'Your support means so much' - Ukrainian woman's message to Hartlepool as Russian shells rain down on her parents

Maryna Mozul said her parents Vita and Pavlo had to shelter in the basement of a five-storey building in Kharkiv while shells fell all around them for days.

“The shelling was really close,” said Maryna who is the friend and neighbour of Hartlepool man Kevin Hogg, one of the people helping with the town’s mercy mission.

Maryna has followed the Mail’s reports on how the people of Hartlepool had donated tens of thousands of items, from bedding to medicine, to help Ukraine.

She said she had shown her parents the reports and added: “When I shared the story and photos to my parents they were crying. It means a lot to Ukrainians to know that out there there are people (and many!) who don’t know us personally but who care so deeply about us,

"I was touched by the generosity and kindness of the people of your town who united to help in the way they can.

“I am incredibly grateful to all people of Hartlepool for their aid and all the donations they have sent to Ukraine. It means a lot.

"The only thing I can ask for is to keep supporting Ukrainians in the way they can…we do not know how long this war will last. But we know that millions of ordinary people who pray for our country make us stronger on the way to victory.”

Maryna told of the ordeal her parents have faced.

“They spent most of the time sitting in the basement of a five-storey building. You cant even call it a shelter, it’s just a basement with all the communication pipes, dirty, incredibly cold and to be quite honest not very reliable either.

"If a rocket destroys the building, people might just get stuck there under debris without proper ventilation. But it was their only option. All the neighbours were there.”

Maryna pleaded with her parents ‘from day one’ to leave the city but they were too scared to move.”

Thankfully, they finally plucked up the courage to leave their home after days in the basement. It took two hours just to get out of Kharkiv and 6 days to get to a place of safety.

But for Vita and Pavlo, this is just the latest tragic tale in their life.

Maryna explained: “It’s the second time they are forced to leave their home because of Russian aggression. First time when they came to Kharkiv in 2014 after separatists backed by Russia occupied our home town in Lugansk region.”

Now the couple have had to leave their home in Kharkiv as well.

Maryna and Hartlepool man Kevin Hogg are neighbours in Dubai and Maryna said: “I have been living and working in Dubai since 2015.”

The Hartlepool Mail recently told how Kevin and his dad Graham are currently spearheading a convoy of aid which is heading from Hartlepool to Ukraine.

For the latest news and information about the Ukraine invasion, click here for online NationalWorld coverage.

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