A Ukrainian medical student who fled after the hospital she worked in was shelled hopes to one day complete her training in the UK.
Trainee doctor Vasiuta Alina hid in a bunker with a cancer patient for three days after the Department of Oncology in Kharkiv was struck two weeks ago.
Speaking at the Polish border town of Korczowa, the 22-year-old - who was due to qualify next year - vowed: “I will be a doctor, even if it takes twenty years.
“We are heading to Krakow, but I cannot speak Polish.
“It is possible that one day I will come to the United Kingdom to complete my studies.
"I can speak English, so maybe it will happen.
“I will not let this war stop me from becoming a doctor. I want to help care for other Ukrainian people.”
Her workplace - part of Kharkiv National Medical University - was “damaged by rockets” and Vasiuta’s campus was “crushed” in the strike two weeks ago.
Vasiuta sheltered inside a basic bunker beneath her ward - where she was completing a placement - and recalled the “cold and scary” few days in which she feared supplies for her patients would run out.
”We started to hear the explosions and we panicked because we have children on the ward, and we are treating patients with cancer who are very sick,” she said.
“Oncology patients need special food and water and special medicine. I had to bring bread and borsch while I cared for my patient for three days.”
After the attack, patients were sent home or moved to other hospitals, and Vasiuta set off with her mum Altuchova Lilia, 43, a nurse, and nine-year-old brother Altuchov.
They said a painful goodbye to her dad Altuchov Ihoz, 43, who has remained in the country to do volunteer work for the territorial army and may later fight.
Vasiuta added: “We do not know when we will see him again.”
More than 2.8million people have now fled Ukraine because of the Russian invasion, according to the United Nations.
Masha and Yulia Linevych did not want to leave their homeland - but elderly relatives insisted after an airport 5km from their home was bombed.
The young women reluctantly set out on the 500-mile journey from Kropyvnytsky, central Ukraine, after the attack two days ago, arriving in Korczowa on Sunday night.
Yulia, 27, said: “We heard the explosions at the airport - I cannot describe how it was.
"There had already been one attack before but the second completely destroyed it.
“We so much wanted to stay in Ukraine but we knew it was super dangerous and our parents made us go.”
Her sister-in-law Masha, 18, added: “Our parents wanted to save us.
"We wanted them to come too but they cannot leave, because we have grandmothers and grandfathers who cannot travel to another country.
“They saved us - but we are still so sad to say goodbye. Every hour we are speaking to them.”
The pair are making their way to Israel, where Yulia’s husband - Masha’s brother - Anton, 30, is working as an engineer.
Yulia, travelling with her cat, Tom said: “Anton left to go there two months ago which is very lucky. He has been so worried.”
Masha, an economics student, added: “I hope to travel to the UK and all over Europe one day, when all of this is over."
