A Ukrainian mum who fled the Russian invasion of her country was worried she was being scammed as life in the UK is 'too good to be true'.
Liliya Onopa moved into a bungalow created for her and her six children by a small community in Chepstow, Wales, with her three youngest children settling in well at the nearby St Mary's RC Primary School. Liliya, speaking to WalesOnline through a translator as she continues learning English, could not believe the luxuries of life in Britain and her new home in Wales.
“There are even scissors for manicures,” Liliya told WalesOnline. The community have worked tirelessly to ensure the house met the standards required to house Liliya and her boys.
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She said: "There were even slippers for us all. It’s those little things. When we came here for the first night there was a hot meal for the children."
Her translator, Julia Dubin, said: “She kept asking: ‘Why? Is it a scam? I don’t understand why people are doing so much for us.’ But I keep saying to her that it’s different here.
"The people here want to help each other and they are desperate to help her. I tell her that there doesn’t have to be a ‘why’.”
Liliya knew she needed to do what she could to protect her children when Russian forces approached their home town in Mar'ivka, in the centre of Ukraine, after already losing two of her children, her daughter, Vladochka, at 13-years-old and four-year-old daughter Liza in a house fire.
She took to Facebook to track down the creators of the Chepstow refugee bungalow after reading stories about their efforts online, the Mirror reports.
This is how she met the organisers of the project and the governors of the local school, Phil Cotterell and Francis Tindall. As soon as she spoke to Phil she knew she had to try and get to Chepstow with her family.
“We knew how dangerous the journey would be,” she said.
"Russian aggressors were bombing every route because they knew people were trying to escape. We had planned to go by Odesa but the route there was so devastated it was too much. We then planned to go by Lviv but then that was targeted.
“Many people were coming to us and offering transport but would then say they no longer wanted to because it was too dangerous. Many were popping up like mushrooms trying to take as much money as they could.
“Eventually we got to Bucharest, writing to Phil and Louise (Pavia - another organiser) every 20 minutes to tell them we were safe. Explosions in Ukraine were going off all around us.
"My kids are so scared that when we went to see a band this week and there were fireworks they ran away and started panicking that it was happening again.”
Liliya explained that, before the war, life was peaceful in Ukraine - with the locals living in harmony among Russian and Armenian people.
She said: "Before the war started we lived peacefully in our village. The people of Ukraine are peaceful people and we lived well among Russian and Armenian people too.
"I speak fluent Russian and I never felt any problems there until now. We were building our lives, we had a lovely garden, my son was going to dentistry school. We were looking forward.
"Now I speak to my friends there and they are fighting in Mariupol. People in [Russian] occupied territories don’t have access to clean water, food or medication.
"Just 20km from my village, war is raging. A boy in my village, just 23, was buried this week due to fighting Russian forces. They are frightened every day that Russia will announce war on neighbouring countries supporting Ukraine too."
On Friday Liliya and her boys walked through the school gates being cheered on by pupils at the school who performed a guard of honour to officially welcome them. Head teacher Rosie Cerqua said the children had "been like little celebrities" since their arrival at Chepstow.
They were formally presented with the keys to their new home, with mum Liliya then addressing the community that worked so hard to get her family there.
“I have been scared, but not as such scared for my life but for the lives of my children,” she said.
“I am so, so grateful to every single person who has made this all possible, and for bringing us from our home to Chepstow safely. We had issues with our visas which were solved and we are so grateful that we are now able to feel safe again.
“When I first saw the school where my kids would go and when I visited Saturday service in the church everything hit home and I felt so overwhelmed. I have no words to describe how I feel and how grateful I am. I feel so overwhelmed that thanks to all of you we can finally feel safe again in this beautiful community.”
Details of the family’s difficulties with the UK visa system and delays can be found here.
Many people, like Phil, have complained that the system is too slow with unnecessary obstacles causing delays for Ukrainian families to be granted visas.
As of May 17, 107,400 Ukrainian visas have been issued out of 128,100 applications. Of the 6.3 million refugees who have fled the Ukraine, more than three million of them are now in Poland, with Romania taking in almost a million refugees and Hungary taking in more than 600,000.
Germany has said, as of May 14, it had taken in more than 700,000 Ukrainian refugees.
Phil said getting Liliya to Chepstow had been challenging “with many twists and turns along the journey”.
He added: “But that journey has seen unbelievable kindness and generosity from so many.”
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