It’s been a year of worry and fear for New Zealand Ukrainian Natalia Stepura, watching from afar as Russia invaded her homeland, forcing her family to flee in search of safety.
But this Christmas, she can finally breathe a little easier as her mum Antonina Kipen sits by her side in Aotearoa after escaping war-torn Ukraine.
“We always planned she would come visit one day,” says mother-of-three Natalia, who never expected war would be the reason for the much-longed for reunion.
Speaking to the Weekly from her Lower Hutt home, the dressmaker, who moved here 10 years ago, translates as her mum Antonina bravely shares her story.
On the morning of February 23 this year, Antonina, 65, left her Kyiv home for work not realising it would be for the last time.
Russian forces had been gathering at the border for months and government advice was to pack an emergency supplies bag in case the situation escalated. But for the
