Our baby’s due but we’ll flee if Russia invades
Brits ready to quit Ukraine
THOUSANDS of Brits are preparing to flee Ukraine amid fears Russia will invade within days.
Many are afraid of being stranded in the capital Kyiv if Kremlin tanks imposed a stranglehold on the city.
It is believed there are up to 6,000 British expats in Ukraine.
Most plan to flee by plane but if the airport is blitzed they will drive west towards Poland to escape the fighting.
Ken Stewart, 54, originally from Edinburgh, faces a particularly nail-biting few days as his Ukrainian wife Tetiana, 36, is heavily pregnant.
She is due soon and is booked in to recover at a private hospital near their home 35 miles outside Kyiv, which is in Vladimir Putin’s line of fire.
They live with daughter Yaryna, three, in the quiet village of Bucha, north west of the capital, towards Belarus. If Russian tanks attack – with as many as 80,000 Moscow and Belarusian troops gathered there already – Ken would flee with his family.
The IT executive, who moved to Ukraine 15 years ago, says: “We are right in the area where they will be. If they roll into my village it will make me very angry. Our plan is to head west where it will be safer, with no checkpoints.”
Expats have been told to register with the British embassy, it has already sent half of its staff home.
Ken took part in the 2014 Maidan protests in central Kyiv and was next to someone shot dead by suspected undercover police. He says: “I was there when people were killed. It [the protests] was more about being independent from Russia than being more joined to Europe.”
As they stockpile food and fill cars with jerrycans full of petrol many Brits here face a race-against-time to escape.
Peter Dickinson, 45, is originally from
Amersham, Bucks, but has lived in Kyiv for the past 20 years, building up a successful publishing firm.
His wife Susanna, 39, is Ukrainian and they have two children Nina, 11, and 14 year-old Elizabeth.
Constantly preparing for the worst, Peter realises he may have to make tough decisions.
He said: “The priority is the safety of my loved ones.
“We are talking about a potential armageddon and we just do not know what might happen.”
Peter has even installed a new generator in case there is a power supply cut during a Russian attack. He said: “An invasion does seem extreme, we are prepared, if there is an attack we would try to fly out. “Otherwise if that were not possible we would head in the car west but it may not be possible to cross into the EU if there is a refugee crisis.
“We are also looking into heading for safety in the mountains. Some people have already sent their kids outside their city for safety, to the in-laws, the grandparents in the countryside.
“If our lives are in danger, however, of course we will have to run.”
Father-of-two Sean Kelly, 53, from Oxford, has lived in Kyiv for 26 years.
He said: “I’m disgusted by what Putin is doing to our friends in Ukraine and will do everything in my power to support them.
“Lots of other Brits are planning to take the shorter overland route west to Poland but I’m sure there will be chaos at that border if bombs start falling and flights out are stopped.
“But once my children are safe I’ll head back to support Ukrainians in whatever way I can.”
Edinburgh-born healthcare firm boss Stuart McKenzie, 51, has lived in Kyiv for 28 years and is married to Ukrainian Lena, 49, and has children Victoria, 20, Robert, 14, and Stuart, 12.
He said: “We’ve been living in the shadow of Russian aggression for years but this is different – we’re aware that Russian missiles and bombs could come flying in at any moment.”
We face a potential armageddon & do not know what will happen
PETER DICKINSON HAS LIVED IN KYIV FOR 20YRS