'Tanks rolled through my city - we couldn't believe what was happening'
Two Ukrainian women who fled from Russia’s horrific invasion, two years ago today have recounted their epic journey to reach the safety and shelter of the UK after Putin's tanks rolled in.
Bohdana Lisova, 19, known as Dana, and Svitlana Tselishcheva, 38, both witnessed first hand as Russian armour churned through their home cities after Vladimir Putin launched the vicious escalation of fighting on February 24, 2022.
It followed years of conflict and fighting that saw Russia annexe Crimea and support pro-Kremlin separatists in the Donbas region. But despite the constant threat looming on the edge of their home country, neither Dana or Svitlana thought war would come for them.
Since then, their lives have been torn apart by the fighting, and both were forced to flee, and come to the UK where they have begun rebuilding their lives with the help of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Despite the indispensable aid of groups like the IRC however, they fear they might not ever be able to return home to Ukraine.
Speaking from her new home in York, where she lives with her mother and grandparents, Dana told the Mirror: "I can imagine the day two years ago … no one believed it would happen. This is the 21st century, we thought there was no chance Russia could invade again."
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She had lived in Nova Kakhovka, in the Kherson region, which has been under Russian occupation since February 2022. Dana said: "Around 5am, on February 24, we heard huge explosions at a nearby base and saw them from our window, immediately everyone was opening different chats trying to figure out what was going on."
Over 500 miles away in Chernihiv, mum-of-two Svitlana had been asleep at the time, when her own mother crashed into her room shouting "The war has started!" Both Dana and Svitlana desperately scoured social media and various groups and chat and channels trying to figure out what was going on.
Dana now lives in York but had to flee a war zone after Russian tanks swept through her city (Supplied)
The devastation of her home city has left Dana fearing she may never return (Supplied)As the realisation dawned, that Russia was invading, they contacted family members as, and Svitlana said that at that time "our nightmare began". The mum saw huge lines of cars pouring out of Chernihiv, trying to flee as she and her husband tried to get food and medicine.
Meanwhile, also on the first day of the invasion Dana and her family had decided to retreat to a shelter, underneath a nearby college. She said: "It just seemed to be completely out of this world. There were so many people there. And then someone said 'oh look, according to the news Russian troops will be here in an hour' so we were waiting in suspense."
The student described one member of the shelter daring to peer out the window of the entrance, but what they saw filled them all with terror. "We saw one tank, then another and another … they counted hundreds of tanks passing by," Dana said. The destruction of her city and a year later of the Kakhovka Dam especially stung as it stood proudly as a symbol before Russia invaded.
Svitlana, an English tutor by trade, said the first day of the invasion was the beginning of a 'nightmare' (Supplied)Life under occupation was immensely difficult for both women. They tried to make the best of it that they could, but Dana described having to scavenge and search for food like "going back before civilisation" and Svitlana said how they received warnings the roads weren’t safe to flee across.
On the very first day of the conflict, Svitlana saw the bomb attacks as she lived close to important buildings within her city. "Several buildings around us were attacked and we could feel the shock waves with our own bodies. I had a feeling we were aboard a ship in the storm, the house seemed to be shaken," she said.
She recalled the sheer terror of living through the attacks, wondering if every night may be her last. After living through the terror of the initial stages of the invasion and occupation, both Dana and Svitlana were then able to flee. The mum realised that staying wouldn’t be an option, and the only way to safety was westwards, away from the Russian forces.
But the roads were dangerous, Dana recalled how unexploded attrition lay scattered across them in places and Svitlana read horror stories of fleeing Ukrainians shot dead in their cars.
An unidentified soldier lies dead near a burning Russian armoured vehicle after fighting in Svitlana's home city (AFP via Getty Images)Svitlana, after days of trying, finally got space on a bus leaving Chernihiv but had to go through the heartbreak of leaving her husband behind - "The day we got to know about the bus was the hardest. Leaving a part of your heart, your family members, your everything behind and going somewhere uncertain was heartbreaking," she said.
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Her daughters, aged five and eight, were kitted out in rudimentary protective clothing with the helmets and pads they used for roller-blading, and they piled onto the crowded bus, sat on their mother's lap, and made the dangerous journey west.
Svitlana, her 71-year-old mum and two daughters had originally planned to head to Canada, but after reaching western Ukraine, and realising her husband had a legal right to leave, they applied to come to the UK.
Both women and their families took advantage of the UK’s Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme - which allowed Brits to sponsor and offer a place in their homes to fleeing Ukrainians. Settling into Preston, Svitlana has begun the difficult task of rebuilding her life and now works to help other refugees entering the country.
Dana said the damage to the dam was demoralising as it had been a proud symbol of her city (TWITTER/@ZelenskyyUa Twitter acc)Dana described packing her whole life into a suitcase and eventually finding a lift west herself, making the trip with her mum and grandparents. She made it to Poland with her family, and described the generosity of the Polish people who greeted her there.
Dana and her family have since settled into York, where she’s continuing her studies, with exams in May and June as she hopes to go to university. Dana said: "I'm determined to go through university, it’s how I can continue my normal way of life. I applied to York to study PPE. My home city is occupied and my home is ruined, there’s no chance to return to my life prior to the full scale invasion … I want to stay here and continue my education, I’d like to do a masters degree."
Local residents talk outside a heavily damaged building in Kharkiv last month (AFP via Getty Images)The young woman continues to show the same fierce determination that helped her flee a warzone. On the second anniversary of the invasion of her "beautiful country", she described the milestone as difficult to take but Svitlana held out hope that one day she would be able to return home.
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