Almost four years ago, Ukrainian lawyer Stanislav Schevchenko was running a successful firm in his native Kyiv and raising a young family. Life changed almost overnight in February 2022, when Schevchenko was woken by the sound of explosions as bombs fell close to his home.
‘Everything in my life changed in that moment,’ he said. ‘We spent the first night listening to the sound of machine guns outside, praying we would not be killed.’
Schevchenko felt he had no choice but to set off on an arduous 3,000-kilometre car journey across Europe with his wife and children. His destination was Wiltshire, where the family had been offered a place to stay with a British family under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.