‘We just want to live in peace with our family in our home’

Ukrainian mother forced to flee her home with her children, mother and mother-in-law so grateful to have been welcomed in Navan but desperate to be reunited with her husband from whom she had never spent a day apart in 11 years of marriage

A UKRAINIAN mum who fled her home in Cherkasy a week after the war broke out told how the scenes at the railway station as they waited to board the evacuation train was "like something you would see in the Second World War".

Juliia Sudenko (32), reluctantly left her home city with her two children and her mother and mother-in-law on 5th March, over a week after Russian forces invaded Ukraine. She was devastated to leave her husband Andrei behind and also their home, but felt they had little choice, to protect their children.

A military base was hit close to their city at the start of the war but Juliia explained that Cherkasy had not been bombed and her home is thankfully still standing. However, the frequent air raid warnings meant they had to rush to an underground shelter several times a day and it was very difficult for the children in particular.

Juliia told how her brother, who left Kviv on the day of the invasion, and her husband had both pleaded with her to leave for the sake of the children so a heartbroken Juliia made the decision to go.

Juliia explained that Andrei cannot leave the Ukraine as he is 35 and could be called up for service. For now he is continuing working in his bank job but there is always the fear that he could be called up if the situation escalates.

Juliia has also left behind their two grannies and also her father and father-in-law, who are both over 60 and could have left, but stayed behind to look after their mothers. It is the second time in their lives that her grandmothers have experienced war.

Life was very normal for Juliia and her family but suddenly everything changed on the morning of 24th February.

"The 23rd February was a usual evening and then the next morning we got news that the war is beginning. In our city it was quiet but my brother and his family were in Kviv. He got into his car and went straight to the border because of the bombing.

"He went to Lviv close to the border of Poland and stayed there for two days and he asked me take my children and go".

However, Juliia didn't want to leave her husband and stuck it out until 5th March.

While she didn't see bombing, there were frequent air raid sirens where they had to go underground to buildings like schools and shops.

"We live on the fourth floor of a 14 level building. It was too dangerous to stay.

"The first day, there was panic with everybody looking for somewhere underground. We went to a shopping centre that was underground."

A few days later they found a shop with a basement that was closer to their home and went there.

"It went off so often, there was no time to feed the children, and no time for my son to sleep. I would put him to sleep and have to take him up and rush to the underground shop near our home. My husband is still working in a bank and he would come running home to help us get to the shelter.

"It was very difficult and my husband told me to take the children.

"I didn't want to go. We are 11 years married and we were never a day apart."

Juliia took the two children and went with her mother and mother-in-law for a train out of Cherkasy.

"It was a like a scene from the second world war. There was a huge crowd in the railway station. While we were there, the signal for bombing went off but everybody stayed where they were. They all wanted to leave on the train."

The train took them to Lviv, close to the Polish border. Juliia said it was a "terrible" journey with nowhere to sit on the packed train which took 14 hours. "We had no air. I was afraid to drink in case I would need the toilet. It was a terrible journey. There was so much stress. We were so scared."

They stayed with a friend in Lviv for a night and then got on a bus for women and children which took them to the Polish border. It took eight hours to cross the border, and that was with the buses going first in the line.

Those in cars and people walking on foot were after the buses in the line and Juliia recalls that it was freezing cold with sub zero temperatures.

Her brother met her at the Polish border and they spent a night in Poland. They didn't have a plan and didn't know where the would spend the next night. They drove on for Germany and spent three nights in a hotel there and are very grateful to the hotel owner for giving them accommodation. They didn't know what to do next and started looking for information on where they could go.

"We started to think what would we do next and we communicated with out friends in other parts of the world and one of them told us about a programme in Ireland where we could come and have shelter. So we bought plane tickets from Frankfurt to Ireland and arrived on 12th March.

They initially spent the first few weeks with other families from Ukraine, Syria and Africa in a shared house but recently moved to the Troytown area of Navan where Julia and her family have their own space with other Ukrainian families living beside them.

They are very grateful for the welcome they received in Navan and Juliia's daughter has started school in Scoil Mhuire in the town.

"Our Irish neighbours on the street are so friendly. Thank you to all the people of Ireland, you are amazing. "

While Juliia says there is a better standard of living and education in Ireland, she plans to go home as soon as it is possible and misses her life in Ukraine.

"We just want to live in peace with our family in our home."

In ways Juliia feels she shouldn't cry as they are better off then others.

"We still have our house and many people in cities like Mariupol don't have the chance to leave."

She tries not to watch the news, but can't help but do so.

"Every day I promise not to watch the news. I can't do anything to help but then every day I am still watching it. I can't not."