Benalla family supports Ukrainian relatives after home town destroyed by Russian invasion

Ms Hooper said she was aware of Russian troops gathering on the Ukrainian border, but was not paying much attention to the news as, like many, she thought an invasion was unlikely.

On February 24 that all changed.

“My parents called me at 5am and said the Russians were bombing their neighbourhood,” Ms Hooper said.

Her parents, Ivan and Lirysa, had lived in Mykolaiv, a city near the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, for their whole lives. It is the city where Ms Hooper grew up.

“I was thinking why? Why are they bombing Mykolaiv?” she said.

“First I asked if they were okay, and they said yes.

“But immediately I thought of everyone else.”

Having grown up there she started to think of her friends, former teachers, colleagues, the people who served in the shops and worked in the factories.

The sad reality is she still does not know how many people got out. How many people had been killed.

“In the beginning they were just bombing strategic places like ports and airports,” Ms Hooper said.

“In Mykolaiv there were a couple of factories building ships, which meant the town was very important for Russia to try and take over.

“Most of the time Putin said he was not going to hurt people, but now we know many people are dying, for nothing.”

Ms Hooper said living in a town under siege had been awful for her parents.

“At night time you were not supposed to turn on any lights, so it was all dark,” she said.

“If the Russians saw a light, they would drop a bomb.

“Mum said they could not sleep at all. Every small noise they heard, they thought would be an attack.”

Luckily Ms Hooper, and her sister Liliya, have managed to get her parents to Benalla.

They are currently staying with Liliya, her husband and their three children.

However, the trauma of what they went through has not gone away.

“When they got here they hear the ambulance siren and would jump,” she said.

“In Ukraine before an attack they have a siren to let people know to get to a shelter.”

Ms Hooper said the bomb shelters were so packed that people had to stand up, for up to 12 hours, as Russian bombs dropped overhead.

“They tried to stay, they wanted to stay. But in the end they said enough is enough and had to get out,” she said.

“They hoped escaping would be easy, but it was not, and they began to think they couldn’t get out.”

Walking away from everything they had ever worked for, everyone they knew, and the town they called home was difficult.

But the alternative was worse.

“They had no time to take anything, they went straight to the bus station and had to pay the driver 10,000 Hryvnia each (around $500), which is about three months wages” she said.

The first leg of their journey took them to Lviv, just 70km from the Polish border.

Normally that drive would take five hours, but it took more than 24 hours. And it was far from a normal bus ride.

It was so full people were sitting on the floor, with the driver getting as many people in as possible.

At night there is a curfew and the bus had to stop, and wait for sunrise.

“Their driver was very good,” Ms Hooper said.

“We know for some people that journey was taking two days, he did it in one.”

Once arriving in Lviv they had to try and get a train ticket into Poland, which they managed to do.

However, once the train got to the border it stopped for almost 12 hours.

“There was no food. There was no toilet. The train just stops and you wait,” Ms Hooper said.

Eventually the train rolled across the border.

“They were relieved to get out of Ukraine, but the trip to Warsaw was still another two or three days,” she said.

“We are so grateful that they met some wonderful people in Poland.

“They were given sandwiches and warm clothes. In winter in Poland it can get down to -20ºC.

“They found more good Samaritans in Warsaw, too. They were given shelter and somewhere to get a good night’s sleep. Something they had not had in a long time.

“It made them feel like humans again.”

From Warsaw they boarded a train to Berlin, Germany.

“Luckily my sister’s husband has a cousin in Berlin and he helped, too,” she said.

“He helped them print all the important travel documents. Without those documents they could not fly from Berlin to Melbourne.”

In total the journey from the bus station in Mykolaiv to Melbourne took one week.

“Mum is still crying,” Ms Hooper said.

“She is still afraid she will have to go back.

“But right now Mykolaiv is completely surrounded and the bombs they are dropping are cluster bombs.

“Everything is gone. Dad had a small business. Mum had a job. They had a car. They had an apartment.

“They didn’t even have time to pack up family photos and treasured possessions, as they needed to get out fast.

“It was such a relief, when they got here they cried.

“The first thing they wanted to do was to see the triplets, but they were sleeping.

“Luckily they could say hi, without waking them up.

“For me it is some small amount of happiness when I see how happy they are to see their (six) grandkids.

“You can see that mum is not okay, but it makes her so happy to see the kids.

“I think you have to live through something like this to know how it feels.

“You can imagine how it feels, but you really don’t know.

“How can you sleep when you think a bomb might fall in the next second?

“Only five meters rom their apartment was a two-storey house, it was bombed and everyone inside died.

“They lived on the fourth floor of a five storey building and could see it all.

“There is no going back. We expect their apartment building wont even exist.”

Ms Hooper said they would be applying to stay in Australia.

“We don’t know if it will get better over there. Or even if there is anything to go back to,” she said.

“I think that town will fall to Russia, so they can never go back.

“The (Australian) government announced they can get a visa to stay, but its not ready yet.

“So as soon as it’s possible I will apply for the visa for them to stay.

“But they cannot work without that visa. Even when we get the visa they can work, but they don’t speak English.

“So we really need as much help as possible.

“They are very proud and of course they don’t want to take money from their kids.

“We are trying to help as much as we can, but it’s very hard.

“We are setting up a go fund me and would really appreciate any help.”

If you are in a position to help a go fund me page has been set up for Ivan and Lirysa.

You can find that at www.gofundme.com/f/a-new-life-for-our-parents?utm_source=messenger&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1.