A MOTHER and daughter from Ukraine have arrived in Worcester after leaving the besieged city of Dnipro more than a week ago.

Yuliia and Ania Mosina flew into the UK on Friday (April 8) having spent a week in a refugee centre in Warsaw.

They are now staying in the spare room of a Worcester couple and say they are “so thankful” for the kindness they’ve been shown in the city.

“It was a very difficult decision to leave Dnipro,” said Mrs Mosina. “But it was becoming very dangerous there.”

Mrs Mosina left Dnipro on a free train for people evacuating the city, taking her 13-year-old daughter Ania with her but making the heartbreaking decision to leave her husband behind as he helps to build bomb shelters in his parents’ home town.

“On the train, it was forbidden to use our phones and there were no lights inside, so we went to sleep as soon as it went dark,” said Mrs Mosina.

“In some areas where it’s dangerous to go, the train didn’t have any lights on at all, even at the front.

Worcester News: Yuliia and Ania spent a week in this refugee centre in WarsawYuliia and Ania spent a week in this refugee centre in Warsaw

“It took 20 hours to get to Lviv and then we got a bus arranged by volunteers to Warsaw, where we spent a week in a refugee centre.

“I felt very depressed and cried a lot - it was not very nice. The decision to leave home was very hard. I couldn’t believe leaving would be so hard.”

'The war has changed our lives'

Mrs Mosina describes the last “peace day” in Ukraine as being an ordinary one in which she went to work then shopping.

“I was shocked the next morning when my husband told me the war had started - and it has changed our lives.”

Dnipro has been subjected to multiple attacks since then and saw its airport destroyed by Russian missiles at the weekend.

Mrs Mosina says she had no intention of leaving Ukraine at first as she expected the war would end, but eventually accepted an offer of help from friend Alex Koval, a Ukrainian who already lives in Worcester.

“Alex found people for us to stay with. And Janice and Michael are so lovely - they have given us a room, share their meals with us and spend their free time with us,” she said.

“One of our neighbours, Simon, even brought Ania a tablet so she could study. But I want to go home, of course. I miss it very much.”