A UKRAINIAN woman living in Merseyside said it is “heartbreaking” not to be able to offer a home to the children of family friends fleeing her home country.
Nataliya Tarnavska, 24, who moved to the UK with her mother about 10 years ago, is fundraising to try and help support those still in Ukraine.
She said her godmother was staying in the war-torn country but wanted to send her 11-year-old son somewhere safer.
The family was facing an anxious wait for news of the boy, who was heading to Germany with his teacher and the 12-year-old daughter of another friend.
She said: “My godmother wanted my mum to look after her son but under British law we are not allowed to bring him here.
“Everyone is afraid because there are many cases of (Russian forces) shooting civilians as they leave and we are still waiting for news.
“My godmother is like a second mother to me and knowing my mum can’t help her is heartbreaking. There are no words to describe it.”
Miss Tarnavska, an analytical chemist for Knowsley-based Algal Omega 3 in Prescot, said her mother was planning to fly out to Germany to help look after the children there once they arrived.
She said visa rules would allow her 72-year-old grandmother to come and stay at their home in Upton, Wirral, but she was refusing to leave her home in Cherkasy, which is about three hours from Kyiv.
She said: “She doesn’t want to leave her house. She refuses to leave.
“We’re getting in contact with her all the time, apart from when there’s an air siren and they go completely on lockdown.
“When that happens, she goes into a cellar, underground, with her friend who lives about five minutes away.
“She’s very strong-willed. She’s probably more positive than we are. She’s refusing to leave even though we have had a family visa for five years.
“She is obviously devastated and is saying it is hard – but she is managing.”
Miss Tarnavska, whose cousin is serving in Ukraine’s air force, said there were problems with food and fuel supplies for those still in Ukraine.
She set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the British Red Cross and said she had received a “huge amount of support”.
She said: “I know the British Red Cross has been helping in Ukraine since 2014.
“It helps me to be doing something and telling others about my story.
“It is hard. At the weekend, I just couldn’t look at the media. The first week I just got addicted to looking at what was happening and emotionally it is just breaking. It tears you apart.”
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