Witham woman's 8-day journey out of Ukranian war zone

Christiana Moon, from Witham, managed to complete the exhausting journey as she fled from Vladimir Putin's war machine.

Christiana, 22, moved to the Essex town when she was nine, going to the Maltings Academy school.

She moved to the Ukraine when she was 18 to take a break from education.

Before the war - Christiana pictured overlooking Kyiv, way before the Russian invasion

She said: “I wanted to do a gap year.

"As I am a Christian, I felt it was what God wanted me to do with my life.

“It was something I wanted to explore, and I thought it would just be for a year and then go back to uni, but then I felt that I should stay for what turned out to be four years.”

During her time in Ukraine, Christiana completed training and began teaching in the School of Biblical Studies in Kyiv.

Religious teachings - Christiana teaching the book of Numbers to her students in Kyiv

However, along with the whole country, her life was turned upside down on the night of February 24.

She said: “I woke up at 5am to the sound of missiles.

"It was a huge sound and the whole building shook.

"It was like nothing I have ever experienced – I thought that is definitely not fireworks.

“I opened my social media and saw the news. It was unreal, just so scary.

“On the second day there was another night of missiles, and there was a really loud blast when a Russian plane got shot down close to where we live and crashed into a block of flats.

Severe damages - an apartment building damaged following a shelling on the town of Irpin (pic: Oleksandr Ratushniak)

“We were sheltering, and there were other people from Kyiv who came to shelter with us.”

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Christiana knew she had to leave, so began what would become an eight-day journey out of Kyiv to get back home to the UK.

She said: “We went to Ternopil in western Ukraine, which would normally take six or seven hours, but it took like 13 or 14 and we didn’t have time to stop.

“We had to take back roads with potholes to avoid the military, and there were cars jam packed coming out of Kyiv.

“We arrived in Ternopil in the middle of the night and went straight into the basement as there was an air raid warning ongoing.

“We were travelling in between air raids, where we were driven to the train station in Ternopil and took a train to Lviv.

Incredible journey - Christiana went from Kyiv through Teronpil, Lviv, Lublin and Krakow before flying back to Luton

“The station was packed. They are selling tickets so fast, and now they are basically selling tickets for space, not seats.

“When in Lviv, the next plan was a bus to Poland, but the buses were also hugely full, but we were lucky to be given a place to stay with a couple of students I knew through the church.

“They were kind enough to give up their own beds, and we stayed there for a couple of days.

“Eventually we got on a bus, and went to Lublin in Poland, before getting another train to Krakow, arriving on Wednesday last week.

“We stayed with another person who I contacted through the church, for another couple of days, before on Friday, March 4, I got a flight back to Luton.

“The whole thing was terrifying, surreal, and very sad, seeing all those affected.”

Christiana was met by family at the airport, and said she was completely overwhelmed.

Home again - Christiana pictured on Tuesday, in her house in Witham

She said: “I felt tired, shocked, emotional. I was basically living on adrenaline.

“It all hit me when I got off the plane, and since I have been back, for the last few days I have been going through it all.

“I had my next three years planned out and my home is in Ukraine.

“I have Ukrainian friends from church, I have a couple of friends who are from cities on the outskirts of Kyiv, and I saw on the news their cities were flattened, and haven’t heard from them in two days.

"I have no idea with how they are.”

Now home, Christiana hopes to help other refugees, and says the UK is not doing enough.

She said: “Only thing I have in my heart now is wanting to help refugees.

“I now have that experience of being one, and what that feels like to have your whole world turned upside down overnight.

“I can speak Russian, so I feel I can use my skills to help.

“In England we are not very open to refugees, and I think we need to do more.

Women and children, fleeing from Ukraine (pic: Visar Kryeziu)

"I have spoken to my MP. There are so many refugees, and there could be millions soon.

“I want to be of some help to them, like they helped me.”