Ukrainian sisters reunited in Wolverhampton after family flee Kyiv in a car

Katarina Kalinina escaped war-torn Kyiv, in Ukraine, after her sister offered her safe refuge at her home in Bilston.

She filled her car up with her most cherished belongings and her husband and three children made the arduous journey to safety.

Katarina told the Express and Star: "My father would not come with us, he has health problems and did not want to leave his dog. My mother decided to stay with him despite them separating 10 years ago.

"I phone them every day and am so worried about their safety because it is really dangerous in Kyiv.

"It took for four days to get to the Hungarian border but it was very dangerous. We put everything in a car and we did not know if we would make it to the border."

She added: "It is impossible to describe the heartache of leaving a life behind, my husband had spent years building up businesses and had to leave all that behind.

"It breaks my heart thinking about what happened. We waited 10 days before leaving but could not take any more."

When the war started, Katarina's sister Liza Cherney, who has lived in Wolverhampton for 14 years, told her sister she would move in with her boyfriend so they could have the flat.

Liza said: "I felt helpless, I still do when I watch the news about Ukraine, my parents are still there.

"Ukraine is only a few hours flight away but it is a different world, seeing the videos of people being killed breaks my heart."

Katarina, 32, was overjoyed being reunited with her older sister Liza, 39.

She said: "It was so wonderful seeing my sister. Being in Wolverhampton is like being in a dream because it was a nightmare in Kyiv, but my heart is still in Ukraine.

"My children were scared because of the bombs. I had to tell them everything would be OK but I didn't know whether we would be OK, I did not want to think about death.

Now we are in Wolverhampton they can be children again. We are trying to make it as normal as possible for the children, they enjoyed going to the funfair the other day.”

She added: "The next thing we have to do is to get the children into a local school so they can mix with other children, which is what they need."

Liza explained the family has a mountain of paperwork to fill out so they can begin their new lives in Wolverhampton.

She said: "Because we applied for a family visa they are not entitled to any accommodation. Strangers who take people in get money, but we do not. We could do with an income at the moment because they are not earning anything.

"They have no idea how long they will be here, the war will have to end before they can even think about going back. But if it does end and Putin is still in power then how can we trust him?

“We all just have to watch from here and wait.”