February 8, 2023 6.55 am This story is over 16 months old

Ukrainian doctor in Grantham makes trips home to help on frontline

“She’s a hero”

A Ukrainian doctor who has been living with a host family in Grantham was placed in a military hospital right on the frontline in her homeland.

Kateryna Buchatska, 27, and her mum Elena fled Irpin before seeking sanctuary in Lincolnshire in June last year, where they have lived with their hosts Karen and Andy Marlor.

The mother and daughter have returned to Ukraine four times in the past six months. Kateryna recently spent three months at a military hospital in the Zaporizhzhya region, which has been the victim of repeated Russian attacks.

She told BBC Look North: “I’ve been assistant on an operation. It was the most difficult operation I’d ever seen before…It’s good experience, but I was exhausted and depressed and I can’t even help other people because I was destroyed. I understand that I need to spend my holiday in some safe place.”

She added: “I’d never heard about Grantham honestly. When we walked here through the street we missed home, but we missed home which was before the war.”

Kateryna spent three months in a military hospital in the Zaporizhzhya region of Ukraine. | Screenshot: BBC Look North

Kateryna’s host Karen Marlor said: “They are such selfless people, they spend a lot of time walking through Grantham looking for things in charity shops to help other people, things that are needed back home.”

Karen added: “When Kateryna went back to Zaporizhzhya it was awful to think of her there, but also I’m just so proud of her. She says that I’m like her English mum, well she is my Ukranian daughter and in my eyes she’s a hero.”

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