Kent woman describes her family's exhausting escape from war-torn Ukraine

A Ukrainian woman living in Canterbury is urging the British government to accept more women and children escaping the conflict, into the UK.

Olena Nizalova, who works at the University of Kent, says her sister and nephews have managed to flee the fighting in Ukraine but they cannot be reunited here because siblings do not count as 'immediate family'.

Boris Johnson has announced that immediate family members will be able to join Ukrainians settled in the UK, as they flee the Russian invasion.

Today, Olena and her husband Denys have been handing out information leaflets in Canterbury in support of those suffering in their homeland.

Fighting has reached Olena's home city Mykolayiv in Southern Ukraine. 

Her sister headed for the border, travelling alone with her two young sons - aged 8 and 6. Olena was able to stay in text and video contact with her sister until her mobile phone battery ran out.

Oleana said: "The last thing I saw at night was, they are so heavy, I don't think I can carry them because they are just collapsing. They are so tired, they are sleeping on the ground.

"They are just falling on the ground to sleep and it's cold and she can't carry them. That was her worry and for me as well it was a worry because that was the last thing I saw. What if they freeze?"

WATCH: Olena Nizalov says her nephews faced an exhausting journey

She added: "What we would really like to ask people is to look for opportunities to support the people but then also humanitarian-wise to think how you can support one or two refugee families, how you can welcome them or comfort them from the horror that they have been experiencing."

An extra 100,000 Ukrainians will be allowed to "seek sanctuary" in the UK for the next 12 months, Priti Patel has said, after temporarily relaxing immigration rules - but not everyone fleeing the invasion will automatically be permitted entry over security fears.

The home secretary said anyone with immediate families in the UK would be allowed to live in the UK, even if they do not qualify under current immigration system, so long as they pass security checks.

The European Union announced on Sunday it would accept an unlimited amount of Ukrainians fleeing war, without asking them to apply for asylum first, allowing them to remain for up to three years.

> Student vet from Hampshire delivers food and bedding to refugees fleeing Ukraine

> 'Be brave, look after your mother and sister': Ukrainian father's plea to 6-year-old son