A Ukrainian mum and her 10-year-old daughter have been given sanctuary in Fife after a harrowing ordeal fleeing the war-torn country.
Oksana Slokvenko and daughter, Sofiia, became two of the first Ukrainian refugees to touch down in Scotland after arriving in Edinburgh just before 7.30pm on Monday.
Safe at last from the terrors of war following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly three weeks ago, the pair will now settle in Dalgety Bay while conflict continues to rage on.
The pair had travelled for 12 days from their home town of Cherkasy near Kyiv to the capital before an emotional reunion at Edinburgh Airport with grandparents Larysa and Oleksiy Mishchenko.
2,000 mile journey to safety
Mrs Slokvenko, 39, and her daughter decided to flee the Russian advance on March 4, heading first to Warsaw in Poland and then Kraków before finally gaining safe passage to Scotland.
As first reported in The Daily Mail, their 2,000 mile journey included a 12-hour walk over the border at Krakovets where they were placed in long queues with other women, children and elderly people amid freezing temperatures.
Accompanying the pair on the last leg of their trek to safety was sister, Alice, who travelled from her London home to Poland to assist in securing a visa.
Following the emotional reunion Mrs Slokvenko said she was “relieved” to finally be with her family in Scotland, whist Sofiia said she now feels “safe”.
However their thoughts are now with husband and father, Oleg, who returned to join the territorial army after dropping his family at the border.
Emotional reunion
“It is difficult to leave everybody and it’s hard,” said Mrs Slokvenko.
“During our border crossing several men were standing with their family but when they got to the Ukraine border they need to come back, so they just put things of their family and go to Kyiv to fight for peace.
“Small children, daughters, they are just looking at their dads saying ‘dad I love you’ but they are separated’.
“It’s very hard to see what is happening in our country.
“It’s very hard to see people who [are] studying or want to work who need to — hour after hour — run to the shelters to hide.
“It’s something like a nightmare, it feels like you will open your eyes and it will be OK.
“But, it’s not.”
She said there were large queues to get into villages, towns and cities with people fleeing their homes forced to show ID to gain access with thousands heading to Lviv.
The emotional moment Oksana Slokvenko & her young daughter are reunited with their Ukrainian parents in Scotland, after fleeing their home of Cherkasy almost 2 weeks ago. Her sister Alice flew to Poland to help with their visa but says the process is still “too slow” @STVNews pic.twitter.com/LGltrUe6PI
— Laura Alderman (@LauraAlderman_) March 15, 2022
She said: “They want to go somewhere to hide their children, they are ready to go by foot or bus, whatever to hide their children from this war.
‘I would never imagine in the 21st Century we would see this awful tragedy on earth.
“It’s a nightmare.”
Mrs Slokvenko said she was anxious about those who were staying behind saying ‘we just don’t know’.
Husband stayed in Ukraine
As well as her husband, her cousins, uncles and 81-year-old grandmother are still in Ukraine.
The day after their visa came through, Oksana and Sofiia boarded a plane with Alice from Kraków – with the sisters enjoying a glass of champagne on the way to Scotland.
“My heart has been breaking the last few weeks, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep,” said Alice.
“However, we still have family there.
“Our gran is there, our aunt is there, our relatives are there, our friends are there.
“The war isn’t over.”
