Ukrainian family forced to flee Kyiv as ‘worst case scenario’ invasion unfolds

A Ukrainian said her “worst case scenario” has come true after she had to pack up her cherished possessions and escape Kyiv with her family and pets.

Polina Karabach, 29, made the decision to flee the Ukrainian capital on Friday with her parents, husband, his family and their five dogs, two cats and two parrots.

She told the PA news agency: “When it all started yesterday it was quite scary because we just woke up to an explosion.

“We saw a great big, black cloud of smoke and there was some small fire after that.

“We understood that it’s probably not from the troops and that the explosives that were put there, I assume, to cause the panic.

“We had already been preparing some things in advance for the worst case scenario.

“I already made sure I had all the documents in one place that I could quickly take, bought missing medicine and organised it, bought some minimal storage of food that doesn’t get spoiled fast and wrote a list of things to gather in case I needed to pack.”

Ms Karabach said it is unclear whether the family will ever be able to return to the city that she grew up in, but said she is holding onto the hope that one day they will.

Despite being prepared, the family – who are heading in multiple cars across Ukraine – have made a plan but Ms Karabach said it is “not well defined”.

She hopes to continue to be able to work remotely in her role as a functional analyst specialising in medical software projects, but only once her family have reached safety.

She said: “Now we’re travelling to the western part of Ukraine and hopefully it will be more safe there but you never know because there has been shootings and bombs there too.

“We are all trying to be calm to be effective in our safety actions, but the impact is very huge.

“Today I got too emotional reading the news. I know I need to be aware of what’s going on, but it makes me cry.

“Everyone is still shocked the war is actually happening right now.”

Meanwhile, a teacher living 28km outside of the Ukrainian capital has compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to a “present day Hitler”, and said she is scared for her country.

Yulia Yarmoliuk, 39, said she has barely slept for two days after being kept awake by the sound of explosions.

She told PA: “The Russian army is strong, they have a lot of vehicles and a lot of serious equipment.

“I don’t want them to destroy Kyiv. They will destroy all our beautiful places and cathedrals.

“I don’t know what I will do if Russia comes and they put their Russian flags here.

“I wouldn’t live in this country… I’m Ukrainian and I don’t want to be back to USSR.”

Ms Yarmoliuk described soldiers fighting on the front line as “real heroes”, and praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“I didn’t vote for President Zelensky and to be honest I didn’t like him,” she said.

“But now I think that he’s really heroic given that he’s young and he doesn’t have much political experience but he’s trying to do the best for Ukraine.”