‘Everyday my husband and son wake up and think it might be their last’

A UKRAINIAN woman living in Omagh says she fears the next conversation she has with her husband and son who are still in the besieged country, will be their last.

Battling back the tears, Jurate Vydmantiene has revealed the terrifying torment which she and thousands of others are enduring, due to the ongoing conflict in her homeland.

Jurate, who is from a small town near the city of Lviv, 70km from the Polish border and 350km from  Kyiv, has had to watch the entire Russian invasion from her home in Omagh. Speaking to the Tyrone Herald through her translator Nadia, Jurate spoke of her anxiety and fears for her husband and son’s lives.

“I’ve heard everything about what is going on from the first minute of the invasion right up until now,” she said. “I have been able to keep in contact with my family through the internet and on the phone. The beginning of the invasion wasn’t as bad but now my husband and son have told me they have started shelling and that entire cities have been levelled. I am finding it very hard to sleep at night in fear of what I will hear or see when I wake up.

“My husband and son wake up everyday and fear it could be their last.”

She continued, “Last night they tried to blow up the electricity station in the city. And now the Russian army are going after ordinary people in apartment blocks and in residential streets. The houses are falling like towers made out of playing cards. People are living in bunkers underground.

“Every time I have a Skype conversation with my husband and son it is so hard, because I always think that could be our last.”

Jurate wanted her husband and son to come and live with her in Omagh, but due to her husband only having a Ukrainian passport his visa applications have been denied twice.

The policy surrounding Ukrainian citizens and refugees gaining entry to the UK has not changed and people from the under siege country still have to qualify to enter the UK on the current points-based system. Jurate was able to stay in the North due to having a Lithuanian passport.

In Ukraine, all males between the ages of 16 – 60 cannot leave and have been told they must stay and fight against the invading Russian forces.

Jurate implored those in power to “make it as easy as possible” for the Ukrainian refugees to enter the UK.

The distraught mother praised local people for their generosity and for sending aid to help the people of Ukraine. She said supplies are needed and that some people were going hungry especially in the larger cities.

She added, “It is very helpful what people are doing by donating supplies. There are people in Kyiv who need money and our army needs medicine.

“In and around the capital, people have no food and they are hungry. Children are being born in bunkers underground with very little medical supplies or facilities.”

Jurate said that she yearns for the day when she can see her husband and son again. However, she fears this could be a long time in the future if events remain the same as they are now.