Family who fled war in Ukraine call Morpeth ‘home’

DANIEL HALL on a family who have found a warm welcome in Northumberland, far away from war-torn Ukraine

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> Yuliia and Danny with Suzanne Austerberry and Graeme McGarrigle and Kevin Ord from Morpeth, who are driving a Citroen C4 Picasso full of aid to Ukraine as well as donating the car

THEY fled their homeland to survive Russia's invasion thinking they'd one day return home.

However, as war continues to rage three years later, the kindness and welcome of a Northumberland community has offered a Ukrainian mum and her son a new place to call home.

Yuliia Volkova, 32, arrived in Morpeth with her son Danny, now six, in the summer of 2022. In March of that year, she fled the town of Brody in Western Ukraine for Italy, where she sought refuge with her aunt.

She initially expected to return to the Eastern European nation after three or four months, but it soon became clear that was not the case.

Yuliia said: “We recognised that nothing was stopping. We needed a future, me and the little one, he was three years old.”

At the time, Yuliia had never been to the United Kingdom, though she had some family here. She said: “I had basic English, so it probably must be an English country where I can go to the shop and buy some bread or milk, what I need.