"Someone shouted 'Get on your knees!' and we just ran"

A North Yorkshire man who has been living in Kyiv has been forced to evacuate his home

People across Dorset have been doing what they can to support those in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began
Author: Natalie HigginsPublished 1st Mar 2022

A North Yorkshire man living in Ukraine has managed to flee the capital to escape Russian soldiers.

Last week we spoke with Lewis Edwards, originally from Ripon, about what the situation was like in Kyiv.. Part way through our interview an air raid siren rang across the city and he was forced to evacute.

Now, himself and his partner have travelled day and night to get away from the terrors, and are close to the Slovakian border.

"We got some news that the soldiers were getting closer and closer. We had to phone our parents and say out goodbyes because we just didn't know what would happen", Lewis Edwards, said.

"We left and had to travel village to village to try and avoid the strikes. The hardest decision about leaving was not knowing whether it was more dangerous to stay or more dangerous to go."

Lewis, his girlfriend, her sister and her partner travelled on foot, on buses and on trains, sometimes sleeping by the road as they had no where to stay.

He said:

"We saw rockets, we saw tanks, we saw checkpoints and explosions. We were coming out of the stairs from a station and we heard someone cocking a gun and they shouted 'Get on your knees' and we just ran.

"We've seen plans being sent around online on how to make Molotov cocktails, how to fight from your home, how to make camouflage nets. People are doing everything they can to fight for their freedom."

Meanwhile Britain has pledged to continue to supply arms to Ukraine's embattled military as the fighting with Russian forces reached the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv.

Armed forces minister James Heappey said Russians troops had not made the progress they might have hoped, with the main armoured columns still some way from the city.

He warned that the defenders faced "days, weeks, months more" of heavy fighting as Russian President Vladimir Putin strives to topple the Ukrainian government and impose his writ on the country.

"This is going to be a long slog. It is going to be brutal. We are going to see some horrendous things on our TV screens," Mr Heappey told BBC Breakfast.

With the noose tightening around his capital, a defiant President Volodymyr Zelensky refused an American offer to evacuate, insisting: "The fight is here".

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.