Refugee from Ukraine speaks of horrors of war after arriving in Basingstoke

Alina Nesterova has moved in with mum Kirstie Davies and her partner Harvey Stirling after finding them through Facebook.

Read more: Donations made by Basingstoke community on their way to help Ukrainians 

The 21-year-old has spoken of the traumatic moment she realised her country was under attack.

Alina, who was born in Pavlograd in the Dnepropetrovsk region was studying for a master’s degree in film and television at Kyiv University when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

She said: “I was in Kyiv, in my city at that time. This city gave me my true friends. The war caught me, my friends, and my family. The war caught the whole of Ukraine, without exception.”

Alina was working with students in a hostel and evacuated them to the safety of a bunker.

The bunker where Alina stayed

She remembers being woken at 5am “with a roar at the door” and her friend saying ‘Alina, the war has begun’.

“I was laughing,” she said, adding: “Seriously, I laughed and did not believe that this could happen in the 21st century. I went to my friends where they were together and watched TV. Many friends cried. My laughter turned to anger.”

Alina and her boss began evacuating students to the bunker as they watched the news in terror, hearing of their country being bombed.

“I called my parents and relatives and said the war had begun,” said Alina, adding: “From the 24th the usual phrase ‘how are you’ took on a completely different meaning. Since the 24th every second lasts an eternity. Time stopped. We are still living on February 24th.”

Alina left the bunker with her friend to go to a nearby village but said this ended up being a bad decision.

They headed to a village in the Makarovsky district, but Russian fighter jets flew over dropping missiles on a neighbouring village.

“After that we had to leave the village,” explained Alina, who went to the railway station to catch a train to Lviv.

“It was very hard,” she said, adding: “We rode in the train standing for 11 hours to Lviv. People were fleeing, the train was overcrowded.”

When she reached Lviv, Alina met her godmother who had been evacuated from Kharkov with her children.

She then went with her friend to Chernivtsi where they stayed with friends for a couple of days, helping at volunteer points.

But Alina’s worried parents were keen for her to leave Ukraine until the war was over.

She said: “I understand them because I am the only daughter in the family. I left for Romania. There we found a family that sheltered us. We also helped the Ukrainians at the station.”

Alina then travelled on to France where she waited for a Visa to England. She managed to find Kirstie from Basingstoke through Facebook, who offered her a spare room in her home.

Whilst in France Alina was involved in charity events to raise funds to buy medicines for seriously ill patients in Ukraine and for food for animals.

Eventually, Alina’s Visa arrived and she travelled to Basingstoke to stay with her host family arriving on March 31.

Kirstie, who offered Alina a place to stay at her home in Kempshott Lane, explained why she decided to help someone from Ukraine.

The 44-year-old mother-of-two said: “My eldest who’s 21 has left home and my 19-year-old son is at university so we have spare rooms and felt compelled to help. Things are tough for them and I hope if the tables were turned that people would be there to help my children.”

Kirstie, who works as head of organisation and people for Novai Limited in Reading, said she joined a Facebook page for UK accommodation for Ukrainian refugees and posted what she has available.

However, she was initially contacted by a scammer – a man living in another country who pretended to be from Ukraine to get to England.

Eventually, Kirstie saw Alina’s plea and offered her a place to stay, along with her friend.

Alina arrived with the family on March 31, but her friend is still in Paris waiting for a Visa.

Kirstie said: “I wondered if it would be awkward but it’s felt quite normal and comfortable and she’s nice and chatty and she’s trying really hard with English.

“She’s really putting herself out there and wants to help people. Even in Paris she was doing charity work to raise money for animals.

“She wants to make the most of the experience even though it’s not good and she’s worried about her parents.”

She added: “The next step is to find her some work. She worked in film and screen writing but in the meantime she’s happy to do whatever she can. She worked on Masterchef in Ukraine after graduating and getting into TV. She studied film and was a runner, preparing all the food and ingredients for that.”

Alina said she is grateful to Kirstie and Harvey for their generosity, but said she feels constantly fearful for her parents still in Ukraine and other relatives back home.

She said: “I am very grateful to your country and your people for their help. Thank you from all Ukraine and thank you from my parents. They are calm that I am safe.

“At the same time, I do not stop thinking about my country and about my relatives. Everyday I fall asleep with the thought of returning home. Every morning I watch the news hoping to see that the war is over, we won, come back home.”

Alina is now hoping to find work and has been offering her time for free while she is job searching, with tasks such as dog walking, food shopping for vulnerable of elderly people, cooking, cleaning, or childcare.

If you are able to offer any work opportunities for Alina you can get in touch with her via email on alina7207.28@gmail.com.

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