Baby born in UK after family fled Ukraine with only a few suitcases

A baby boy has been born in the UK after his family fled their home city with only a few suitcases to escape the horrors of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.Alex Tyshchenko, part of a new generation of Ukrainians, was born on September 20, and mum Iryna Tyshchenko hopes for a brighter future for him and his older sisters.Iryna and her husband Yevhen decided to flee their hometown after seeing an explosion outside their Kherson apartment window at a nearby airport.Fearing for the safety of their unborn child and their daughters Anya, 19, Kira, 14, and Veronika, 11, they packed up all the belongings they could fit in their car, including their two pet cats, and set off, reports Cheshire Live.They travelled across Europe to the UK via Poland. They stayed in Poland for around a month, and at one point pregnant Iryna and her family were living in basic accommodations, which included sleeping on mattresses on the floor.They finally arrived in the UK in May and have been staying with a host family in Cheshire, with their daughters attending the nearby high school.In Tarporley, Iryna, Yevhen, and their daughters were able to prepare for the arrival of baby Alex, who was born at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Iryna Tyshchenko with her son Alex (Image: Cheshire Live)Iryna is relieved to see her family in a place of safety and that Anya, Kira, and Veronika can all continue their education, learning English as they go.Iryna was the only family member who was fluent in English when they first arrived in the UK, but they have all been attending classes at the nearby Tarporley Community Centre.The classes are taught by Dr Ann Williams of Tarporley Rotary Club, who was inspired by meeting the family and Alex’s arrival to organise a fundraising concert for Ukrainian children’s hospitals. Iryna spoke of the day back in Ukraine when she knew her family’s lives would change forever, saying: “It was the morning and I was drinking my coffee in our apartment. I looked out of the window and could see a bomb had exploded at the airport.”We decided not to wait any longer but to go. We took the girls and the cats and a few suitcases and got into our car and left. It was a long trip.”We travelled in a minibus across Europe, going through Germany and France and Melissa from our host family came to pick us up.”We got in touch with them through a site to link up people with host families and they are really lovely people. We are very lucky to know them.”When asked what it was like to uproot her family and move to a completely new country, Iryna said: “It was difficult. For me, it was a bit easier, but for other members of my family, it’s been difficult to come somewhere new and to learn English.”The girls are teenagers, or nearly a teenager in Veronika’s case, and it’s difficult for them to be so far away from their friends and the activities they enjoyed doing. Kira is a professional ballroom dancer, and it would be good for her to be able to resume this.”Kira plays guitar and drums and has a music teacher, and she enjoys practising when she gets home from school. They have made friends here, but it is hard for them.She added that they doted on their little brother, although they were happy to hand him back to his mother when he cried.It is a time of celebration with the arrival of baby Alex, but it is bittersweet as they worry about loved ones still in Ukraine.Iryna said she had offered her 75-year-old father the chance to accompany them when they fled Ukraine, but he had chosen to stay. Alex was born in the UK after his family fled Ukraine (Image: Cheshire Live)She added: “I asked if he wanted to come and he said he wanted to stay. I would love to have the opportunity to visit him but it doesn’t seem possible at the moment.”In terms of moving back there, even if the war finished it would be difficult to live and work there and raise our kids as the war has destroyed our city.”Many buildings have been destroyed and I am not sure we still have our apartment. There’s unlikely to be anything left due to robbers. “She is anxious for her husband to find work to enable the family to eventually find a place of their own to live.He is currently having difficulty finding work as a HGV driver as his Ukrainian licence means he is not allowed to do this in the UK.”He can’t just change his driving licence. He worked for a Polish company and was working in Germany, France and the UK on a rota but yet he cannot work as a driver here in the UK” Iryna said.”We are here until the spring. Time is going fast. We can stay in the UK for three years but my husband needs to find a job and it’s difficult to get places to rent. We may go to Poland.”Speaking about her experiences of having a baby in a new country, Iryna said she had a warm welcome and plenty of support from the midwifery team and was happy to have been able to have a water birth at the Countess of Chester Hospital.She said if she had not come to the UK to safety with her family then she would also have been worried about access to proper medical care for the birth due to the destruction caused by war and the damage caused to hospitals and supplies of medicine and equipment.Iryna and her family are settling into the new community which they currently call home, with Anya studying at Cheshire College South and West in Chester, while Kira and Veronika attend nearby Tarporley High School.Dr Ann Williams, chair of the international committee of the Rotary Club of Tarporley and District and a language teacher, said she was delighted to have seen the warm welcome and support given to a number of families from Ukraine living in Tarporley.She added that she was enjoying putting on English classes to support them.She said she hoped many people would come along to attend the fundraising concert and to raise money for children’s hospitals in the war-torn country.Dr Williams added: “We are spending a lot of time teaching Ukrainian refugees about our language and culture which they have wholly embraced. It’s now time for us to enjoy learning more about the culture of their beautiful country at the same time as raising desperately needed funds for sick children in Ukraine’s war-torn hospitals.’The concert, called The Spirit of Ukraine, is an evening of opera, poetry and art from Ukraine, and takes place at Storyhouse in Chester at 7pm on Friday, November 25.Tickets are available from the Storyhouse box office.It has been organised by Tarporley Rotary Club in partnership with the Ukrainian Cultural Association in the UK and features actor Maryam d’Abo, world-renowned operatic stars Elena Xanthoudakis-Soprano and Rozanna Madylus and Ukrainian composer and pianist Alla Sirenko.