A Ukrainian mother and child are in the “safe hands” of Orkney

The welcoming smiles from a mother and her daughter safely settled in a quiet village in Orkney were in stark contrast to the fear etched on their faces fleeing their beloved homeland of Ukraine.

As the relentless bombing and shelling by the Russian invaders crept ever closer, Olena Katsy knew she had no choice but to leave and try to reach safety with her six-year-old daughter Athina.

Their best chance of escape was actually to take them closer to the enemy.

Olena, 42, who speaks no English as yet was able to communicate through her host family interpreter. She said: “It became a question of survival. Your first instinct as a mother is to protect your child so there was no question in my mind that I had to survive to ensure Athina was protected and kept alive.”

Steeling themselves for the unknown of what lay ahead, Olena and Athina fled their home in the city of Mariupol early in March. They endured week after week of constant bombardment, never knowing if the shell and bombs hurtling towards them would be the last they would hear.

“The bombing and shelling started in the outskirts of town. After the first week we left our house and moved closer to the centre to a building with a cellar. We stopped getting proper news on day two of the war as we had no electricity, no internet and no mobile phone to communicate as the mobile phone towers had been destroyed. We had no water. This was the whole town. It was just unbelievable. We did not know what was going on around us – we listened for the sounds and guessed.

“It was only by word of mouth as people moved around outside that we learned things. For example, we would be told that they had brought water wagons to the centre so we could collect fresh water, or a shop would announce they were unlocking their doors and to come and help yourselves otherwise it would go off.”

The situation was made even more challenging by the freezing temperatures – unusually cold for Ukraine in March, she said.

“It was -9 degrees – you would get up and go outside and light a fire to cook something hot once a day. All the time we could hear shells exploding, clouds of smoke and the house would shake. We could not believe that Russians were doing this to us. It was very frightening and there were moments of despair, sitting thinking ‘please not here, not now’.

“Some who went out never came back – they had been killed. No one could believe that civilians were being shelled. On the afternoon of 7 March the Russian airplane bombs started day and night, non-stop.

“We were in a house on a raised part of town and could see the destruction below, the fires burning, houses demolished, all the time coming ever closer to where we were. Next door to us took a hit and the blast blew in our window panes. We had to get out.

“The problem was the only way out of town was towards the Russian side. My nephew’s girlfriend’s family had a car, so we were lucky to get a ride and get out of town. We drove to the Russian occupied side; all the time passing others on foot while shells were falling all around us.

“We had no idea if we would survive, but to remain was pointless, it wasn’t safe. Everywhere you looked there was devastation and destruction. It was like being in a movie and all the time all we could think was ‘how can this be happening?’”

They made their way to a village and were given food and shelter in a children’s holiday camp. Here there was mobile phone coverage, so Olena called her father-in-law, who is from the Greek ethnic minority of Ukraine, and he was able to ensure they made it safely to his home.

However, the Russian military aircraft continued their bombing onslaught and a heartbroken Olena decided she could not stay knowing the horrors that were going on all around her.

“I felt empty inside. We had lost everything. Thank God no loved ones had been killed but we had nothing else.”

Olena’s mother, 77, returned to the Russian held Donetsk while she, her daughter and others made their way to Greece.

After a month or so there and trying to come to terms with what had happened, Olena still felt unsettled. She made another life-changing decision.

“I spotted a notice on a Ukrainian website. This was the offer of a home in Orkney to those fleeing Ukraine and it caught my eye because it was written in Russian.”

Olena’s host speaks fluent Russian which allows them to communicate.

The process was actually very swift thereafter – forms were filled in and their Visas were ready within a week, inspections and safeguarding checks were carried out by Orkney Islands Council on the property and host family and then it was a question of arranging the journey from Greece to Orkney.

After flights to Gatwick and Aberdeen, the host met Olena and Athina in the Granite City and they travelled north by ferry. The practicalities of a bank account, National Insurance number have also fallen into place. Olena has signed up to learn English and Athina will be taught once she starts school in the near future.

As to her host, Olena said: “We were in constant contact throughout the process, so I felt like we already knew him.

“I felt that we were in reliable hands.”

They stay in a self-contained flat at the back of the main house, so they have their own living space.

She has never been to the UK before, never mind Orkney, but is settling in incredibly well.

“I am not afraid of wind, rain or summers where the temperatures don’t get above 15 degrees C! These are minor things. Orkney has its beauty – I keep thinking I am inside a Discovery channel programme. The fields here are so different, the horizons here are so different. The people are amazing – everyone smiles, and everybody seems so kind. I’ve not met anyone in a bad mood yet!”

They have visited the Ring of Brodgar and enjoyed some nice walks, in particular at Hoxa Head and favourites so far include Orkney ice-cream and Orkney milk and butter!

Olena is very grateful for the support, shelter and safety she has been given in Orkney but she will be returning to Ukraine when possible.

“Everyone now feels more patriotic than they ever have before.”