A British driving instructor has finally been reunited with his girlfriend – a month after risking his own life amid a 3,400-mile trip to rescue her in Ukraine. Mike Farrell, 60, made the journey to help Svetlana Yanyk, 45, her son, Illia 12, and daughter, Sofiia, 11, flee the war-ravaged nation.
He drove thousands of miles in his Suzuki Swift, which he uses for driving lessons in the UK, to his girlfriend's home in the city of Khmelnytskyi, in the west of Ukraine. He stayed for two nights, before making the long journey back to the north east via Holland, the Mirror reports.
Mike, of Consett, Co Durham, encountered the conflict zone, heard air-raid sirens, and saw soldiers on the streets. His car was halted at the Dutch border and Svetlana and her two children weren’t allowed into the UK for nine days.
Finally reunited, Mr Farrell said: “I’m very relieved to have Svetlana and her two children over here. They were on their own in the Netherlands for nine days but they’re all safe.
"They haven’t had too much of a chance to settle and relax because there’s DBS checks, biometric tests, and other things. The red tape is endless.
"We are one of the first to bring a Ukrainian person to the UK, the council don’t know what to do and when they travelled to the UK, the border team didn’t know what to do. It’s all new."
He is now back working as a driving instructor after leaving his students for 10 days to travel to Ukraine. He added: “A lot needs to happen to bring refugees from Ukraine over.
"I don’t want to sit here and slate the government too much because it’s a new situation, but I find it strange that we’re one of the first to successfully bring someone from Ukraine over to the UK.”
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