Ukraine guests 'very much part of the family'

2023-06-04 08:02:23 classification：Press center6 read(8287)

A couple who have opened their home to people displaced by the Ukraine war have described their latest guests as "very much a part of the family".

David and Astrid Frankl, from Wimborne, Dorset, are part of the government's Homes for Ukraine scheme and have been reflecting on the war, one year on from when it started.

Galina, 37, Alex, 16, and Kate, 13, moved in with the couple in September.

Mr Frankl said the couple had become "sort of honorary grandparents".

During World War Two, Mr Frankl's Jewish parents sought refuge in the UK from Nazi Germany

"If they hadn't have come they wouldn't have survived," he explained.

"My parents gave back to this country... I've got to be thankful to the country for taking my parents in and allowing them, and me, to survive."

He said he and his wife wanted to help others in the same way after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

The Frankls previously welcomed Nikolai, his wife Svetlana, and their children Polina, 5, and baby Sofia, in May.

"They got out of Mariupol," Mr Frankl said, adding: "We heard that when they got out, the railway line was blown up the day after, so they only just got out in time."

They stayed for four months but now live in Cheshire, which is closer to Nikolai's brother.

Mr Frankl said they were initially not planning to take on a second family but were swayed by a seven-page essay that Alex had written about wanting to be educated in the UK.

Mr Frankl told the BBC he and Astrid were "just doing our little bit".

He said Galina and her children had "become very much a part of the family" and that they had come to enjoy their mealtimes together.

"They cook one evening, we cook the next," he said.

"We had cottage pie last night, that's one of their favourites."

He said the one-year anniversary of the conflict was a "poignant" time for both the couple and their guests.

He added both he and his wife were open to host further families in the future, if the war continued.

"There are still loads of people who are desperate to get out [of Ukraine]," he said.

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