Dr Oksana Pryshchepa was excited to take her three-year-old son for the first time to her home country of Ukraine.
The Cardiff University finance lecturer, who lives in Cowbridge, has raised Michael to be proud of his heritage, and to speak both English and Ukrainian. Covid prevented earlier visits to Oksana's home city Rivne but she hoped to finally take him there this summer.
In the space of a week, those plans have become a distant memory amid the horrors of Russia's invasion, its bombardment of the country where Oksana's parents Olena and Bohdan live.
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Oksana spoke to WalesOnline about what her parents are going through, her fears for them, the death of her friend in action, and why she believes the West "needs to understand this is already a world war".
Neither Oksana nor her parents expected the invasion, which she described as a "huge shock" to people across Ukraine, who were mostly living their lives as normal in the build-up.
"Some people predicted it but almost every Ukrainian thought it wasn't going to happen and Putin was trying to scare people using his usual tactics," she said.
Oksana's parents, both 64, have visas for the UK but chose to carry on their work as history professors at the university in Rivne, a city of around 240,000 in western Ukraine.
For the two academics whose life's work is Ukrainian history, it was unthinkable to flee from the forces of Vladimir Putin — a man who has described Ukraine as not being a real nation.
"My husband was saying they must come here, but because I'm also an academic, I understood my parents," said Oksana. "Why would they just drop everything? I wouldn't like anyone to tell me I have to cancel all my lectures. My dad was saying, 'I've just given a lecture to my students. If I leave, tomorrow I will have to tell them I ran away.'
Oksana recalls a flood of emotions when the invasion started. "After denial comes anger, outrage, sadness and then realisation that it's reality. It's really a war."
As air strikes targeted Rivne she called her parents several times a day to check their safety. They have not armed themselves, having never held a weapon. They would not know what to do with one, said Oksana.
Russian shelling hit Rivne airport last Friday morning, although the damage was not serious according to the city's mayor. Soon air raid sirens were frequently blaring.
Oksana said: "The elevator is broken in my parents' building so every time the signal came to go to the bomb shelter, they had to walk down from the eighth floor."
The journey down to the cellar several times a day was physically draining for the elderly couple. "I was scolding them because they were not doing it every time," Oksana added.
One of Oksana's old university classmates, Paras, was killed in action near Kyiv. He was about 40 years old, with three children.
"I am not sure what he did for a living but he was not military," she added. "I just remember him, he was so full of energy. He was very confident and patriotic."
Oksana does not personally know any others who have lost their lives but she said: "A lot of young guys from Rivne went to fight in Kyiv and Kharkiv, a lot of them died."
Bohdan and Olena left Rivne on Tuesday for their other home, which is in a rural area yet to experience any air strikes.
"They seem to be calmer than I am," said Oksana. "They try to convince me everything is fine and they're safe. I ask my parents, 'Are you telling the truth? Are you sure there are no air strikes where you are?' And they say, 'We had snow today, everything is beautiful.'
"It is riskier for them to travel to the border. The journey would normally take a six- or seven-hour drive. They would need to walk maybe the last 11 miles and wait 20 or 30 hours. Imagine waiting that long in temperatures of minus three. Even for a young person it would be a challenge.
"My dad said, 'I hope the next time we go to the UK it will be the way we usually do, flying from Kyiv, not having to make a dreadful journey and come as people who have nothing.'"
Oksana believes the only way to prevent her country being destroyed is for NATO to send troops into Ukraine and enforce a no-fly zone.
"People in Ukraine are so furious, so united and resilient," she said. "There won't be any negotiations on giving a little bit of land. It is our country and we have had enough.
"The West needs to understand this is already a world war. It will become clear simply because Putin will see he can't break Ukrainians. He will press the button unless someone in his surroundings stops him. He wants us to disappear from the map of the world."
Oksana is "so grateful" for the efforts of people in Wales and other countries who have organised humanitarian aid, but she believes "much more drastic" intervention is needed.
"The outcome is in the hands of the West. It will either be bloodshed as Ukrainians keep on dying, or the world will wake up. Some of the towns and villages in the south of Ukraine don't exist anymore. They are just rubble. It's a war against civilians.
"We need help inside Ukraine. We appreciate the help outside, but we want to have our land. My parents don't want to be refugees. They want to stay where they are. They love their country."
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