Dallas offshore worker and his wife escape war in Ukraine
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
AN offshore worker who is originally from Dallas has been forced to leave Ukraine with his wife following Russia's invasion.
For the last 10 years, offshore installation manager Ross Boyle (43) has lived in his adopted country with his now-wife of five years and her son, neither of whom he will name for safety reasons.
Ross said: "Our lives have been turned on their heads. I was reunited with my wife at the Polish border and we are now in a hotel in Warsaw. But the rest of our family remain 100 miles west of Ukraine's capital Kyiv.
"Our thoughts are with the heroes who continue to fight with passion and patriotism."
In 2014, Ross was also caught up in the annexation of Crimea, where in one night, Russian forces took control of the Crimean peninsula, in a move widely condemned by the world community.
On Thursday, February 24, 2022, Ross was due to fly from Qatar to Kyiv after six weeks working in the Persian gulf.
However, he noticed that, not only was his flight to Kyiv cancelled, all flights to Ukraine had been stopped.
He said: "Before this, no one in Ukraine believed Russia would invade because of the historically close ties between the countries.
"Even when the foreign and commonwealth office asked UK citizens to leave, I still believed the situation would not reach this level."
Ross called his wife in Kyiv who said she could hear what sounded like explosions close to their home.
He said: "I asked her to pack a suitcase with all she needed to survive for a week, and have her son collect her in preparation to leave Kyiv and head west to Poland.
"Approximately 400,000 Ukrainian citizens had the same idea, which created a huge issue on the roads, so we decided it would be safer to wait a night extra at our apartment away from the city."
The area close to their home, Bucha near Antonov airport, came under intense bombardment and heavy fighting during the first two days of the invasion.
"It’s a quiet area full of parks and forests that has been left in ruin," said Ross. "There are now Russian tanks littered on the roads and in gardens.
"My wife, her son and our in-laws witnessed multiple rocket and artillery attacks from the windows of our apartment, something no one thought possible in our lifetimes."
Ross quickly rearranged his flights through his employer and with their support found himself briefly back in the UK, prior to flying out to Warsaw and onwards to meet his wife on the Poland/Ukraine border at the Zosin crossing.
He said: "It took three days for my wife to travel from Kyiv then another 10 hours waiting at the border to cross. I was extremely relieved to see her but we still feel helpless for my wife's son who could not leave due to the requirement for men of fighting age to stay in Ukraine."
Ross and his wife hope to eventually move into an apartment in Warsaw to retain some sense of normality. However, they are currently waiting to see what develops in Ukraine and have been visiting fellow groups of refugees around the city to help issue essential items.
"We are pleased to hear of collections at shops and charities in the UK" said Ross. "This is a true humanitarian crisis so anything folk can donate will help."
Ross highlighted the fact that Poland is a country that has experienced the worst effects of war and is showing the rest of the world what can be done to help.
At the border, he saw domestic vehicles full of clothes, food, water and other essentials providing for Ukrainian refugees with nothing but what they could carry.
Ross pointed out that fighting this close to Europe is the biggest threat to a peace here since the Second World War, adding that world leaders had plenty of warning.
He said: "For eight years, the conflict in the Donbas region has raged on with more than 14,000 Ukrainian lives claimed and countless thousands killed on the opposite side.
"The world has not paid enough attention to this. No one has responded to the simple fact that a nation has had its sovereignty imposed upon by a neighbouring country with a permanent seat on the UN Security Council."
Ross and his wife are overwhelmed by the support of his family, friends and colleagues, having been offered free accommodation in many countries.
The couple are contemplating an unknown future but feel fortunate in having a roof over their heads and the ability to feed their family.
Ross finished: "I will be forever grateful to each person who has got in touch to ensure my family is safe and offer help in any way.
"There are hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who are not so fortunate. The world is only just waking up to the serious threat posed by Russia.
"My plea is to keep all Ukrainians and displaced people in your thoughts."
In the interim period since we last spoke myself and my wife have been assisting where we can with displaced Ukrainian families that we have come into contact with. It is becoming increasingly more apparent the further into this conflict that people are preparing for a longer time away from their home than initially thought.
I met another Scottish gentleman two nights ago at my hotel and was enlightened to the struggle he is having attempting to get his mother in law a visa to the UK even though his Ukrainian wife has lived in the UK since 2006. Only 50 visas have been issued so far because of this crisis so I find it very disappointing to hear that the UK government have said they will happily accept refugees from this crisis when the process is far from that simple.
I fully agree that creating a no fly zone would only exacerbate the situation and bring more countries into direct confrontation with Russia, I would like to think at some point both sides can find some middle ground and try to stop this horrendous situation from becoming a true humanitarian disaster. "
