From Kyiv to Malaga, Olga's most difficult journey ever

The bombs woke them early in the morning of 24 February, but they thought it was thunder and went back to sleep. Then, a few hours later, there was an air raid siren and they knew their worst fears had been realised and they should leave, for the sake of their two-year-old son. "That's when I knew: we were at war," she says.

Olga, 37, rang her mother, to try to get her to go with them, but she didn't believe Kyiv was being bombed and refused, saying she had to work. So the couple and little boy drove across the border to Moldova and then Olga's husband returned to fight as a volunteer, after seeing them on their way. "Saying goodbye to him was the hardest thing I have ever done," she says now.

Olga and her son arrived in Malaga on Sunday after a punishing 11-day, 4,000 kilometre journey through Romania, Hungary, Slovenia and Italy. She is staying with family members in the city. "I can't get used to people here being happy and at peace," she says. She is starting to adapt and is very grateful for the hospitality she has received. When the war is over, she wants to return to Kyiv and help rebuild the city and the country. For now, though, she plans to apply for asylum in Spain, and is constantly checking her mobile phone for news of her husband. "When he rings, my heart jumps. At least I know that he is safe at that moment," she says.