Ukrainian evacuees given refuge in Wigan share their harrowing experiences of war

Sergii and Ganna Shygimaga fled their war-torn country after months of fear and deprivation in its second largest city, Kharkiv.

The first Sergii, 68, and 56-year-old Ganna, knew of the Russian invasion was when bombs began landing in their neighbourhood.

Much of the time since had been spent hiding in the cellar doubling as a bomb shelter as the basics of life – including food, water and electricity – became ever scarcer.

They eventually escaped the bloodshed and hope to begin a new life, at least for now, with Sergii’s 45-year-old daughter Svitlana Vordzhkina and her husband Ruslan, 48, who have lived in Standish with their sons aged 23 and 28 for the last 12 years.

The Shygimagas landed in the UK on May 11 but Svitlana’s brother, also called Sergii, is still in Ukraine because there is a rule that all males aged 18 to 60 are barred from leaving and must fight in defence of the nation.

But Sergii Jr’s wife Irina and their son Nazar have also managed to flee the conflict and are staying with a sponsor family elsewhere in the North West.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, and since then water and power supplies have been completely cut off, leaving civilians having to make constant critical decisions on whether to risk venturing outside to forage for life-sustaining food and water, or whether to make the extremely dangerous crossing of the border.

To do this inevitably leaves loved ones behind and those who dare risk making a run for it are told to close their eyes so that they do not see the bodies on the street and the many stationary cars at the sides of the roads full of families including children who, tragically, did not make it.

The family came to the Wigan Today and Wigan Post Weekly HQ to share their experiences and make a plea to the UK governement to help them set up a new life here in Wigan because, unlike many other refugees, they have not been given financial help.

Svitlana said: “When I first saw it on the news that the war had broken out, I was in complete shock.

"I tried to contact my family over WhatsApp and then every day since, at 5am we would message just so they could say “we are alive”.

“They couldn’t talk a lot because of phone charging (due to lack of electricity).

"They took their accumulator from the car just to charge their phone batteries to send a message or use for any light.

“The last 10 days they were there, we were struggling to get any food and water supplies sent to them because we were told is was just ‘too dangerous’ and so they had no choice but to drink their own urine.

"I stopped eating and now I have panic attacks.

"I worry every day because members of my family and friends are still there.

"I’ve been a nervous wreck but I’ve done everything I could to bring them all here because I couldn’t just leave them to die.

“Now any noise they hear scares them so we have to close the windows and doors to make it quieter.”

With Svitlana and Ruslan translating, Sergii and Ganna spoke about how war came as a total and horrific surprise.

Ganna said: “We didn’t even know there was a war.

“We were asleep in bed but were awakened at around 5am by a loud bang and explosions everywhere.

"We were waking up to our hometown being bombed.

“We were so scared.

“They hit the walls, the ground, the houses, children’s playgrounds, everywhere.”

Sergii said: “After the explosions, most of the houses were already left without any windows.

“I am an army veteran but even I was scared and in shock, I didn’t know what to do.

“We both froze in fear.”

Shooting is pretty much a constant but sometimes they were forced to go outside because they had no power or water and they needed to find food.

Svitlana said: “They were sitting in their cellar underneath the ground floor flat they lived in; they were using it as a shelter.

"Irina and Nazar also came to take shelter in their cellar with them, while my brother went to fight, because it was much safer than where they were living.

"My dad went out they other day to find food but a bomb went off very close to him and he had to run away and so he came back with nothing.”

Ruslan said: “The special weapon system that they use can shoot up to something like 40km and can fire about 40 shells at once.”

Ganna said: “We’ve weren’t able to have a wash or change our clothes and none of us could get any sleep.

"We even had to drink our own urine.”

Svitlanna and Ruslan tried their best to get their family over to safety in the UK but getting the documents processed wasn’t easy and the journey for Sergii and Ganna was highly dangerous.

Sergii said: “Someone came for us that morning at around 10am and we drove all the way to the border in an old Soviet-style car.”

Ganna said: “We grabbed our documents and my epilepsy medication and ran, leaving everything behind.

"We were told to close our eyes so we couldn’t see all the dead families in cars at the sides of the road.”

Ganna became too upset to continue with any further details about that part of the journey.

The couple had to drive over the border of Poland where they were put on a flight to Liverpool John Lennon airport.

Ruslan collected them and brought them home to Wigan to stay with the family at their house.

Svitlana spoke of the moment she first saw her father after they made it safely over as she managed to get them approved on a family scheme visa.

She said: “If you saw him the way I saw him when he first came over, I tried not to show him my emotions because he looked in a really bad way but I didn’t want to say that to him.

“Now their property is gone, demolished, fully destroyed.”

About what their thoughts are on President Vladimir Putin, Sergii and Ganna said: “We didn’t really have much of a problem with Putin before.

“Now he wants our country for his own but he won’t stop there.

"If he gets Ukraine he will come for the next European city and the next.

"The Russians think that we are all lying and making it up.

"They don’t belive there is even a war.

"We have some family and friends over there but we can’t speak to them.

"The Russian people keep telling us that everything will be okay if we just let Putin govern us and become part of Russia again.”

Svitlana said: “Russian soldiers are raping women and children and carving messages into the children’s bodies.

“But the media is controlled over there and they are all brainwashed like zombies.

"Everyone has family and friends who are Russian and we had no problems before but now we won’t even speak in that language, only our own.

"We used to use both before but we refuse to speak it now.

They destroyed all our wheat which is Ukraine’s main source of exported goods.

“The only way to stop him is if we don’t buy Russian oil because he’s using the money to fund his war.”

Svitlana is disabled and uses a wheelchair. She is suffering with osteoporosis and long-term illness which means she is unable to walk properly, is on medication and requires regular hospital visits for treatment.

The family are now struggling to cover bills and food with two more people and are asking the Goverment for some kind of help.

They are disappointed at the lack of support they have received so far.

They also want help to send emergency and medical items to people who are still in Ukraine.

She said: “Of course we are trying to feed them and house them but we don’t have enough money to spread the costs. We are struggling.

"I don’t want to say that they can’t have another piece of bread or tell them to skip a shower or wash today.

“If we apply today we have to wait weeks even months to receive any benefits to help them.

“They have visas for six months but we have applied for them to get one for three years which should come soon.”

Sergii and Ganna said: “We probably won’t ever get to go back to our country again unless the war stops but even then it is all destroyed.

"Wigan people have been very nice to us and they even say ‘sorry’ when they brush past you or bump into you which we think is funny but it’s nice.”