A Ukrainian family have been forced to flee to the UK for a second time after fighting in their city, Kharkiv, intensified.
Yulia Brazhnyk and her children, Maks, 13, and Serhii, nine, originally came to Ramsbury, Wiltshire, in 2022 and stayed with local resident, Sarah Kinch.
They travelled back to Ukraine 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 made the difficult decision to return to the UK to keep her sons safe.
Maks said their last six months in Ukraine “was 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.”
About 195,000 Ukrainians arrived into the UK, under visa schemes launched after Russia invaded in February 2022.
“They’re basically our Ukrainian family we can’t leave them in a situation of danger,” said their previous host Ms Kinch, who has helped them find a new home in Wiltshire.
As the fighting worsen in Kharkiv, Ms Brazhnyk stayed in touch with Ms Kinch through Whatsapp.
“It just got to the point where I said to her, ‘do you need to go back?’
“Last time they got special status, this time that’s gone,” Ms Kinch added.
Serhii quickly found a place at a local primary school, but there were waiting lists for both of the closest secondary schools for Maks.
Luckily, one space become available, so he has started school again this week.
To find a home, Ms Kinch said her family had to “act as guarantor so the landlord would rent to them”.
Ms Kinch believes people are not as aware of the war in Ukraine as much as they used to be.
Figures show about 180,000 Ukrainian refugees now in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which was launched when Russian forces invaded their homeland in February 2022.
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