A Ukrainian woman and her 12-year-old son who fled their home in Odessa are settling well in Dumfries with the relatives who helped to rescue them.
Krystyna Sin and her 12-year-old son Den made their way to the Czech Republic following the invasion of Russian troops.
Her sister Elvira and husband Mike Dear travelled across Europe from their home to collect the pair before taking them to Amsterdam for their visas.
The short time they expected to be in the Netherlands turned into more than a week as they tried to cut through British red tape.
They finally got the go-ahead to enter the UK on Saturday.
And there were “plenty of hugs” and tears of “relief and joy” all around when they arrived home to be reuinted with Mike and Elvira’s children Nick, Elina and Maya and Mike’s mum Pauline, who lobbied local politicians to speed up the visa process.
Pauline, who lives in Torthorwald, said: “It was lovely to see them all here on Sunday – safe and well but tired. I have to admit that I was worried and put on a brave face for my grandchildren while we were waiting for them to come home.
“It is wonderful to have Mike and Elvira back and to welcome Krystyna and Den to Dumfries.”
Mike said: “It is so good to be back at home. Krystyna and Den are doing really well. They are settling in now. We were all just so tired at first and have done a lot of sleeping.
“We are now just concentrating on making our house work for them and we’ll have to make changes but it is doable and we’ll get there. She wants to find work and Den is looking to go to secondary school in the town as soon as possible.
“Their visas are for three years and we’ll see where that takes them. Having a Ukrainian community here is going to help.
“It has been frustrating and quite an experience but we are now just glad to be back in Dumfries.”
He added: “It is bitter-sweet for us all though because Elvira and Krystyna’s parents are still there. They are too ill to travel at the moment but we hope they may be able to come to the UK in the future. We also have other family and many friends there too that we are obviously worried about and trying to keep in touch with.”
Mike and Elvira have been hailed as heroes for dropping everything and racing to help their family but he insists that anyone would do the same if they could.
He said: “We are not heroes – all we did was have a little trip across Europe. There are more people doing far more heroic things than us. WWe were not near any of the fighting because they did all the hard work in getting away from Odessa.
“We, and all the refugees we saw, got a lot of support from other countries in Europe as we passed through. Everyone wants to help. My car broke down in Germany on the way to the Czech Republic and when the garage realised what we were doing there they downed tools on everything else just to help us get back on the road. It was overwhelming and humbling.”
