The girls sought asylum in Scotland after war broke out so they could earn money to send home
As they smile for the camera Maryna Demianenko and Alyona Lykhosherstova’s hearts are silently breaking for loved ones left behind in wartorn Ukraine.
It’s been a year since the invasion and Maryna, 26, whose family are trapped inside Russian occupied territory and Alyona, 21, whose grandmother stayed behind when the rest of her loved ones fled to Poland, are now ready to tell their harrowing stories to ensure the world does not forget the hell the people of Ukraine are still going through.
“Three days in and the Russians were targeting civilians who were standing in line for water. Whole families were being killed and blood was flowing in a stream down the streets. I knew I had to get my family out.” Maryna was at home with her husband in the southeastern city of Melitopol when the bombing and shelling began on February 25, 2022.
She added: “Leaving my family was the hardest decision of my life. I cried every day. But my parents said we were still young and needed to live. I worry that every day might be their last. She said: “Many of the family on the Russian side are convinced there has been no invasion of the Ukraine. They believe that it’s all western propaganda and refuse to believe atrocities have been committed.
Maryna and Alyona came to Scotland under the programme to help Ukrainians with temporary asylum. Alyona had the finances to rent an apartment herself and Maryna and her husband live with a sponsor in Glasgow.
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