Members of the region’s Ukrainian community are “terrified” over the threat of a Russian invasion of their homeland.
Former Dumfries headteacher Peter Kormylo told the Standard that they are fearful for their relatives as tensions over a conflict in Europe escalated this week.
Mr Kormylo, 71, who was born in Annan, said: “I don’t think it is going to end peacefully. We are all terrified.
“We are fearful of what is to come. My family and friends say they are living in constant fear now and feel sick if they hear a noise in the sky, wondering if it is a plane or a bomber. Such is the fear of Putin’s Russia.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin denies planning an invasion but has amassed 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders and has seized territory there in the past.
Mr Kormylo, who lives in Dumfries, confirmed members of the community are in “constant touch” with their loved ones in the country.
And he spoke of the support they have been receiving from people across the region sympathising with their plight.
He said: “It is heartwarming to receive messages of support and we do appreciate them.
“We have had correspondence from other European migrants in Dumfries and Galloway too who sympathise with us – Poles and from the Baltic countries, Lithuania and Estonia.”
He has invited people in Dumfriesshire to show their support by leaving messages at the Ukranian Memorial Stone in the garden of the chapel within the former POW Hallmuir camp near Lockerbie.
It is one of only two remaining that were constructed in Scotland during WWII and is currently closed for renovations and repairs but the grounds are open.
Mr Kormylo’s late father, Michael, was a prisoner of war who settled in Annan and married local lass, June.
He said: “Unfortunately the chapel is closed but we would appreciate people visiting the memorial stone and laying flowers and leaving message of support at this very difficult time for us.”
Dumfriesshire MP David Mundell is among those who have offered support to local families.
Last summer, he met the Ukrainian ambassador Vadym Prystaiko who was in Lockerbie visit to the chapel and greet members of the Ukrainian community.
Mr Mundell said yesterday: “The current tension with Russia is extremely worrying and I know members of the Ukrainian community locally are deeply concerned and upset about the impact on their relatives over there if the Russian forces cross the border, potentially sparking a major conflict.
“I know many in the local Ukrainian community were over the moon when the Iron Curtain came down and after decades they were able to freely communicate with their family and friends in the Ukraine and in some cases travelled there.”
Today the region is home to the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of descendents of the displaced political refugees who stayed on here after being brought, in 1946 and 1947, to live and work at Hallmuir and at a camp at the Barony near Dumfries after WWII.
Mr Kormylo, who was educated at St Joseph’s College and became headteacher at Loreburn and Penpont primary schools during his career, is also librarian and archivist for the Ukrainian Community Centre in Royal Terrace, Edinburgh.
He said: “Mine was one of 40 Ukrainian families in Annan when I was growing up and there is a camaraderie amongst us all in the region.
“The truth is that Ukraine has never felt any allegiance to Russia despite the lies Putin tells. We are very, very separate people and ethnically quite different.
“I wonder do the ordinary Russians want this? I feel sorry for them being led into this.”
“President Joe Biden has sent 8,500 military personnel to NATO countries but they are not in the Ukraine where they are needed.”
