A Ukrainian woman who is now in Fermanagh is considering herself and her daughter very lucky.

Lana Turianska (39), and her six-year-old daughter, Erika, are now staying in Enniskillen, having left their native Ukraine mere days before Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine.

Hailing from a large town called Kolomiya, in the oblast (region) of Ivanofrankiusk, her parents are still in the town, which is approximately twice the size of Enniskillen.

She travelled to Enniskillen with her daughter Erika and her partner, Stephen, who is from Fermanagh.

Explaining the current situation in Ukraine, Lana said: “It’s western Ukraine, it is still in danger, they have bombed airports around us.

"We left before that; my boyfriend said, 'We are taking our passports and we are going to Romania', and then we took our passports [and left].”

Lana explained that, before leaving Ukraine, some embassies were advising foreign nationals to leave – something that she and her Fermanagh boyfriend had taken to heart.

Prior to their leaving, domestic and international media had covered extensively the growing amount of Russian troops and equipment massing along Ukraine's borders, which she and Stephen had also discussed.

Once they had taken the decision to leave Ukraine early, as Russia's troops build-up continued, they later travelled to Italy to await visa stamps for their passports, before undertaking onward travel

They had planned a visit to Fermanagh prior to the Russian build-up invasion, revealed Lana. She said: “We applied for a visa just to come to visit, but we used that visa for kind of escaping, it just happened that way.

“We were planning to go much later, but in the middle of the application the embassy said this is not a good situation, everybody has to get out [to leave Ukraine].

“I wanted to leave my country [to come here] on February 27, it [the invasion] started on 24, and we left before the 20.

“My family is in western Ukraine, they live in their house, and every day they have air alarms, twice a day, and sometimes at night, so they have to go to safe place.

"Western Ukraine is kind of safe; my town is packed now with refugees [from eastern Ukraine].”

She continues to stay in touch with her parents every day, videocalling them, also staying in contact with friends at home and abroad, as she and the wider international Ukrainian community stay in touch around the world, sharing information and concern for their home country.

Discussing the wider situation and the growing war, she described the situation in her home town.

She said: “It is not like eastern or central [Ukraine], because they [towns there] have just vanished; some cities, the Russians have just bombed it all, and it is totally destroyed.

“Buildings that survived the First and Second World War have been destroyed. They bombed schools, kindergartens, maternity hospitals – it sounds surreal."

Speaking about what she thinks could be the future for her country, Lana said: “I think it is going to go on a long time; that fairy tale that they [the Russian government] are showing [their internationally rejected claim of a peacekeeping mission] is just a myth.

“It’s all big theatre they have created. If it's going to stop, [it could be like] in the last eight years in Donbas."

The eastern Ukraine area is controlled by separatist groups which have been designated as terrorist organisations by the Ukraine government

"[Russian separatists] might try to do the same in Ukraine; they could keep it that way, and keep Ukraine in a bad situation.”

Lana considers herself very lucky and fortunate compared to so many others in her country.

She's doing her best to help her young daughter adjust to their visit to Enniskillen – a temporary home from home, for which they are grateful to have reached, but of course home is home and the pair miss Ukraine, especially family.

Young Erika misses her grandparents terribly. Lana says they talk as much as they can, but she still has to comfort Erika, who cries sometimes, missing home and unable to understand what has changed their lives so much, and why.

For now, the pair are making the best of things, as they appreciate how they've been received here.

Lana said: "We are good, we are in a good place with everything, to be honest."

However, she added: "Me and lots of my friends who are abroad, we have the guilt of survivors."