Two Ukrainian sisters have been reunited in Ayrshire after fearing they’d never see each other again.
Liudmyla Proniakina, 46, was cowering in terror in an oxygen-starved underground bunker with her five-year-old daughter Margo just four weeks ago.
Now she is 2,234 miles away from the war zone after being given refuge with her sister Olga Stewart (Milchenko) in Ayr.
The sisters finally got to hug each other in a tearful family reunion at Glasgow Airport last week.
Dressmaker Olga, 51, who runs Olga’s Alterations in the town’s Newmarket Street, has told of her relief while for Liudmyla, the moment provided the end to a painful ordeal which saw her daughter and husband, Krill, 42, narrowly escape devastating attacks.
An elated Olga told Ayrshire Live: “I am still shaking with excitement.
“I thought I was never going to see my sister again. It is a miracle.”
A shattered Liudmyla said: “It was very tearful seeing Olga again, there was a lot of hugging and a lot of relief as well to finally be safe with family."
Liudmyla has told how she has survived the worst experience of her life to make it to the UK after rocket attacks forced her family out of their Kyiv home.
The family had to leave their apartment which is on the 25th floor of a high-rise flat.
The trio hid in the basement car park along with hundreds of neighbours with many sleeping in their cars in sub-zero temperatures.
Taking a massive gamble, they fled to the village of Peremoha where they found shelter in a tiny two-metre high bunker underneath a farmhouse, crammed in between stacks of potatoes and had to share a bucket under the stairs as their toilet.
Liudmyla said: “I am still walking hunched over from spending so much time in the shelter.
“It was very difficult to breathe – you would go outside at your own risk once the shooting had stopped at night, that was the only time you could get air.
“My daughter was always afraid to leave the basement because she could hear rockets going off.
“We feared that if something happened to the building above us, our child would be trapped in rubble and it would have been impossible to escape."
The family pulled off a daring escape to cross the border, cutting through forests, and dodged a Russian onslaught on a supposedly safe route out of Ukraine by a matter of hours – with a refugee bus carrying women and children attacked.
Liudmyla and Margo lay on the car floor as they made it through narrow roads with makeshift bridges scrambled together to pass over water.
Liudmyla added: “I was having to wipe the sweat from my husband's face as he drove us. There was danger everywhere.
“The fear of the army and shooting was one thing but the thought of losing your child was unbearable.”
Olga is worried that her sister and niece are both mentally scarred by their harrowing experiences.
Olga added: “I’ve had to tell Margo there is no shooting in Scotland.
“It is very hard. I am worried about the long-term effects of what has happened to them."
Margo has started school at Doonfoot Primary with Liudmyla is hoping to continue her work as a hairdresser.
Gifts have poured in from kind-hearted residents for the pair.
Krill and 28-year-old son Vlad have stayed back in Ukraine and are volunteering to help other refugees escape.
Liudmyla added: “I am grateful to everyone and every country who helped, people have been very kind to us.”
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