An Oxford man ended up stuck in a living nightmare after visiting his parents in Ukraine at the frontline of the Russian invasion.
Ivan Savvov who has lived in Oxford for 23 years has shared the horrifying moment war broke out in Ukraine on February 24 whilst he was visiting his parents in Kharkhiv, a city in northeast Ukraine.
The 41-year-old Director at Europe Business Assembly describes the moment he and his parents woke up to explosions on February 24, and the harrowing 12-day journey from the east of the war-torn country to safety in the West.
READ MORE: Oxford man on 12 days trapped in Ukraine warzone
He said: “At first we thought it was just building works and then I switched on YouTube and saw that message from Putin.That is when the alarm when off in my head.
“The bombing didn’t stop. I went into the city, as we are very close to the centre, and there it was empty. Then I get told that tanks are coming my way.
“We picked up a couple of essential items and left in the car.”
He and his parents, who are both in their sixties, headed West and would be on the road for the next 12 days, snatching sleep where they could and witnessing sights and sounds of horror.
“The most terrifying experience on the way was seeing troops with guns and military equipment," he said. "That is when it kind of hits you and you sense that something is not normal.
“[In Kyiv] We saw tanks and machine guns. A plane flew right over our heads. Luckily, we went when we did the next day because there was a bombardment just after we left. We could hear it.
“You have no time to be afraid because you’re in this heightened state. You can’t sleep, you have so much adrenaline.”
Mr Savvov and his parents Anton and Liubov travelled across the whole of Ukraine to the Polish border but were not allowed to cross due to the Martial Law which requires men of fighting age to stay in the country.
Mr Savvov then travelled south, to Slovakia, alone and by foot after being dropped off by his mother and was able to travel back to the UK.
His parents then followed by car two days later to Slovakia where they are now, and he is in the process of applying for visas for them.
On what he encountered whilst there, and the scenes still being sent to him from Kharkiv where his uncle and aunt are still sheltering, he said: “It’s constantly going through my head.”
“I just feel like what is happening there is not a war it is genocide."
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