Parents of a New Zealander volunteering in Ukraine have confirmed their son has been reported missing.

Andrew Bagshaw, a 47-year-old geneticist from Christchurch, was part of a team of Ukrainian and international volunteers in the wartorn country evacuating citizens from near the front, but their vehicles are struggling to keep up.

Philip and Susan Bagshaw confirmed their son's disappearance in a statement released to media this morning.

Surgeon Phil Bagshaw was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for his services to health in 2019. He helped establish the Canterbury Charity Hospital and now chairs its trust.

Andrew's mother Dr Sue Bagshaw has worked in the youth health sector for three decades and is also a senior lecturer in paediatrics at the University of Otago in Christchurch.

She was made a dame companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to youth health in 2019.

They say Andrew is a very intelligent, independently minded person, who went there as a volunteer to assist the people of Ukraine, believing it to be the morally right thing to do.

Andrew was a volunteer driver, equipped with an offline copy of Google Translate and Google Maps.

For about a month he had been evacuating people out of the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar, says an article by Stuff back in August 2022.

He was born in the UK, and Philip and Susan are very grateful for all the agencies from both London and NZ, who are working so hard to find him, says the statement released on behalf of the couple this morning.

'They are particularly grateful to Kiwi K.A.R.E, an NGO working with volunteers in Ukraine.

'Andrew's parents love him dearly and are immensely proud of all the work he has been doing delivering food and medicines and assisting elderly people move from near the battlefront of the war.”