It’s great! Ellina just loves to play

TWIRLING and laughing in an English country garden, Ellina and her mother are safe at last from Vladimir Putin’s bombs.

Iryna Chekmarova fled Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, after three horrific nights under bombardment in February.

Mrs Chekmarova and her seven-year-old daughter are staying with a kindhearted couple in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, but had to leave behind husband Nikolay.

The 35-year-old said: ‘We were awoken by explosions and the sounds of fighter jets. We were very scared and didn’t sleep for three days at all.

‘Most of my friends left Ukraine. I chose the UK, because I learnt English at school.’ A baker in Ukraine, she has now found a job in a local restaurant.

And thanks to Mail Force and the generosity of Mail readers, Ellina is looking forward to attending a summer camp close to her new home.

Mrs Chekmarova said: ‘It will be very good for her. She loves to play.

‘We have a really good and nice family here, Alice and Len. They found us on Facebook and wrote to me. We love this family.

‘We feel support from a lot of British people. But it’s really difficult to be without Nikolay. We are missing him so much.’ She added: ‘Russia separated a lot of Ukrainian families. But now the main thing is that our child is safe.’