Photography: Jakub Porzycki
As part of Grazia’s reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we spoke to several women fleeing the country in refuges around Europe. For foreign nationals, there are reports it was even more difficult to escape. Here, we speak to Anzela, 27, who lived near the Zhytomyr city in Ukraine with her husband and five children. When Anzela spoke to Grazia, they were living in a Polish refugee camp, hoping to travel on to Germany eventually.
'My husband and I decided to flee Ukraine for Poland on when it was clear we were in too much danger to stay. Zhytomyr has been a major target for Russia, after we left they even bombed a maternity hospital.
'We have five children who I look after full-time back at home, but we could only travel with four as one had to stay behind with my mother in Zhytomyr. Together, it was a long journey to the Polish border but the amount of help we received from people on the way was incredible. One transport company offered us a free ride from Lyviv – where it’s somewhat safer than the centre, Kyiv – to the border where we also received a lot of support from locals.
'Here in Poland, an abandoned supermarket has been turned into a temporary shelter for refugees where we are able to sleep and eat. Now, we will head in-land to Warsaw before travelling on to Germany where we will decide what to do next.'