‘It is not my place to fight’: UK resident trapped in Ukraine due to ban on military-age men leaving

‘It is just not my place to fight,’ 39-year-old who has lived in England for two decades says

Peter Chumak is eager to return home to be with wife Nicola and their 12-year-old son (Supplied)

A father who lives in the UK has been stopped from leaving Ukraine during the Russian invasion in case he is needed to fight - even though he says it is “not his place” to.

Peter Chumak told The Independent he wanted to return home to his wife and 12-year-old son in London, but instead has been left trapped in the country under siege without a way out.

The 39-year-old, who has lived in the UK for two decades, was in Ukraine attending family business when Russia launched their all-out invasion last week.

He headed to the border to return back home, but the journey took several hours longer than usual due to the mass of people also attempting to flee the attack.

By the time he arrived, it was too late: Ukraine had now banned men of military age from leaving the country.

“I’m not a coward. If someone was attacking England or someone was attacking my wife or my son, I would take a gun and go and fight,” he told The Independent.

Peter Chumak with his wife Nicola and their son (Supplied)

“This is not the place for me to fight. I’m not going to get a gun and start shooting.”

The father added: “I hate what Russia is doing at the moment. I’m definitely against the war and the war that Putin is doing. But I just want to come back home and see my family.”

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Russia launched an attack on Ukraine by sea, air and land on Thursday after the threat had loomed for weeks. Since then, rocket strikes have fallen on cities and heavy fighting has taken place across the country.

In the first four days of the attack, Ukraine’s health ministry said more than 350 civilians - including 14 children - were killed.

On Monday, the United Nations estimated half a million people have fled across the border so far.

Mr Chumak was not one of them. He has tried to cross three times - but was turned back each one.

Peter Chumak with his wife, Nicola (Supplied)

The 39-year-old said border officials told him: “You shouldn’t be here. You should be up front fighting for your homeland.”

The UK resident, who works in a hotel in London, said he tried to explain that even though he had a Ukrainian passport, he did not live there and his wife and son were in England. “My life is elsewhere.”

“It is just a broad rule that all the men, regardless of the situation, are not allowed to cross the border. The scenes at the border when all the men been parted from their families, like wives and children ... it has been horrific,” he said.

He spent three nights at the border trying to cross, during which time more and more people started turning up. Temperatures were about 5C and people would have to queue for several hours to use a petrol station toilet.

“The food started running out at the border,” he told The Independent. “I saw the body of a woman who literally died at the petrol station.”

Mr Chumak said he could not get any medicine when he started to fall ill - and ended up returning back to his parents’ home several hours inland to recover.

He will wait there and try and find a way to come back home to London “at the first opportunity”.

A man hugs his wife before she boards an evacuation train at Kyiv central train station (AFP via Getty Images)

“It is just not my place to fight,” the father-of-one said.

His British wife, Nicola O’Donnell, told The Independent, she had been in touch with embassies and the Foreign Office to try and get her husband - who has indefinite leave to remain in the UK - back home, but had not had any luck so far.

“Everybody’s says he’s not British, there’s nothing we can do. They were not very helpful,” the 47-year-old, who met her husband while they were both working in Pizza Hut in Kensington, said.

She is now trying to stay positive for their 12-year-old son, who says he wants to “make his dad proud” in his football games. Mr Chumak manages his son’s football team.

The Foreign Office declined to comment. The British Embassy in Ukraine has been approached for comment.

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