Ukraine: Desparate entrepreneur reflects on rescuing her grandmother from the Russian war

Olga, 28, who was born and raised in Ukraine, moved to England 12 years ago and has lived in Southsea for the past two years with her husband.

The entrepreneur, who is the founder of the learning platform, Musemio, has featured in the Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2021.

Her world came to a crashing halt when she saw her home country being attacked and her family were still over there.

The husband and wife could not get Olga’s mum and grandmother out of Ukraine for the first few weeks, and every day was a struggle knowing that their family was in danger.

Olga said: ‘I think my grandmother would be a very good example of something positive. She is a 77-year-old woman who is now going to college two days a week and she loves it. She has been going to all of the English classes. We managed to get her a flat in November and she can claim some housing benefit and she has felt very welcome, she says it all the time.

‘We couldn’t get them out for the first few weeks so we just had to wait, so my husband and I had to drive to Hungary to get to them. We were lucky because they had a car. Others had to cross the border by foot or the trains but they were full - but they got out.’

The pair came to Portsmouth with the bare minimum and only had a few pieces of clothing and their main documents.

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Olga added: ‘My grandmother is staying here and finding her feet in this new world and I think she has more friends than me now.

‘It is really difficult for her, she is braving it up. She does get upset, she wants to go home, she came here with two track suites on her and the documents that she needs. It is really sad and she just hopes that she can go home.’

Raisa managed to find a flat at the end of last year and is now living independently but sees Olga a lot.

The 28-year-old said that Raisa always loved having flowers in her home back in Ukraine. When Olga suggested creating an area for her flower in her new flat, Raisa refused because it is still too painful as she wishes that she could go home.

Olga has been amazed at how welcoming everyone has been with her grandma and she is thankful for the community that she lives in.

She said: ‘It has been amazing, I think it has been great. From the moment the war started everyone was just brilliant and the News helped me find the Ukrainian community.

‘There has been an amazing group called Portsmouth Helps Ukraine, and there have been volunteers that have been constantly collecting donations.’