Stop the Russian Bear suffocating us, say Midland Ukranians

Behind the bar is a Wolves' fixture list and even a commemorative mug with a picture of the Queen.

It is every inch an archetypal Black Country setting. But the hot topic of conversation in this social club is not Kenny Jackett's boys' latest victory but of the Russian bear 'suffocating' the Crimean peninsula and the pending threat to an independent nation.

"I was speaking to a friend of mine over there and he said it is frightening. It reminds his father of the time just after the Second World War when people were being taken off of the streets and wouldn't be seen again," says Mychailo Fedyk putting down his Ukrainian lager.

The 47-year-old Royal Mail lorry driver lives in Penn, leads Wolverhampton's Ukrainian School and is an administrator at the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Merridale Street West.

We meet in the Ukrainian Club which is opposite the church.Mick, as he is known, is married to Julie and has a son Alexander, 14, and daughter Sophia, 12. He has family in Western Ukraine in Lviv and a close friend who lives in Zaporizhia in Eastern Ukraine.

"They are very worried. Although they are going to work, but how long is the work going to be there? When the Soviet Union collapsed all the funds disappeared," he said. "There are hundreds missing. Students and people of all ages and backgrounds. My friend said that the Russian Army marched through his home city, which is hundreds of kilometres from Crimea.

"People are very worried. He says he doesn't know where it is going to stop. He said it feels like bombs could start falling"

Wolverhampton-born Stefan Vujcio, 45, worked at the British Embassy in Kiev for years. He is the son of Joseph, 90, a Ukrainian prisoner of war who was captured by the Nazis and liberated by the British.

His daughter Kathryn still lives in the Ukrainian capital where she is a student and celebrated her 16th birthday on Monday. He said: "I normally go to Ukraine three of four times a year and usually for my daughter's birthday. So, under normal circumstances, I would be out there now.

"But I am looking after my father who has a brain tumour. Since the Russians went into Ukraine I have said to Kathyrn and her mother that she should come stay with me but it is her last year in school . At the moment there is no shooting but if it was to escalate she has a British passport so can come here." Mr Vujcio is a friend of former Wolves defender Oleg Luzhny who is also believed to be in Ukraine at the moment. The toppling of President Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine has led to fears of a Russian takeover of Crimea. The crisis began in November with Mr Yanukovych's decision to pull out of an agreement for closer ties with the EU and led to violence..

Yanukovych fled to Russia and Parliament named speaker Olexander Turchynov as interim president. Russian President Putin then sent in troops to Crimea which is an autonomous republic within Ukraine where its Black Sea Fleet is based. It is seen as a violation of international law and breaches agreements over Ukraine's independence. A referendum on whether to annexe Crimea as part of Russia has been brought forward to today.

Robert McNally, 56, from Finchfield, is a non-Ukrainian but has been going to the club for 15 years. He organised a Wolves legends teams versus a side made up with Ukrainians. He said: "Obviously coming here gives you a totally new perspective on it." Andriy Duda, 51,runs the Ukrainian Club with his wife Shirley. He is calling on people to boycott Russian goods and has started his own economic sanctions in the club by withdrawing Russian vodka. Bohdan Woloshynowych, 47, a civil servant from Whitmore Reans, said: "We thought we had independence in 1991 and four presidents later we are fighting for it again." Mr Fedyk added: "If the EU and Nato do not uphold international law the threat from Putin will not stop at Crimea and Ukraine. They can not let us be suffocated by the Russian Bear."