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Ukraine: 'I've lived a whole life in one week'

BBC Tanya MikulovaBBC
Tanya Mikulova has been trying to help her mother and sister flee Ukraine and join her in Norfolk

A teaching assistant from Ukraine said she has "lived a whole life" in a week as her mother and sister fled the country and attempted to reach the UK.

Tanya Mikulova, who lives in King's Lynn, Norfolk, said her terrified family hid in their cellar near Kyiv following the Russian invasion.

They had escaped to Bulgaria and were "confused and frightened", she added.

Her MP, Conservative James Wild, said he had reassured Ms Mikulova the pair could apply for Visas from Friday.

Tanya Mikulova Tanya Mikulova and her sister Svitlana pictured in a snow-covered landscape before the Russian invasion of UkraineTanya Mikulova
Tanya Mikulova (left) and her sister Svitlana, who has escaped to Budapest with their mother, Olha

An extension of the government's Ukraine Family Scheme will start on Friday and will allow her mother Olha and sister Svitlana to apply to join Ms Mikulova in the UK.

"It was such a dramatic experience for them," said Ms Mikulova, describing the attack on her country.

"Planes and military vehicles were going through the village, flying over the house.

"Sirens were on and off all the time, and they used the cellar as a place to hide.

"They were extremely frightened."

'Really distressed'

By Saturday, she said, her mother and sister risked being "isolated from the whole world" as fuel supplies ran dry across the country.

"Luckily a taxi driver, their friend, had a bit of fuel left and he agreed to take them to [the city of} Bila Tserkva on Tuesday night," she added.

Tanya Mikulova Svitlana wrapped in a blanket hiding in a cellar near Kyiv, Ukraine, after the Russian invasionTanya Mikulova
Svitlana and her mother Olha had sheltered in a cellar at home every night before their escape to Bulgaria

The pair spent 24 hours in the city, 80km (49 miles) south of Kyiv, before boarding an emergency government evacuation train for women and children, which took them to Budapest.

"It was a very difficult experience - [Bila Tserkva] was under military attack," she said.

"There was shooting, there were explosions.

"I kept calling mum all night and she was really, really distressed, crying, not knowing what to do.

"I told them you stay where you are, you have to hope, you have to pray, everyone was praying for them."

Tanya Mikulova Olha Datsyk, Tanya Mikulova's mother, pictured in a snow-covered landscape before the Russian invasion of UkraineTanya Mikulova
Tanya Mikulova said her mother, Olha, was particularly terrified and emotional

Her mother and sister, while safer in Bulgaria since the beginning of the week, were struggling with the language barrier and "complicated" documents, she added.

She said North-West Norfolk MP Mr Wild had shown "amazing kindness" and she hoped the new scheme would make things easier.

Asked how she was feeling, she said: "It feels this week I have lived a whole life, it's endless.

"It's very tiring, very stressful, I've been constantly on my phone worried out my family my very good friends who went on the frontline to defend Kyiv.

"They will never accept a person like that [Russian president Vladimir Putin] ruling their country, ruling their freedom and destroying everything.

Mr Wild said: "It's an incredibly stressful situation for her.

"I'm pleased her family have got to safety and now the focus is on trying to get them to the UK as soon as possible so they can be reunited."

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