Edinburgh student saves Ukrainian friend sheltering from bombs alone in Kyiv zoo
| Published date | 28 June 2022 |
| Author | Iona Young |
| Publication title | EdinburghLive (Scotland) |
On Sunday June 26 Nicks' friend Vlad safely flew into Edinburgh airport from Poland. The 22-year old is now staying in a flat with Nick while they sort the visa documents.
Earlier in the year when Nick himself fled from Ukraine, he told Edinburgh Live how dangerous his country had become since Russia invaded. He said many safe spaces for those in the LGBT+ community had disappeared since the war started.
Although he has spent the last few months embracing his new life in the Scottish capital and settling in well, the 22-year-old has found the experience bittersweet. He tells of being torn up inside watching his beautiful country ripped apart with the Ukrainian people in grave danger.
So when a friend from back home became trapped alone in Kyiv - and after being stuck in the unimaginable situation himself - Nick knew he had to do something to help.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Nick explained: "I met Vlad when I lived in Donetsk. It was a few years ago.
"We already lived in a military city for a long time and got used to shelling. He is a talented musician and singer, he worked in the Donetsk Philharmonic and performed on the national Ukrainian television and the finale of the show All Together Now. "
Nick explained how All Together Now is a reality song contest similar to the X Factor in the UK and before the war Vlad loved to sing only for his dreams of stardom to be put on hold for now.
He fled Donetsk to Kyiv only for the war to escalate and the capital to become just as unsafe, leaving Vlad to seek shelter alone in Kyiv Zoo where he spent months living alone.
Nick said: "But on February 15, he left Donetsk for Kyiv to shoot the film, and a large-scale Russian invasion began. Early in the morning, Russian missiles bombarded the city centre where it was located.
"He was scared because the war he had fled in peaceful Kyiv had happened again. He lived for several months in the Kyiv Zoo where he took refuge from Russian shelling.
"He had no one in Kyiv, the war caught him alone. He had to start the evacuation himself, as he had health problems and needed treatment."
This was heart-breaking for the young Ukrainian to watch so he reached out to his friend trapped in Ukraine and offered to help him flee the country.
"Then I got in touch with him and offered to...
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