A CHEPSTOW man with family in Ukraine says he is yet to hear from his relatives following the Russian invasion earlier this week.

Silvano Woronycz, whose father came to the UK as a prisoner of war during World War Two, still has cousins living in the west of Ukraine – near the cities of Ivano-Frankisvk and Lviv.

Mr Woronycz, who lives in Chepstow with his wife Anita, said: “We thought that they may be safe, but the news today shows bombing in the area.

“We don't know where exactly they are.

“As yet no contact.”

The news on Thursday morning that Russia had begun an invasion of its neighbouring nation was met with shock and condemnation worldwide.

“This war does not make sense,” Mr Woronycz said.

“Putin has a strange understanding of Russian history.

“He has decided to enact his viewpoint with no regard to the consequences or cost to Russia, its people or to anyone else.

“He seems to be in a hurry now to become the greatest Russian leader of all time.

“Everyone will lose.”

The Maidan revolution of 2014 ousted president Yanukovych, following allegations of rigged elections and voter fraud.

“He had been funded to the tune of billions by the Kremlin in order to drag Ukraine and its people back to the dark side,” Mr Woronycz said.

“The annexation of Crimea that followed was retaliation from Putin that his man had failed.”

As Russian soldiers marched across the border, Putin outlined his plan of ‘denazification’ for Ukraine.

“The elimination of anyone and everyone who disagrees with his viewpoint,” Mr Woronycz said.

“They can say goodbye to any form of democracy, freedom to speak, freedom to think and sadly the right to call themselves Ukrainian.”

Mr Woronycz’s family have had previous encounters with the Russian military – at the time the Soviet military.

During World War Two, his father was ‘volunteered’ into the Ukrainian division of the German Army following the Nazi invasion.

“The alternative to volunteering, I will leave to your imagination,” Mr Woronycz said.

In 1945, the Ukrainians surrendered to the Allies.

However, the Soviet Union demanded that all Ukrainian officers and men of rank were turned over to them. These men were never seen or heard of again.

“It was a dark period in the allied armies’ history,” Mr Woronycz said.

“Even though they were in Britain, my dad was fearful that the British Government may, at any time, hand them over to the Soviet government.”

Fortunately, this did not come to pass and Mr Woronycz’s father settled in Manchester. He eventually married an Italian woman who had been recruited to work in the cotton mills by the British government during the 1950s.