Sky Eclat
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 17, 2012
- 57,597
- 215,272
A dad who took his family on a skiing holiday to his native Ukraine has spoken of his fears that he could be drafted into the army to fight against the Russians
Tymofii Dmytrenko, 39, went with his wife and two children for the skiing trip, but claims he has now been put on standby to fight Russian forces following the invasion eight days ago.
The IT specialist, known as Tim, said he had originally left the UK for Kyiv on February 18, intending to hit the slopes and visit his parents during a ten-day visit.
He added: “It’s still a shock to many people here. We still don’t understand that this can be happening in the middle of Europe, next to the European Union.
We have parents living in Ukraine, and basically we usually combine leisure trips with seeing family and friends.
“We came to Kyiv on February 18 and spent two days there, and then we went to a ski resort and spent a few days there.
“But everything was changing very quickly, and we decided it was probably better to fly back from Lviv, and we bought new tickets to fly on February 25."
However, Tim and his family’s plans unravelled a day before they were set to come back to Britain after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
He, like millions of refugees, then became stuck in the Western part of the country but they did manage to get take a taxi to Uzhhorod, near the border with Slovakia.
He said: “We spent roughly four hours queuing for fuel because when the taxi came to us, its tank was nearly empty. The queues were absolutely massive.
“When we came to Uzhhorod, we then waited for a bus for two hours with our kids. The estimated arrival time was 11:30 pm, but it didn’t come.”
Tymofii Dmytrenko, 39, went with his wife and two children for the skiing trip, but claims he has now been put on standby to fight Russian forces following the invasion eight days ago.
The IT specialist, known as Tim, said he had originally left the UK for Kyiv on February 18, intending to hit the slopes and visit his parents during a ten-day visit.
He added: “It’s still a shock to many people here. We still don’t understand that this can be happening in the middle of Europe, next to the European Union.
We have parents living in Ukraine, and basically we usually combine leisure trips with seeing family and friends.
“We came to Kyiv on February 18 and spent two days there, and then we went to a ski resort and spent a few days there.
“But everything was changing very quickly, and we decided it was probably better to fly back from Lviv, and we bought new tickets to fly on February 25."
However, Tim and his family’s plans unravelled a day before they were set to come back to Britain after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
He, like millions of refugees, then became stuck in the Western part of the country but they did manage to get take a taxi to Uzhhorod, near the border with Slovakia.
He said: “We spent roughly four hours queuing for fuel because when the taxi came to us, its tank was nearly empty. The queues were absolutely massive.
“When we came to Uzhhorod, we then waited for a bus for two hours with our kids. The estimated arrival time was 11:30 pm, but it didn’t come.”
