Ukraine conflict: 'Everybody is scared and my country is on fire'

A Ukrainian student due to return to the UK has questioned whether she will still be alive to finish her studies after the Russian invasion of her home.

Liza Chernobay has been studying in Gloucestershire for the past six years but was in Kyiv when fighting began.

The 19-year-old said she was now living in a "new reality" filled with uncertainty.

Rallies have been held in cities and towns across the West of England as the conflict continues.

Miss Chernobay has left Kyiv to stay with friends, who are continuing to "monitor the situation," before deciding what to do next.

"It all felt like a dream. And now I'm realising that this is the new reality," she said.

She was due to return to the UK to start university but is uncertain whether that will now happen.

"First of all, even though it sounds very morbid, I don't know if I'll still be alive.

"Hopefully, I will be," she added.

Olga Merinovamichael attended one of the rallies for Ukraine in Gloucestershire.

She said her mother, who is 66, had told her she had gone to a nearby petrol station to get fuel to make molotov cocktails.

"We are living in the 21st Century.

"What are the values of this world?"

Attending the rally was the "smallest thing" she said she could do for her country and the people in danger there.

"They are dying for their land, dying for freedom, for their will to live in a democratic country.

"We don't want to go back to the Soviet Union.

"Please, Mr Putin, understand that."

Oksana, who did not wish to give her surname, lives in Somerset and has relatives in Ukraine.

She said she was in regular contact with her family but communication was not always easy.

"Nobody expected this would happen to our country.

"Everybody is scared.

"My school is broken, my neighbour's house is broken, my country is on fire.

"My friends are not teaching their kids to go to school and read and learn, they are now teaching them how to put clothes on quickly and get into the bomb shelter."

"My town is close to the Russian border, it's where the front line is.

"It is impossible for them to leave," she said.

Larysa Salo, from Gloucester, has family in Ukraine and said it was hard to watch the news from a distance.

"We are really grateful for how the locals [in the UK] have responded.

"It means we are not alone, and that there is some support being provided.

"It feels like we have got some back-up."

Florist Anna Grzegorczyk, from Bristol, is collecting donations for Ukraine in her studio.

"It's melting my heart every minute.

"I have people I don't know dropping into my house with clothes," she said.

She has been collecting items such as nappies and warm clothing along with torches and sleeping bags.

"I don't blame the Russian people, I blame one man - Putin."

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