- Brit Ian Umney traveled to
Ukraine on Sunday to be reunited with his wife and son, who live near Dnipro. - It took the 28-year-old English teacher nearly 48 hours to get back to his family.
A British man traveled against a sea of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing advancing Russian troops on Sunday to be reunited with his wife and son in Ukraine.
Ian Umney settled in Ukraine six years ago, after meeting his wife, Nelia, on a vacation to the country. They welcomed a son, Jonathan, in 2019.
Last year, the Umneys decided to move back to the UK, so Ian went ahead of his wife and son to get settled. While Russian troops had been amassing on the borders for months, Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade the country last week took the family by surprise.
Umney spoke to Insider on Tuesday, just a few hours after he finally returned to his home in Ukraine, capping off a dramatic 48-hour journey that started Sunday, when he boarded a Krakow, Poland-bound flight in Manchester, England.
From Krakow, the 28-year-old English teacher took a train and then a taxi to the Ukrainian border, where he met a man who offered him a ride into Ukraine.
By the time he reached Ukraine, it was the early hours of Monday morning. He says he walked for about three miles before meeting some people who let him sleep in their car for a few hours. After his brief rest, he helped ferry some women and children to the border, before getting a ride towards Lviv in a car transporting five soldiers.
The car dropped him just outside of Lviv, where he took a bus to the city, and then a taxi to train station. The final legs of his journey were spent on an overnight train, followed by a bus, back to his wife, who's living in a town south of Dnipro, Ukraine.
Throughout the journey, Umney says he didn't see or hear any Russian military action, but did witness some "concerning scenes."
When he first arrived in Ukraine, in the early morning hours, he recalled seeing "hundreds of people huddled around a small fire trying to keep warm." He says the train stations were full with women and children trying to flee.
But he says he was also touched by the many acts of kindness he received and witnessed along the way.
"Throughout the whole journey I always saw someone helping. People volunteering with their own soup and their own tea and coffee or the Red Cross with their own food and warm shelters for people arriving at the train station," Umney said.
Umney said he was offered food and money along the journey as well, and plenty of support from people online, where he documented his journey on TikTok.
"The support and love from both the online community and the people of Ukraine towards me has been fantastic. I've been very well received here, people call me a hero or they say they have a lot of respect for me. But I'm just doing my duty as a father and a husband," Umney said.
Umney choked up as he described what it was like to finally see his wife and son again after his long journey.
"As soon as I saw them, my son opened his arms and gave me a hug and I kissed my wife and that was the happiest thing I've experienced in a long time. It was well worth it," he said.
But within an hour of getting home, Umney says he heard his first air raid siren.
Umney says he arrived back in his wife's town around 3 p.m. and has since heard the air raid siren go off twice. Each time, he and his family have walked three doors down to the nearest bomb shelter and waited for the all clear. He says he hasn't heard any actual bombs dropped on the town so far.
For the time being, Umney says he's focused on spending time with his family and deciding what to do next.
When asked if there was any part of him that was considering staying and helping fight, Umney said "yeah, entirely."
"I'm willing to do whatever I have to, to defend my family, my city, but also Ukraine. I have no issues or second thoughts about that," he said.
However, he said the decision about whether to stay or go rests ultimately with his wife.
"It depends what my wife wants to do," Umney said. "She has more say really about what happens. But I think that we are gonna stay."