A Ukrainian journalist who fled war-torn Kyiv has praised 'incredible' Manchester for welcoming her with flowers, hugs and free meals.
Maria Romanenko, 29, has spoken of the wonderfully 'accepting' attitude of the British public after landing in Manchester last Wednesday. Her arrival followed a 23-hour trip through the Polish border with her British boyfriend Jez Myers, 44.
Jez, a business consultant from Reddish, Stockport, split his time between Manchester and Kyiv, where Maria had been living since 2018. Both were forced to flee the capital as the Russian invasion began, with the couple fearing Maria's job would put her at extra risk.
They were among thousands of refugees stranded at a Ukrainian border post and spent 10 hours driving in a friend's Vauxhall Astra from under-fire Kyiv to Lviv in the west then on to the Shehyni border with Poland.
Speaking to the M.E.N, Jez described the horrors they faced during their gruelling trek to freedom - describing huge crushes of people at the border in temperatures of -4C. "We saw arguing and shouting and fighting," he said. "We saw people faint and we heard rumours that one person had died. I was being crushed. It was horrific."
Both now safe in Manchester, Maria told how she was given a free meal at Indian restaurant Dishoom in Manchester city centre - and of getting a hug by a waiter who recognised her from UK news coverage about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
“They offered to cover our bill because they recognised us from the media, and I just started crying again," said Maria. "To see the restaurant pay for it was very, very touching, and I was like, to the waiter: 'Can I give you a hug?'
"He said: 'Yeah, this is the least we can do'. It was very touching and unexpected."
Maria, who studied maths and Russian civilisation at the University of Leeds, was given a visa waiver document by the British Government. She was able to fly from Krakow to Manchester where she is staying with Jez.
Having now acquired a six-month visitors’ visa, Ms Romanenko detailed more of her experience in England so far. The Home Office disclosed on Monday night that just 300 visas from Ukrainians have been issued out of a total of 17,700 family scheme applications that have been started, 8,900 of which have been submitted.
Maria said: "A neighbour gave me flowers when we returned and there was another neighbour who came with his five-year-old son, they brought me a drawing his son made saying: 'Welcome home' with Ukrainian flags - it was very sweet," she said.
"On a general public level, it’s been incredible… it definitely feels like the British people are very accepting.
"I’m getting messages on Twitter… people who I’ve never met saying: 'I'm in Cambridge, let me know if you need accommodation,' or: 'I’m in Sheffield, let me know if you need anything.'
"There’s a couple of places locally that have said: ‘Pop into our cafe and we will give you a free coffee’, or: ‘Pop in and we will give you free cakes.'”
Maria has left behind family and friends in Kyiv, including her 59-year-old father who has enlisted to fight in Ukraine’s Territorial Defence Force. "It wasn’t news to me," she said. "There would be no talking him out of it because he’s very firm and decisive like that."
She described how she has not 'processed' events from nine days ago when the invasion began.
“The first eight, nine days, I didn’t even cry once – for me, it was like watching a film because everything was moving so fast… I didn’t have the time to understand that this is happening to my country, to my family, to me,” she said. "The first time I cried was a few nights ago when we were having dinner and Jez showed me a video of a neighbourhood near Kyiv being completely bombed – buildings turned into ashes. And I just started crying.
“Since then, every single small thing could trigger me into tears.”
The pair had flown to the Ukrainian capital just days before Russia invaded on Thursday, February 24.
They fled west that morning and had reached the Ukraine-Poland border by the next day thanks to a lift from a friend of Mr Myers’, who lived in the city of Lviv – 43 miles from the border.
"We started driving at 4am… there was already a queue of cars, traffic that wasn’t moving at all – a standstill,” Maria said. "When we joined the queue, at first it seemed quite a joyous moment, and people were relaxed.
"After hours of standing there, it was getting harder and harder because it’s so crowded… imagine being at the worst kind of concert, you can’t move, you have to put your head up for fresh air. We didn’t have any water or food, and there were no toilet facilities.”
Maria detailed how she excused herself from the queue and collapsed after experiencing “shivers” and feeling “really, really sick”.
“I was just like: ‘I don’t care what happens, I just need to get myself out because otherwise, I’m not sure if I will be alive,'” she explained. I just (lay) on the ground for 10 minutes, just breathing… and eventually I got up and joined the queue."
Jez explained the long-term plan will be to return to Ukraine, but complained of the “lies” from the British Government when it comes to waiving visas for incoming Ukrainians. "There are people who are fleeing from a war, and the Government is simply not doing much,” he said.
“It claims to be pushing a line of virtuosity and generosity – it is simply a lie, there is no two ways around it. They could be doing more and they should be doing more."
