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Kateryna Halenda managed to leave Ukraine, as her children were horrified by what was happening in the country.
Leaving a war-torn country may seem like an easy decision, but husband Oleh had to persuade his wife to leave with their two young children, as she did not want to leave him behind, according to BBC.
Kateryna now knows that she and her children are safe, but she has her mind on her husband.
The 32-year-old teacher and her two sons Oleksandr, nine, and Artem, four, are three of the more than five million refugees who have fled Ukraine while worried about the families they have left behind.
Kateryna with one of the children
But unlike many of the 60,000 Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in the UK since Russia invaded Ukraine, Kateryna and her sons have not been accepted by polite families who want to help.
They are one of 60 families who are in a unique Ukrainian community thousands of miles away from their homeland in a specialized camp, where they have been offered a place to stay, food, education and advice, in the Welsh sanctuary.
“It’s like a big family here, we are all taking care of each otherSaid Kateryna.
“We were amazed when we came here. They are now completely happy, playing with other children every day and going to school. And they feel safe here, that’s important. “
Kateryna is one of 222 Ukrainian refugees in the camp run by the Welsh youth organization Urdd Gobaith Cymru and supported by the Welsh government, where more than 100 displaced children can now play and learn safely.
However, while their parents and grandparents enjoy this refuge from the war, home and family are never far from their thoughts and this explains why they did not leave Ukraine sooner.
““We waited 100 days because at first we did not want to leave, but my husband forced us to leave.”said Kateryna.
“It was not safe. We were so often in our basement because of those air raid sirens all the time, including the night when I had to wake my kids. “But we decided to leave just to find a safe place for my children.”
Olena with her two children
Kateryna did not know Olena Andrshchuk until they arrived in central Wales two weeks ago.
But now mothers have become friends and support each other with their husbands who are still in Ukraine.
“There were bombings nearby the night we left.”
Olena’s husband, Pavlo, also forced his wife to leave their home in Kiev for the safety of her and their two children.
“It’s not safe yet.” said the 36-year-old writer.
“The day we were leaving, very close to where we live, I woke up in the middle of the night because of the really big bombings. “It was not yet an easy decision to leave because I had to leave my city, my husband, everything I had, but I left for my children.”
“I have an app on my phone and I still get alarms about sirens in Ukraine and they are quite common.” said Kateryna, whose husband Oleh is a volunteer in the town where they lived, Ternopil, in western Ukraine.
“So I know when to call my husband to ask how he is.”
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