A Ukrainian mum has revealed the horror of fleeing their bomb-hit city and having to set up a new life without her husband in Swansea. Mariia Tur, 32, feared for her five-year-son Daniel’s life if she remained in Ukraine and was moved to tears as she remembered saying goodbye to her husband, Yuri, 35, who she hasn’t seen in almost three months.
She struggled to find the words to say how she felt. All she could muster was that “it was a big shock.”
Mariia, who is now with a host family in Penllergaer, told how they suffered sleepless nights in the country invaded by Russia, and had to go to bed in their clothes ready for the moment that the sirens would go off. Bombs have been dropped on Lviv, directly on the flat behind her home. You can get more Swansea news and other story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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She said: “It was very scary. I would be scared at first for my child and I would be very scared in the evening. I would be too scared to go to sleep because at 4am and 5am we would have the siren going off. I would always have to sleep with my clothes on rather than sleep in pyjamas. If you are at home you need to not stay near the windows in the house.” She added: “There would be 12 people hiding in the storage facility.”
Mariia, whose job involved offering social media promotion services and who also sold educational toys on Instagram and TikTok, said she left Ukraine on March 1 as it was so terrifying. “My family said I needed to go with Daniel,” she said. "I haven’t seen my husband for three months.”
She was driven to the border by husband Yuri. Mother and son then left the country, leaving Yuri behind. She said it had been a challenge explaining to her young son what was happening in Ukraine. “I told him that this is a conflict between Russia and Ukraine. I tell him the light stories - he did not understand why there were so many alarms in Ukraine or why we were going to shelters or why we were going from Ukraine to Poland. In this moment I want to cry and go back to Ukraine." You can read about the Ukrainian family who were split up due to a visa row here.
The mum and her son had to wait in Krakow in Poland from April 1 to April 25 and stayed with friends of her mother before listening to Daniel’s grandfather’s advice to head to Britain.
She said that in Ukraine she was self-employed and life was easier before Putin’s forces invaded. “I used to work for myself and I had a good life and salary in Ukraine and had a car. It is good when you are born in the UK and you have family and friends here but when you are alone here it is difficult.” You can read more stories about Swansea here.
Childminder Ruth James, 37, and her husband Adam Gibbons, 36, who have three sons, wanted to do something as they watched the ongoing footage of the conflict, and are now hosting Mariia. “We were watching the news and saw the scenes of children being torn from their parents," said Ruth. “If the shoe was on the other foot we would want our children to be looked after as a family. My husband would just want to know that we were being looked after and were safe. We wanted to do our bit and offer a bit of sanctuary. We have three children, so Daniel automatically had people to play with."
Ruth, who is mum to Jacob, 13, Matthew, 11, and George, 2, said Mariia was struggling to get used to the rain but was glad to be living in safety in Penllergaer. “Mariia asked if the Welsh weather is normal. Mariia loves Penllergaer and both of them adore the beaches.” She said things had been going well so far. “We are used to a busy household. We are a child-friendly house so we are not too panicked that things will get jumped on and things are getting knocked over. A lot of people I am reading about have seen their relationship break down with the families they are hosting. I know they are called guests but they are people living with you.”
She added: “When you look at Mariupol and Kyiv, you think what are people going home to. Mariia’s husband has been helping to get people from Mariupol to Lviv but there’s no petrol to buy, you cannot buy salt in Ukraine.”
People in the community have been rallying around the family and have been donating items including vouchers for clothing and toys.
Mariia said it was hard to know what the future would hold. She said: “I do not know if I will stay living in the UK, Ukraine or Turkey - I do not know what the future will be. We have a very bad neighbour (Russia) - I do not know if the conflict will be finished or if in two or three years there will be another war.”
