A British driving instructor has finally been reunited with his girlfriend – a month after risking his own life amid a 3,400-mile trip to rescue her in Ukraine. Mike Farrell, 60, made the journey to help Svetlana Yanyk, 45, her son, Illia 12, and daughter, Sofiia, 11, flee the war-ravaged nation.
He drove thousands of miles in his Suzuki Swift, which he uses for driving lessons in the UK, to his girlfriend's home in the city of Khmelnytskyi, in the west of Ukraine. He stayed for two nights, before making the long journey back to the north east via Holland, the Mirror reports.
Mike, of Consett, Co Durham, encountered the conflict zone, heard air-raid sirens, and saw soldiers on the streets. His car was halted at the Dutch border and Svetlana and her two children weren’t allowed into the UK for nine days.
