"Putin thought that we would meet him with flowers in our hands, but no, we will meet him with grenades and guns" – those the defiant words of a Ukrainian businessman and father of two, who frequently visits his “beloved” Winchester, from within war-torn Ukraine.
Mykhailo Volodimir Vorona has told of the “nightmares” caused by Russia’s constant bombing of Kyiv where he’s currently stuck with his wife and sons.
The 47-year-old says his family are having to sleep on the concrete floor of an air raid shelter each night while he guards their high-rise building with makeshift weapons for fear of Russian diversionists attacking.
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He’s just one of countless Ukrainians who have had their lives turned upside down since Vladimir Putin stunned the west by launching an ongoing attempted invasion of Ukraine.
Mykhailo is a long-term supplier and close friend of Tony Bush and Steven Groves, who own and run Winchester Hardwood Flooring in London Road, Kings Worthy.
He first went into business with them in 2003, later forming a ‘family like’ relationship with the pair which has seen him frequently visit Winchester in the past few years.
Despite the factory which he uses to export goods to the Winchester business moving around 125 miles away from Kyiv and towards the border between Ukraine and Poland, Michael and his family still have an apartment in the city, which is where they were staying when the Russian invasion began last Thursday.
Describing the moment he realised Putin had launched his attack on Ukrainian soil, he said: “At 5.19am I was woken up by a strange noise. In the previous days we’d heard a lot of talk about a possible invasion, so I knew war had begun. It sounded at first like a jet fighter, but then I heard the noise again and again, each time a little louder. Shortly after, I was told the news that it was winged missiles which Russia had started to shoot at Kyiv.”
Mykhailo said the city quickly became gridlocked in all directions as people rushed to flee, meaning he and his family were forced to stay put.
“I hadn’t filled my tank the day before so I wasn’t sure how far we could even get before running out of fuel,” he said.
“Some of my colleagues who escaped the city on the first day told me it took them nearly 16 hours to travel around 90 miles, so you can imagine how tough it was.”
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Mykhailo has relatives in Russia and called them on the first day of the invasion. However, owing to the distorted message being conveyed to the Russian people under Putin’s regime, he said they laughed off talk of a war.
“They are totally brainwashed, they do not understand what is going on in Ukraine,” he said.
“On Thursday I called my relatives in Moscow to tell them we had been invaded by Putin’s army and they started to laugh. They said, ‘you can’t be serious, it’s not possible, it’s just a special military operation in eastern Ukraine’. At that time, we’d already been hit by missiles.
“They only see Russian state television, they have no idea what happens outside. I’m afraid we will have no communication with them in the future, no matter what may come of us.”
Mykhailo said Ukrainian soldiers are continuing to resist the Russian onslaught in the north-west of the city and have destroyed several Russian tanks and armoured vehicles over the past few days.
However, as Putin’s attempts at a land born attack are proving relatively fruitless, he says Kyiv is being routinely bombed by the Kremlin’s forces.
He said: “Kyiv is bombed every day, usually it begins at around 5am to maintain the nightmare for civilians. It starts again around late morning before further attacks in the afternoon and the evening.
“There are still areas which are safe for now, but they are becoming increasingly rare as Russia continues its attack from each direction. The only positive is with each bomb that hits, it is one less that they have in their armoury, and it will take weeks and weeks to replace.
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“People are actually quite calm considering what is going on, they understand who is trying to invade our capital and what will happen if they are successful. We know if that happens our future will be over, Putin will want to have us like slaves, like sheep, just to make a security buffer between Russia and the normal western world.”
Russian missiles were recently targeted at a television tower in Kyiv to try and cut people off from receiving information from outside the city. Mykhailo says one of the missiles missed and struck a swimming pool where he used to play when he was young.
During what little time there is to sleep between the bombings, Mykhailo says he and other residents defend their block from Russian diversionists armed with makeshift weapons such as sticks and Molotov cocktails, while his wife and two sons head to an underground bomb shelter for the night.
He’s planning to buy a train ticket for his family to flee the area before further conflict reaches the city but won’t be able to join them in case he’s needed to bolster Kyiv’s defence.
Although he hasn’t been asked to take up arms just yet, Mykhailo’s signed up to the Ukrainian reserves, meaning if Russia continues its march on the capital, he will be ordered to join the fight.
As it stands, he says Kyiv remains relatively quiet in comparison to other parts of Ukraine, with a large amount of the conflict taking place in Mariupol, where Russian forces have destroyed the water supply and cut off railway lines to stop any chance of escape for civilians.
But with Russia seeking support from Belarusian forces, the situation could yet rapidly worsen.
“For me, it’s unbelievable that in the 21st century one country just invades another in Europe with absolutely no reasonable explanation as to why they have done it,” he said.
“I never thought that my kids would sleep at night on the concrete floor of an air raid shelter, but it is simply too dangerous for them to stay where we live on the ninth floor of a high-rise building, because Russia is targeting anywhere and everywhere. I don’t expect a single bit of good will or decency from their side.
“Mr Putin has made the decision to bring here his bloody Russian world, now we have war, and every day it’s getting worse and worse.
“I think he was sure that within two days his troops would capture our capital and the game would be over, but we will continue to keep up the fight – like Churchill said many years ago, we will never surrender. He thought that we would meet him with flowers in our hands. But no, we will meet him with grenades and guns.
“He is constantly talking about the protection of Russian speaking people - around 70 per cent of people in Kyiv speak Russian, elsewhere even more, but not one asked him to come, nor did they ask him for help. Maybe our country isn’t perfect, and we have a lot to improve, but it is our destiny, we will do it in our way.”
Peace talks remain ongoing between Russia and Ukraine on the Belarusian border, but Mykhailo says he doesn’t expect much progress to be made, and instead sees it only as a rare rest bite from the bombings.
Supplies of fuel, food and medicines are scarce in the city, but the situation is slowly starting to improve as smaller shops and pharmacists begin to reopen their doors for shortened hours. However, Mykhailo revealed waiting times for essentials such as medicine can be several hours.
Collection points have been set up across England as people look play their part in helping the Ukrainian citizens, and Mykhailo’s close friends Mr Bush and Mr Groves are currently looking into the possibility of using their supply vehicles to transport aid back to Ukraine.
Mr Bush said: “We have been manufacturing hardwood flooring in Ukraine for over 20 years, so we have very close friends and colleagues with families in need of our help. We are assisting some of those family members to safety in Croatia but find it very upsetting that men above the age of 18 have no option but to stay and have been separated from their families.
“We want to expand our help to as many people as possible. With our experience of import and export we feel one of the best ways we can help is by supplying transport to assist groups currently accumulating aid ready to send.”
Mykhailo said: “Every bit of moral support we get helps us a lot, we know the world is on our side.
“Medicines and essentials are also needed but trying to find a way to work out the logistics is difficult. Most people are now taking good to the border in Poland and the officials in charge of humanitarian aid are seeing that it makes it over and gets distributed to different locations.”
He remains optimistic about Ukraine’s future, and says he hopes to one day return to Winchester.
“I’m very much looking forward to the tough times being over so I can once again come to my beloved Winchester for a pint,” he said.
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