A Manchester man is being forced to flee Ukraine after risking his life to visit his girlfriend for a holiday.
Waking up in Kyiv yesterday (February 24) the couple were stunned to learn that the Russian invasion of the country had begun and have been frantically trying to get home ever since.
Jez Myers, 44, had half expected this to happen and had initially decided it was not safe to travel to Ukraine due to the looming threat of a Russian invasion.
Instead, he met up with his partner, Maria Romanenko in Gdansk, Poland where they spent nine days before deciding to risk a return to Ukraine reports Manchester Evening News.
"We woke up to loads of message and lots of news," explained Jez, who works as a business consultant.
"We knew absolutely nothing about anything that had gone on through the night. It was a case of 'right, let's go'.
"We already had everything packed and contingency plans in place."
The couple set out for Lviv, near to Ukraine's border with Poland, at about 10am but were caught up in the huge queues of traffic as thousands of people desperately attempted to flee Kyiv.
"People were scared," said Jez. "There were long queues at petrol stations, supermarkets and cash machines."
They eventually arrived in Lviv last night after a gruelling ten-hour drive west and plan to make it into Poland in the morning.
Jez hopes to return home to Manchester, but says he has "no option" but to remain with Maria.
She applied for a UK visitor visa three weeks ago, but is yet to hear back from the Home Office.
Due to her job as a journalist, the couple fear she could be targeted by Putin's regime.
Yet Maria remains torn about having to leave her family behind.
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"I've been through a whole rollercoaster of emotions," she said. "I didn't expect this. I know there many warnings, but I did not expect things to escalate so quickly.
"I have never seen scenes like this in my home country."
Jez added: "It's been very stressful. We don't know what to do. We know we need to get to the border, but we don't know what support is available.
"It's very tough for us."
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