Three days ago Olha Lyeskakova rang her family in Ukraine from Sydney, told them to grab their money and documents and leave their home in Kyiv in the middle of the night as the Russian invasion began.
Since then, Ms Lyeskakova has barely slept. The Sydney resident has been co-ordinating her family’s escape and, it’s hoped, their flight to safety in Australia.
‘It’s madness what is going on. They are desperate, my mother is crying, my sister, everything she has earned in her life is in Kyiv,’ she told AAP.
Iryna Zaiets and her baby daughter Oksana spent 20 hours travelling to Poland to flee Ukraine’s military conflict and is waiting for her Australian visa to be approved
The mother-daughter flee was coordinated by Iryna’s sister, Olha Lyeskakova, from her home in Sydney
Her mother Olena, sister Iryna Zaiets and nine-month-old niece Oksana first made it to western Ukraine, just 30km from the border with Poland, with Ms Lyeskakova sending regular updates from Sydney on which routes were the safest to take.
But when the attacks began even in the west of the country, the women bundled baby Oksana back into their car to drive across the border, taking little-used back streets to avoid the bombing.
The trip to Poland took 20 hours.
Ukrainian Australians have been trapped in Ukraine in underground bunkers, unable to make safe passage to borders
Ms Lyeskakova has applied for visas to get her family to Australia, but her case is under consideration by immigration authorities and made more complicated because her baby niece does not have any travel documents.
Her father and brother-in-law are still in Ukraine and, due to martial law, they cannot leave.
She says the attitude of relatives in Russia has come as a shock, especially for her mother.
‘They are like zombies, they believe Putin. It’s very hard for her to accept that she has no family there now, they are all enemies,’ Ms Lyeskakova said.
Meanwhile, an Australian Ukrainian family was forced to make two life-changing decisions to escape the war.
Rebecca (not her real name) her ex-husband, autistic son aged 14, and daughter 16 have been hiding out in a Ukrainian underground railway station bunker in Kharkiv.
People have been forced to live in makeshift homes in underground bunkers in Kharkiv as the Russian invasion continues in Ukraine
They were granted a visa to return to Australia just hours after applying when the Russian invasion began.
However, the family was unable to decide whether it would be safer to flee to the border or stay hidden below the city after hearing stories of refugees dodging bombs and crashing vehicles while escaping.
While they were debating they were informed of new martial law that banned Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60 from leaving the country.
Now if Rebecca were to take the family across the Ukraine border not only would she be leaving her parents-in-law but also her son and ex-husband.
‘We are so grateful to everyone who has helped us and acted so quickly,’ Rebecca told the Daily Telegraph.
‘I am feeling guilty for not running in the first few hours. Now we have some vision of what is happening I am scared of running into troops…
‘I am hoping for a humanitarian corridor… I don’t want to be shot on the road.’
Ukraine is home to some of the deepest railways in the world – hundred of people have turned the stations into makeshift underground bunkers as military conflict continues
Other Australians trying to help family in Ukraine have already had visas granted and it’s now a question of escaping cities occupied by Russian troops.
One Ukrainian-Australian citizen in Sydney, whose name can’t be published due to the security risk, is helping his family in hiding in the country’s southern region next to the border with occupied Crimea.
He told AAP they are hiding underground, where their supplies of food and water are running low.
He has applied for four visas to Australia, and is thankful the Australian government granted the first within 15 hours.
But he’s at a loss as to how his family can escape Ukraine.
‘I spoke to Mum on the phone yesterday and she is stressed very much, afraid for their lives. They are not getting any sleep at all,’ he said.
There have also been reports of Australian Ukrainians being unable to flee the country after testing positive for Covid.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Ukrainian citizens applications for Australian visas would be moved to the ‘top of the pile’ following the Russian invasion.
He said 430 applications for a range of visa categories were received and would be a priority for his government.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet offered spaces for potential Ukrainian refugees displaced by the invasion.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison attended a Ukrainian Catholic Church
‘NSW is ready to assist the Commonwealth in whatever way necessary should this military action result in significant displacement of Ukrainian people from their homeland,’ he said in a letter addressed to the federal government.
‘My government is more than willing to facilitate the resettlement of Ukrainians seeking to make Australia their new home.
Mr Perrottet noted his state would be willing to take on new arrivals as additional to the current federal allocations for people on humanitarian and refugee visas.
‘We have a strong Ukrainian community here in Sydney and I am confident any new arrivals will be welcomed with open arms,’ he said.
Australia will provide military and medical aid to Ukraine through NATO, with support guided by requests from Kyiv.
