An Irishman who made a humanitarian mission to the Polish-Ukrainian border brought a fleeing family back to Ireland after hearing their grandmother plead for their safety.
Trevor Geraghty, who is originally from Gorey, Co Wexford and now lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, picked up Elizaveta Shyshorina and her children Oleksandr, 15, Kyrylo, 13, and Polina, 8, at the Ukrainian-Polish border last Thursday.
The family fled from Zaporizhzhia, where Russians have taken over the nuclear plant, and arrived in Ireland with Trevor on Monday morning.
Elizaveta's husband stayed in Ukraine to fight the Russians - but the family are hoping to travel on to to Sterling, Scotland, to stay with his mother.
Trevor said he Facetimed Elizaveta's mother-in-law from the Ukrainian-Polish border as nobody in the family speaks English - and she pleaded with him to save her grandchildren's lives.
He said: "I had a handwritten sign saying 'travelling to Scotland and Ireland' but in truth, I'd have taken anyone anywhere. They were desperate to get out.
"The family I picked up are Ukrainian and Russian speakers. They don't speak any English.
"The lady, Elizaveta, recognised the word 'Scotland' because her mother-in-law is married in Scotland.
"She called the kids' granny and then she thrusted this phone at me.
"This Ukrainian granny asked me 'will you take care of my grandchildren?' and I said 'I will of course'."
Trevor said he'd never seen anything like the fear in Ukrainian refugees' eyes as they crossed the border into Poland.
Speaking to the Irish Daily Star, he said: "It was like a biblical scene of thousands of people bringing all they had to get out.
"Nobody should see anything like that in 2022. I saw fear in peoples' eyes, the likes of which I'd never seen.
"Thousands of young woman with babies in their arms and elderly women who were immobile. It was almost all women."
Trevor said the Ukrainian family, who are in Ireland while they wait for visas to enter Scotland to be approved, had never left the country before.
He said: "This family is from a place called Zaporizhzhi which is very far away from anywhere else.
"The kids went to school on March 2 and the shelling started. Their mum ran for her life to collect the kids from school and went to the border.
"All I picked them up with was their school backpacks. These people had never left Ukraine before.
"They were shaking. Their only relative that isn't in Ukraine is this lady in Scotland.
"Their husband and dad is fighting. He had never held a gun in his life before."
Trevor said the Ukrainian family have no idea when they will travel on to Scotland or whether they'll ever see their relatives who stayed behind again.
He said: "The objective is to reunite the family. They've applied for their visa to enter the UK.
"We are trying to get a hold of the relevant authorities to advance this process to get these people to Scotland.
"They left everything behind them, not knowing if they'd ever see their dad again or go home to that country again.
"And they're considered the lucky ones because they got out.
"If Britain was still part of the EU, they'd be sat in their grandmother's home in Scotland getting lots of hugs and begin to rebuild their lives.
"We were in Gorey and they were absolutely enlightened that people were supporting them.
"Every shop has blue and yellow flags in the windows. They're overwhelmed by the attention and care that strangers have put into them."
Trevor, who works in technology, said he never imagined he'd be helping refugees flee from a war-torn country.
He said: "I was watching the news and saw that something needed to be done now.
"If you want to go far, you need a team. But if you want to go fast, you go alone.
"I said to myself that basic aid is needed now, like medical supplies aand baby food, so I used my own money to fill up my jeep with gear and hit the road.
"My plan was no more complicated than to deliver the gear and to get out.
"I have no driving experience and I just happen to have a 4x4."
