Ukraine war: Couple's bid to make safe home for surrogate mother

A couple are trying to give the Ukrainian surrogate mother of their baby a safe home in the UK.

Heather and Mark Easton, from Rugby, Warwickshire, returned from Kyiv with baby Sophie two weeks before Russia invaded the country.

They have found a sponsor for Vita Lysenko and her family who fled to Belgium last week.

But the family do not have passports and have found getting visas "extremely difficult", Mrs Easton said.

After having a hysterectomy Mrs Easton decided to use a surrogate to have a child.

They went through an agency and found Ms Lysenko, 35, in Ukraine, where commercial surrogacy is legal.

"We have talked to her pretty much every day for the last year," said Mrs Easton, a former nanny.

The couple spent two months in Ukraine ahead of their baby's birth and became closer with Ms Lysenko, mainly communicating through translating apps.

"We spent hours chatting and eating cake," Mrs Easton said.

The women attended medical appointments together, and Mrs Easton saw her baby born.

But they were all aware of growing tensions at Ukraine's borders.

Mrs Easton said since the "devastating" war Ms Lysenko, her partner Andrea and their three-year-old son have been "in and out of bomb shelters".

"I was desperately trying to persuade her to leave but like many Ukrainians they don't want to leave their home country because it's their home," she said.

But they fled to safety, driving for six days to Brussels where they have been for six days trying to gain access to the UK via the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Mrs Easton, who asked her MP for help with their visas, said they had to join "long queues" and were hampered because helplines and the website were only in English.

However, she hopes they will soon be issued visas and has also begun a fundraising campaign to help them set up home "because they have lost everything due to the war".

She has found a sponsor for the family who will live in an apartment minutes from their Rugby home.

The Home Office said it had acted to increase capacity at visa application centres and 13,000 appointments a week were now available across Europe.

"This will help Ukrainians without passports, such as this family, who have now had their biometrics processed.

"Those with valid passports no longer have to attend in-person appointments before arriving in the UK."

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]