Ukrainian people in North West England have said the Russian attack on their homeland has left them “very angry” and desperately worried about relatives.
Russia has launched a major assault on Ukraine, firing missiles on cities and military targets.
Rochdale’s Sofia-Victoria Forbes said she felt “helpless”, while Manchester’s Olga Asma said she was “in shock”.
Liverpool mayor Joanne Anderson said the Ukrainian flag had been raised at the town hall as a “symbolic gesture”.
The invasion by land, air and sea began after a pre-dawn TV address where Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that Ukraine’s military lay down its arms.
Initial reports of casualties included Ukrainian civilians and soldiers, and Russian troops.
Ms Forbes, who left the country to return to Rochdale on 14 February following government advice, said her mother’s family had remained in Ukraine.
The 18-year-old student said she felt “helpless being home and watching everything happening” and had not been able to contact her grandmother, aunts and uncles.
She said her friends in the country had posted videos of aerial bombings online, adding: “It is so scary watching the places I know being destroyed.”
Ms Asma, who lives in Ardwick and has been in Manchester for 18 years, told BBC North West Tonight she was “just in shock”.
She said she and her mother, who was visiting from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv when the invasion started, had “rung everyone this morning and asked how they were”.
However, she added that for all her concerns, she mostly felt “very angry” about what had happened.
“I think the crying period has finished for me,” she said.
Her sentiments were echoed by Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko, whose Ukrainian national teammates are due to face Scotland in a World Cup Qualifying play-off in March.
In an Instagram post, the 25-year-old defender said Ukraine “belongs to Ukrainians” and the country “would not give up”.
- The Brits trying to get family out of Ukraine
- Kyiv residents seek shelter as blasts hit
- What we know about the invasion
Everton’s Vitaliy Mykolenko, who plays alongside Zinchenko for Ukraine, tweeted footage of what he said was an attack by Russia on his country.
Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson vowed to support the defender’s fellow Ukrainians who have made the city their home.
She said the Russian invasion was “a very dark day, which could easily become a defining one of the 21st Century” and that the Ukrainian flag was being flown at the town hall as a “symbolic gesture of solidarity”.
Yaroslaw Tymchyshyn, the chairman of the Bolton branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, said he was “distraught”.
“Many, many years ago, we demonstrated outside the Russian Embassy when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union to get the Russians out,” the 68-year-old said.
“We’re now having to do this again. I never ever suspected in my lifetime… that this would happen again,” he said.
He said he had been in the country in 1991, “when Ukraine was declared independent [and] when that news filtered through it was tears of joy”.
“This morning, it is tears of desperation,” he said.
Mr Tymchyshyn said he had tried to contact his cousin in Ukraine, but she was not online “and I fear for the worst”.
“I just do not know what is going to happen,” he added.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK “cannot and will not just look away” at Russia’s “hideous and barbaric” attack on Ukraine and, with allies, will launch a “massive package” of sanctions to “hobble” Russia’s economy.
In a pre-recorded TV statement, he said Ukraine was “not some faraway country of which we know little”.
“We have Ukrainian friends in this country, neighbours, co-workers,” he added.
“Ukraine is a country that, for decades, has enjoyed freedom and democracy and the right to choose its own destiny.”
Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk
Add Comment