Ukraine: Svitlana Kovda is proof that love is stronger than war as she reflects on the war

The former television producer, who lived in Kyiv, reluctantly fled her home with her sister and nephew after her partner informed her that the war had started.

He had a bike business near the border and he had told her of the chances of an invasion months before after reading up on the political angst between the countries.

She said: ‘I wasn't very confident in politics or political situations. I wasn't very interested in this unfortunately, but two or three months before the war started, I started to read some analytical articles about the situation with the Russian border, and my husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, was interested in all of this. He is very patriotic and he told me that Russia could attack us, so we were preparing as well as we could.’

She took her money out of the bank, kept her car full all of the time and she had an emergency bag on standby if the situation began to escalate.

Svitlana’s partner, Mykola Mogyrov heard the first explosions as the Russian army crossed the border, and called her to tell her that the thing they feared the most was happening.

The 33-year-old said: ‘My husband was near the border, he had a little business there where he sold bicycles and 5 o’clock on February 24, he called me and said it’s the beginning.

‘He heard explosions and I opened updates and the news online and I read that it had happened and explosions were in every city and then I heard these explosions loud, so from this moment everything started.

‘At this moment, I already had a quick bag with my main things, documents and money and warm clothes in it. I just took it, called my sister, she lived in the house next to mine, and she has a little son, and I just called them and we took our main things in my car and we went to our parents’ house.’

Svitlana’s parents live in a small town in the middle of Ukraine, but she did not know whether she was making the right decision by leaving Kyiv.

By the end of March, she knew that it was the best decision to leave with her sister and nephew because Kyiv quickly became one of the most dangerous places to live.

She added: ‘It was the right decision because at the end of March, Russian troops were near our house, something like 2km from our houses.

‘We were in shock, I was so scared, and I couldn’t move my arms or legs and I couldn’t believe that it happened for real.’

As soon as the war started, Mykola decided to join the military and fight for his country and Svitlana had to decide whether to escape her home country or not.

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As the war progressed, Russian troops had begun destroying bridges in and out of towns and cities, cutting off any exits for civilians.

She said: ‘Every day we had to decide whether we go or we stay, and everyday we had to make this decision.’

Along with her sister, Svitlana made the decision to go to western Ukraine, with Mykola driving them more than 20 hours to see them to safety.

Their parents did not want to leave their home, and luckily, they have remained safe over the past year.

En route to the west, they came across road blocks and witnessed some of the catastrophe that has taken place during the conflict.

She added: ‘I saw people with guns for the first time in my life, so we went to the west of Ukraine and for me it was a funny and romantic story. When we were on the way, my husband was driving 20 hours without a rest and we stopped just to have five minutes and it was night, and I just thought maybe we will never seen each other again, and I said to him ‘let's get married’, and he said ‘yes good idea, let's do it’.

‘We said goodbye to each other but he couldn’t return back to his military place because there was no transport so he bought a car in a little village in the west of Ukraine.’

After getting to the western border, the sisters began calling their friends to see if they could stay with them, and they managed to locate a hotel in Poland that put them all up for a month free of charge.

They decided to apply for a host in the UK, and Svitlana travelled back into Ukraine to see her fiance.

She drove miles, into dangerous zones, to get to him before she had to move away as it could have been the last time she saw her partner.

Whilst she was with her love, they got married and she said that everything felt peaceful in that moment.

Less than half an hour after tying the knot, she received the news that a host had been found and that she was leaving for England a few days later.

A house on Hayling Island has been their new home for over eight months, and they are now looking to find a place that they can start renting.

Hayling Helps Ukraine has been convoying supplies over the border and Svitlana has helped donations get to her husband and the troops.

Her sister is hoping to stay in Hampshire but Svitlana is still living her life day by day and she is constantly hoping that she will be reunited with her husband permanently.

She said: ‘I was happy with my life. I had everything that I wanted, my life, my work, an education, and friends - but it was destroyed on February 24 last year.’