A British teacher has expressed his fears as he prepares to try and flee Kyiv with his fiancee and her son.
Paul Hodgson had decided to stay in the Ukrainian capital with his family, but has since been told to leave by the embassy as Russia's invasion of Ukraine grows intense
Appearing on Lorraine today, he said: "It was a case of wait and see what will happen, whether we can ride it out and I did specify if it was something we had to do and we had to leave, we were all going to leave together.
"I think after the events of last night and this morning, it's got to that point where it's time for us to go and we're going to be leaving Kyiv fairly imminently in an evacuation bus by the school. Probably head south to Cherkasy and hopefully then to Lviv.
"Maybe across the border into one of the countries. Maybe Slovakia, which is looking like quite an open border at the moment."
Asked about whether he found it scary, he said: "You don't often find yourself in the middle of a war, do you? So this is something that is new territory for all of us. People are scared, people are concerned and people are huddling around bomb shelters or listening to what the sirens go off.
"Even now I can hear dull thuds in the distance but I know that's coming closer. There's more action today than there was yesterday."
He added that now was the "window of opportunity" and that it was becoming "too dangerous to stay".
Paul revealed that schools had physically closed but learning were online.
"One thing that surprised us was the speed at which this was happening," he said. "Everybody knew that the Russian army was very well equipped and despite the fact that the Ukrainian army is digging in, and it will continue to dig it - they'll fight to the bitter death - but I think that's what will make it dangerous for the civilian population.
*Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV
