A woman is terrified for the safety of her sick mum as she is forced to sleep in a towerblock basement in Ukraine.
Ella Hope moved to Wirral in 1996 to be with her husband and has lived in Wallasey ever since.
The 54-year-old said she "wants to cry" every moment as she watches Russia bombard her homeland and worries for her mum, Lena, 73.
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Ella told the ECHO: "I haven't seen my mum for nearly three years because of lockdown. We would talk at least four times a week and in December she told me she was diagnosed with leukemia.
"I knew then I just had to see her, I had to go and be with her to help her."
Ella ran Hot Lips Cosmetics in the Liscard Cherry Tree Centre, but was forced to shut down two months ago due to the stresses of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In February, Putin's forces began their invasion of Ukraine, Ella said: "I found out when my friend rang me and told me Russia had started bombing, I immediately rang my mum."
Ella said her mum has no immediate family in their hometown of Odesa and her mum has been reporting back to her three to four times a day.
She said: "My mum has told me a lot of the young woman and children left for the borders and the younger men went off to fight.
"Now in her flats there are mainly older people left. Everytime they hear some bad news they go to the basement of the building.
"There is not enough room for them to lie down so they sleep in chairs. Mum is ill, so she is very scared and uncomfortable."
Ella said she needs help from inside Ukraine to get her mum to the border of Moldova so that she can meet her.
She said: "It has already been such a difficult time for me, with my business closing, I have some savings but I am finding it hard to get enough together to pay for flights to Romania, where I can wait for her, and two flights back to the UK. But I need to get there, I will fly anywhere to reach her.
"I am trying hard to get someone to take her to the border but people are scared to go out on the roads, they think Russia will target Odesa next.
"But I think getting her to the border is her best chance of survival."
Former customers of Ella have been sending her messages of support, which she says have helped her, she added: "The support from people has been overwhelming, I am so grateful."
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