An Edinburgh woman has told how her relatives in Ukraine escaped unscathed after their home was burnt down following an electrical fire on Christmas Day.
Monika Kulaga is hoping to help her sister in-law's family out and recoup some of their losses after the devastating fire, with the family-of-six now left homeless due to the extent of the damage.
While at church on December 25, a freak electrical fault resulted in Yurii and Tetiana's home going up in flames, leaving them and their four kids, Diana, Vadym, Semen and Vira with nothing other than the clothes on their back.
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Work is now underway on their home in Plesetske, near Kyiv, to re-built the roof, although the estimated cost of making the house secure once again is much more than they can afford.
Monika, originally from Poland, moved to Edinburgh to study at Napier University five years ago and now works at the Botanical Garden. She organised a GoFundMe page over a week ago in the hope that residents in the capital would be kind enough to donate whatever they could spare to help Yurii and his family.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live about her relatives' experience, she said: "It was my sister in-law's cousin's home that burnt down so it's not the closest of relations but we're very close with my sister in-law.
"I decided to help them out because we really wanted to start a fundraising page as in Ukraine, it was not possible. It was really tough for them, they were at church and when they came back they saw their home completely burnt down.
"As far as I know, it happens often in Ukraine at the moment because the electrical infrastructure has been bombed and it causes electrical short circuits and faults. At the moment, my brother is actually going over to see the family in the next week to take them uninterruptable power supplies to help prevent fires caused by the power being switched on and off so we're obviously worried about him.
"There was nothing left at all in the house. Their children are aged between three and 15 and nothing of theirs could be recovered. At the moment they're only trying to build another roof on the house but the inside was completely destroyed.
"That is going to take some time though and then they can tackle the inside of the house. They also don't have enough money at the moment so it could take the whole winter to repair. In their village, nobody insures their home either so they're having to cover the cost of the damage."
Devastating images show the inside of Yurii and Tetiana's home completely decimated with piles of rubble covering the ground floor. Monika says that the family are currently living with family while the roof is being worked on.
Monika is a medical herbalist and met her partner who is Scottish after coming to the capital to study. Despite the obvious drawback of the unpredictable weather, she has taken to life in the city.
Speaking on life in Ukraine at the moment during the ongoing conflict with Russia, Monika added: "My sister in-law's brother is in the army and when the war broke out it was very tricky as they had to make the decision to leave or stay. They decided to stay but their youngest child was only months old.
"The situation was awful, with people trying to flee the country. Luckily, where they live is not as badly affected as the centre of the capital but they have definitely had issues with the energy being shut off. For a while they weren't able to speak to family members because there was no electricity.
"They were forced to just use candles and torches for light and were given jars of food in case they couldn't cook in their home. When the war broke out we were also nervous about what could happen with Poland, my home country.
"We were really scared back then so I can't even begin to imagine the fear that my sister in-law's family are constantly living in."
To donate to Monika's fundraiser and help re-build the family home of Yurri and Tetiana, you can visit the page here.
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