Ukrainian teenager Kate Kozyrieva has told of the changes she has seen in her war-torn home country following a four-month stay with her relatives in Rowlands Gill.
Thirteen-year-old Kate travelled with her cousin Daniil Dushaiev earlier this year to stay with his sister and her husband, who settled in the Gateshead village two years ago. Slava Shumihin flew to Poland to bring her brother Daniil to the UK in April, after their mother Anhela, signed up to the Territorial Defence Force to fight against the Russian invasion in Ukraine's capital Kyiv and she decided that it was too dangerous for 15-year-old Daniil to stay at home.
While Slava was waiting in Poland to collect her brother, Kate's parents, who live just outside Kyiv, made the made the snap decision to evacuate her after the village next to theirs was bombed. "We had to go into the basement and we heard a lot of bombs and shooting,'" said Kate. "My parents made a really quick decision and drove me for 10 hours to the border, where I met Slava and Daniil. I left so quickly I was wearing my mum's shoes, which are two sizes too big, and my brother's hoodie."
