Ukrainian interpreter tells of escape from war-torn home

"It was not a hard decision to make when you see armed vehicles coming into the place where you live," says Olena Korniienko, who left Kyiv with her husband Pavlo and their three children, aged from 18 months to 17, in February last year as Russia invaded Ukraine.

"My cousin called me and told me 'you have to leave Kyiv', and we initially went to stay with her in the Carpathian region.

"My husband then made the decision that he had to go back to do what he could to assist (in the war), but a friend in the army told him 'you have to go back to your family – we don't need you right now.

Pavlo Korniienko with his three-year-old daughter, Maria.

"It was only then that I read that families who had three children could leave Ukraine with their husbands." As her eldest was still 17, the family qualified.

"We decided to go to Hungary and it was there that I read that the UK was opening its borders to Ukrainians, and I thought, for the kids, it would be a great opportunity to have a good education.

"We were always thinking of doing the best for our children and making decisions to make their lives better. We were not thinking about our own lives."

One of the first challenges Olena and her family faced was finding a home in the UK with a family willing to sponsor a large family. Happily, they were sponsored by John and Sarah Boland in Ludlow. "They are just wonderful," says Olena, "a beautiful family."

Nine months, however, is a long time as Olena recognises. "Living with five guests in your house is a bit difficult for everyone. We are used to having our own space, and we started thinking about finding somewhere but to rent, it was just impossible, the prices are so high. It's just impossible for us.

They stayed with the Bolands until March this year, when they moved into a house offered to them by Kim Holroyd, who was living in Malvern – "Kim has been so generous to us," says Olena. The family is now waiting to move into social housing. "Knowing that we can apply for a house. It's like a miracle for us."

All three children – Trofim, 18, Malvina, 13 and Maria, who is three – are settled at school and nursery, and Olena works for the Diocese of Hereford as an interpreter, proposed by Erica Gardner, when the diocese was looking for people to work with Ukrainians moving to the area. "Erica has been wonderful, always ready to answer any of our questions."

Pavlo Korniienko with his wife Olena and their three-year-old daughter, Maria.

Although Olena, Pavlo and their children have settled in the UK, other members of the family remain in Ukraine.

"I have a father and a sister and her husband and two kids. My father is in Kyiv and I am always thinking that I should try to bring him here, because he's elderly and it's not safe for him to stay there. Every day I am thinking about that and calling him and trying to figure out how to do that. He would love to come. When the war started he moved to the Carpathian mountains, where my sister lives with her family, but decided to come back to Kyiv, and now he's living alone and feeling that no one needs him. This is the thing I worry about. I think we should first find him a sponsor – without that we cannot get him a visa.

"My husband thinks about going home every day because his parents are there and his sister. They have the opportunity to call and make video calls but it's not the same thing at all,"

While Olena is an accomplished English speaker, her husband is not, but that didn't stop him getting a job almost immediately with Frank Matthews. "He did a bit at school," says Olena, "but stopped when we got married, saying "I have my personal interpreter"

He is studying English now though, because without it, it is impossible for him to find work as an engineer/electrician. He has started a course in engineering/electrics and would, says Olena, "already have permission to work if he could take the exams in Ukrainian or Russian."

Olena Korniienko with her three-year-old daughter, Maria.

Malvina will be going into Year 9 in September and says Olena, "we are very proud because she received an award in art and performing arts and wrote the opening pages of a novel."

The children have all picked up English quickly: "In Ukraine they had English lessons, so it was much easier for them.We do keep speaking Ukrainian and Russian at home.

Olena says she has received nothing but support since moving to Ludlow, with the exception of one isolated incident, when a man heard her speaking and became a bit aggressive. "It was just a little incident. Otherwise everything is just perfect. We never thought that people would help strangers in their own homes."