Nicola's husband Peter Chumak has lived in the UK most of his life but still has a Ukrainian passport, so he is currently stranded there.
Nicola Chumak
Peter Chumak arrived at the Ukrainian border at 10:30 p.m. on February 24, hoping to cross into Poland and make his way home to his family in the United Kingdom. He was 90 minutes too late. Ukraine had imposed martial law at 9 p.m., which banned men with Ukrainian citizenship aged between 18 and 60 from leaving the country.
Chumak, who is Ukrainian, only intended to be in the country for a week to see his parents for the first time since the start of the pandemic, but he arrived just days before Russia launched its invasion. Now, unable to leave, his family and friends in the UK are desperately trying to get him home.
"We just never considered that the Ukrainians would change the law," Peter's wife Nicola told Insider. "We just never really understood what could unfold."
Although Peter, 39, is a Ukrainian citizen, Nicola said her husband has lived in the UK for 20 years. The two have a young son, and Peter built a career as a hotel manager. It never felt like a priority to get him British citizenship, mostly due to the cost of the application.
"He might not have the paperwork to be British, but he is British, and he just wants to get back home," Nicola said.
After Ukrainian authorities denied his exit, Nicola said Peter stayed in a van at the border for a few days as his situation quickly began to deteriorate. It was cold, he didn't have enough food, and he started to get sick with a fever.
"It was pandemonium," Nicola said. "There was a dead body at the petrol station just laying on the floor, and there was nothing anyone could do."
Peter eventually made his way back to his parents' house in Western Ukraine, where he's currently staying. There was bombing in their town last Friday, Nicola said, and an air raid siren goes off three or four times a day. The couple have a call each morning, but are uncertain about what's to come. Peter will get a gun to defend his parents if Russian troops invade their town, he told Nicola, but he doesn't want to enlist in the army as many Ukrainians have done.
"It's really terrifying," Nicola said. "He's not a coward, he's not scared, but he just feels that it's not his home."
Nicola Chumak
Nicola's work colleagues set up a GoFundMe for the family after she mentioned she had been running out of toilet roll. It was just a small comment, Nicola said, since Peter was in charge of buying the "bulky" stuff, but watching the supply dwindle had become a physical metaphor of how long her husband had been gone.
The GoFundMe has raised £4,800 ($6,381) so far, which Nicola said they are considering using in a number of ways. While she is trying to get Peter home, there are bills adding up and expenses for him in Ukraine. The Chumaks are also considering trying to get Peter's British citizenship while he's in Ukraine, if it's possible. Nicola has been writing letters to politicians, she said, but both British and Ukrainian embassies told her there is nothing they could do to help.
"It felt like we were very, very alone in the situation," she said. "Like he was of no consequence to anybody except for us."
Nicola did receive a response this week from her local MP, Gareth Bacon, who said he had contacted foreign secretary Liz Truss.
"It's a little ray of hope," Nicola said.
Each morning, Nicola wakes up hoping that something has changed. She gives their son Harry, who's 12 years old, an update on his dad before school, then tries to make sure he doesn't have to think about it for the rest of the day by keeping him focused on his schoolwork, soccer, and everything they'll do when Peter gets home.
"He got man of the match last Friday," she said. "I was just so proud of him because he just wants to do good while his dad's away."
