Ukrainian Marina Hughes lives safely in Sittingbourne with her husband and their two children.

But 1,500 miles away her own mother and grandmother remain trapped in an apartment block in Kyiv as Putin's Russian soldiers bomb her motherland.

Speaking to KentOnline, Marina reveals how her family have been torn apart by the invasion and fears that her home country will never be the same again.

The 36-year-old said: "My mum and my nan are staying in Kyiv because my nan has dementia. She's 86 and just doesn't understand what is going on. She thinks it's the fireworks.

"Last year she had a fall and needed a serious hip operation which is why she isn't very mobile. Mum can't go anywhere with her. They can't even move into the basement for safety so they are staying in the block of flats.

She added: "I talk to my mum every day because she is scared and doesn't know what to expect next. She says there has been some shooting around where she is today and there were big explosions yesterday which shook the walls.

"She can't even leave the flat to buy food because she can't leave nan on her own and there are hour-long queues at the shops."

She added: "My mum is checking to see how much medicine my nan has left for her dementia and how long it will last. That could be a completely different picture for my nan. It's all very, very scary. My mum is unable to sleep properly because of all the fear."

Marina, who works in a Sittingbourne school, says her whole family has been torn apart by Putin's ruthless invasion. Her sister has already had to flee the country by car.

Marina said: "She left last Friday and has only just got to Hungary. She is mentally and physically exhausted. She can't think what to do next. She is aiming to go to America where she has friends but she has her two cats with her.

"Lots of people are leaving their pets behind and locking them in the flats which is heartbreaking. Volunteers are literally knocking little holes in the walls so they can feed the cats. But my sister couldn't leave her pets behind."

Her brother, with his wife and their three children, two of which have gone down with chickenpox, have also had to leave their home. Her brother, though, cannot leave the country because he is of fighting age.

She said: "He has done all the training and has been given weapons but he has no idea what is coming next. People are literally living in fear day by day."

Her other brother is in Bulgaria and was on a mercy mission to try to get back to Ukraine to deliver food to their mother. Meanwhile, her father is trapped in south Sudan. He was on a business trip when the invasion started.

She said: "He is stuck there. He can't go anywhere and his visa is expiring. I am trying to speak to the Home Office to see if there is any chance he can come to stay with us but it is quite tricky."

She added: "I keep checking with my school friends. They have had to leave as well. One has managed to get to within 30km of the border with Poland. According to the media, her little town has been heavily attacked. Other cities have undergone massive attacks in the past few days.

"Another of my friends has crossed the border with her child. That's all she has. But she is grateful. She never dreamed she would ever be in a position like this. They reckon more than one million people are leaving the country which is terrifying."

She admitted: "Everything is just overwhelming."

Marina has her own life in Britain to carry on, with work and looking after husband Phil and their two young boys Thomas,10, and Timothy, eight. The family had already bought tickets to visit her family in Ukraine over Easter.

She said: "As a family, we always try to get together at Easter. It's certainly going to be different next time if I manage to get back.

"People keep asking me how I am doing but it is very difficult to answer. This is not something you would ever imagine happening to your county in this century. It's not like we are Vikings attacking other countries. But apparently that's exactly the way it is at the moment.

"My mum has lots of school friends who live in Russia and none of them believe these attacks are happening. According to their media, the Ukrainian army is attacking Ukrainian citizens. But why would people not question that?"

The last time she visited her mother was last February during the Covid-19 pandemic, just after her nan suffered her fall. Marina has been in the UK for 13 years having met her British husband during an online game.

She said: "I never thought Putin would be brave enough to do something like this. Two weeks before this all started, my husband had to go to Kyiv on his own and it was already starting a little bit then. But I told him there was nothing to worry about and it was never going to happen.

"Now I think Putin is a really greedy, selfish person. He really shouldn't be sticking his nose into other people's countries until he has sorted his own out. There are some very poor people living in Russia.

"He says Russian-speaking people in Ukraine are being bullied but that's not true. I usually speak Russian but people just accept it. Ukrainians are quite clever because we can speak both languages."

She said the West should probably have taken more action when Putin first took back Crimea.

Her other fear is protecting her two sons.

She admitted: "I feel sorry and sad my children have to know of this. It's not the world I want them to live in. But because we have family there I have to tell them some things and they overhear me talking to my husband.

"I don't want to expose them to everything but they know their nan, their great nan, their aunts and uncles and cousins are safe."

She added: "I have massive support from my work colleagues but they try not to ask me too much as it is difficult to talk about it. But I know I have people I can talk to if I need to.

"It's good to work as it is busy and distracts me from thinking too much about what is happening back home. But I am so proud of my people. They always get stronger and closer in bad times. And I'm very grateful for all the help we are getting from people across the UK."

People desperate to help Ukraine's stricken families are being urged to now send money rather than goods due to supply chain issues.