”The train was completely blacked out so that we couldn't be seen, otherwise we would have been bombed”
It's only one day since they reached Sweden. Now they are sitting on the sofa opposite us.
Olga Naumenko with her daughter Vietoziya,9, and Tanya Gudz with her daughter Lera, 14.
With us in the grey cottage in Äspet is also Alexandra Ziemie, who helps with interpreting, and Christian Deloughery. He is a former Danish diplomat , and he drove to Poland in his car to fetch the four Ukrainians.
Everything changed when Russian bombs began to rain down on Charkiv, a town of 1.4 million inhabitants not far from the Russian border.
Olga Naumenko is an economist by profession. Tanya Gudz lived in the centre of Charkiv and worked as a saleswoman. . The girls went to school and played with their friends.
When did you decide to flee?
– We saw the bombing attacks and planes flying over our heads. We were terrified that the atomic power station in Charkiv would be hit by the bombs. That's when we made up our minds to flee, says Olga.
– We had to take shelter day and night in an air-raid shelter, and food began to run out. We had to queue three or four hours for a piece of bread, says Tanya
The first step was to get to the railway station in Charkiv.
”We didn't have anyone in the west who was waiting for us”Olga Naumenko
– The train was chock-full. There were 17 people in a compartment for four. People were sleeping on the floor, and we took it in turns to sit down and have a rest. We weren't allowed to have our phones on, and the train was completely blacked out so that we couldn't be seen, otherwisw they would have bombed us. We couldn't even peep out of the window, says Olga.
The journey to the west took 24 hours. Quite by chance Olga met a Swede.
– We didn't have anyone in the west who was waiting for us. It was the only glimmer of hope we had, says Olga. At the railway station in the Polish border town of Medyka there were people milling around everywhere. In the middle of all the chaos we found our rescue. We heard a megaphone from somewhere or other.
– We heard someone shouting , asking if there was anyone who wanted to go to Sweden. We were so confused there in the huge crowd of people, but we ran in the direction of the voice, says Olga.
There stood Chrisian Deloughery and his brother.
– We ran towards them shouting,'We want to go to Sweden',says Tanya.
The four of them crowded into the back seat of Christian's Volvo. Almost 2,000 kilometres later they were standing in front of the Attefall house in Äspetwhich belongs to a private person.
– Our feelings are mixed. It's so lovely and quiet here, we're glad to be safe.. But we're very worried about our dear ones, members of our family, who are still in Ukraine, says Olga.
What are your thoughts about the future?
– It's difficult to make any plans. We don't know what will become of Ukraine. If things improve, we'd like to go back. If there is no improvement we want to become integrated in a dignified way into the Swedish community. There we want to work and contribute to society and see our children go to school, says Olga.
Tonight they can sleep undisturbed, without being afraid that bombs will fall from the skies above Skåne.
