This Man Drove 2,000 Km Across Europe To Rescue His Wife From Ukraine After She Tried To Flee Russian Invasion
A British man drove more than 2,000 km across Europe to rescue his wife from Ukraine after she tried to flee the Russian invasion.
A British man drove more than 2,000 km across Europe to rescue his wife from Ukraine after she tried to flee the Russian invasion.
Steve Lucas, 65, from Wales, jumped into his Citroen van and travelled through five countries after his wife Anastasia sent him pictures of the burning skyline around her apartment and told him she was too terrified to run to a bomb shelter, Daily Mail reported.
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According to Steve, his Kyiv-based wife had been forced to stay in the country until the war broke out due to UK immigration rules.
Left with no choice, Steve drove non-stop for nearly 24 hours through France, Belgium, Germany and most of Poland before stopping for the night as he approached the border, the report said.
He then crossed into Ukraine and travelled to the western city of Lviv, where his wife had managed to flee to.
Steve Lucas/BBC
"I had told her to try and get to Poland a few weeks ago but she wanted to stay and held on until Friday but by then things were getting a little bit hairy," Steve told Daily Mail.
"She sent me a photo of the skyline and there were flames everywhere, the building across the road was on fire and she said her apartment was shaking all the time. She was terrified and frantic to leave," he added.
Around two million people have fled Ukraine under Russian shelling as Putin¡¯s troops prepare to storm the city of Kyiv, but many face treacherous conditions on the roads.
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"I¡¯m glad I told her to put tape across the windows because she said they just kept rattling all the time. She was too scared to go to the shelter and spent every raid on her own in the flat. Her friend told her that every time she ran for the shelter she was dodging dead bodies on the road and she couldn¡¯t face doing that," he continued.
Anastasia eventually found a taxi driver who would take her to a train station where she boarded one of the few services still running out of the city.
Steve then met her in Lviv, where she was being housed by volunteers.
The couple met and got married while Steve was working in Ukraine five years ago, but she was unable to return with him due to immigration rules.
"The plan now is to get her back to Britain and see if we can sort out her visa ¨C I¡¯m just hoping we don¡¯t get any bother when we drive back through Dover," he told Daily Mail.
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