Photo credit: BBC
For the second time, a Ukrainian family have been forced to flee to the UK after fighting for their city intensified.
The BBC reports that the family members comprising Yulia Brazhnyk and her children, Maks and Serhil, from Kharkiv, originally stayed in Ramsbury, Wiltshire, in 2022 and stayed with Sarah Kinch.
They returned to their country in December 2022 to find Mrs Brazhnyk’s sister and be reunited with the children’s father. But as bombings increased this year, Mrs Brazhnyk decided to return to the UK with her sons.
However, Maks said their last six months in Ukraine “were very difficult”, with “lots of bombing.” He added, “It was quite loud, sometimes we couldn’t sleep—there was no hot water or light sometimes.”
Approximately 195,000 Ukrainians arrived in the UK with vasa schemes introduced after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. As the fighting was getting more severe in Ukraine, Mrs. Brazhnyk contacted Ms. Kinch through WhatsApp.
Ms. Kinch believes people are less aware of the war in Ukraine than they used to be.