A STUDENT is desperately seeking help to get her frail Ukrainian grandmother from Kyiv to the UK to escape the Russian invasion.

Anna Maria Szalay, 23, who is studying law with business at the University of Sussex, has been calling charities and Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas to find a way to get her 74-year-old grandmother Svetlana from the Ukrainian capital to "any border" to get her to Britain.

Anna, who is from Oxford, said her family had successfully got a visitor visa for her grandmother to come to the UK, but she required a stamp in her passport from a visa office to be able to visit. War broke out on the day Svetlana was planning to visit the office.

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Anna said she was completely taken by surprise by news of the invasion on Thursday.

She said: "I woke up at 9am and texted my family hello, and my mum said that my gran had called her at 5am and said 'the war has started, the bombs are dropping'.

"No one expected this. My mum was in Ukraine a week ago and she said that everyone was de-escalating. There were troops but people weren't particularly worried - there was no warning that this would happen.

"When the news showed scenes of Kyiv, I keep thinking 'I've been there, I know where that is'. It's unreal."

Anna said she and her family are contacting everyone they can to get her grandmother out of the country and to safety.

She said: "We're hearing from relatives in Ukraine that the road to Poland is completely blocked by cars - no one can get out. There's also no petrol so cars are just dying on the motorway.

"I'm just trying to get her to a border, because once we get her to a border, she has a visa - she just doesn't have the stamp in her passport.

"She's really frail, so she wouldn't manage with a bus that would take more than a few hours, there is a risk trains would be bombed, and tubes are packed because they are being used as hiding places. Unless you have a car, you will not get out."

She said her mother is prepared to meet her at any border, but that they need help getting her grandmother from Kyiv to the border of a neighbouring country.

Meanwhile, her male relatives in the country have been ordered to serve in the army.

She said: "They'll die - there is absolutely no way around it. They don't know what to do - men are being turned away at the border.

"These men are being sent to their deaths, these are not men who want to serve - they are fighting a war they do not want to be part of."

Anna was critical of the Western response to the invasion and said more should have been done when Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.

"I feel very angry because eight years ago no one stood in. Sanctions were enforced, but that's not very helpful," she said.

"Ukraine was left by themselves, and the West allowed this to happen.

"This war will seep into other countries - they won't stop at Ukraine. Ukraine troops can only hold them off for so long."

She encouraged people to lobby their MPs to ensure Western nations provide humanitarian support for those trying to flee the conflict.

Rocket strikes have hit the Ukrainian capital amid reports that Russian forces are preparing to encircle Kyiv.

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