A FLINTSHIRE man who was living in Ukraine during the 2013 protests has spoken about the Russian invasion and what it means to his Ukrainian friends.

In the early hours of this morning, Russia began a ‘full scale’ invasion of Ukraine and reports say that around 40 people have been killed.

This is following years of friction between the two countries which lead to protests in Kyiv in 2013-2014, where Russ Williams was living at them time and had to leave. Russ has stayed in contact with his friends in Ukraine since he left.

Russ, who runs gyms teaching kickboxing and martial arts in Wrexham and Caerwys, had been planning to go back to Ukraine in 2020 to teach but was stopped by the pandemic and so hasn’t been back.

Previously, Russ and his friends in Ukraine did not think that the tensions would turn into an invasion, or war, however since the developments early this morning Russ said the feeling in Ukraine is very “worried” and that some people no longer feel safe.

Russ explained: “It’s bad news. My friends are really worried, and the shops are running empty of food. Its really bad over there.”

He has friends who live around Zhytomyr, in the north, who have told him that they have heard explosions around the area.

Russ added: “We thought it was just going to be in the East, where a lot of the people are Russian speaking. It seems to be spreading right through Ukraine as though they are going to take over the whole of Ukraine. People are going out weapon training, buying guns where they can.

“They’re really worried for themselves and their families.”

According to Russ, his friends don’t know how far Russia will go with their efforts, and so do not want to be named, and some Ukrainians have been trying to get out of the big cities in case there is trouble, causing gridlock.

He said: “It seems like they’re going to change the government over there. It’s a shame because this should have been sorted years ago in 2013-14 but it’s just been festering.

“This has been a real shock for them because even though there was talk of it, they never thought it would happen in the rest of Ukraine. They just thought it would be in the east where there’s been fighting going on for nearly ten years, so they are just worried about it.”

In a recent Tweet, Mark Drakeford described the situation as “horrifying” and “appalling”

He added: “The international community must now stand together with the people of Ukraine against such unprovoked aggression. #StandWithUkraine”