country fleeing the war with Russia launching a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Volunteer co-ordinator Alison Maddrell said: "We have approaching 400 Ukrainians resident in Malvern now.

"Over the past 20 months specific support needs have changed but, as a community, help can sometimes still be needed.

"This is why it is so heartening to see the locals pull together when an occasional nasty turn of events sees one of our refugees targeted, very recently a young lad.

"In fact, such is the level of offers of help that we may be able to extend the existing social network and hopefully create new spaces or events where both Ukrainian and local people can come together."

A West Mercia Police spokesperson said: "We received a call on Monday, January 22 with a report of an assault at around 4.50pm on the corner of Pound Bank Road and Moat Way in Malvern. The incident is under investigation."