It’s the unthinkable dilemma no parent wants to face.

Leave your wartorn country to keep one child safe, or stay together in your homeland – risking every life – to be with the child who is forced to stay and fight.

This ‘Sophie’s Choice’-style nightmare became the harsh reality for one Ukrainian family.

Oksana Voloshchuk, 40, is the loving mum of two children – son Denys, 19, and daughter Veronika, 15.

She is married to a Yakiv Voloshchuk, 60, who is a British citizen of Ukrainian heritage and a former London bus driver. Both her children have type 1 diabetes. Her son Denys also wears hearing aids.

When the war broke out, like all Ukrainian people, the family were terrified.

Yakiv, who is currently living in the UK, drove to the border to pick up Oksana, Veronika and Denys on 26 February.

As their son has type 1 diabetes, and also suffers with hearing difficulties, they thought he would be exempt from serving in the war.

“I thought we would be allowed out of the country because he is technically not eligible to serve in the armed forces,” explains Oksana.

“Yet when we approached border control, they wouldn’t let him pass out of the country,” she continues. “I had such a dilemma. I wanted both of my kids to be safe, but Denys insisted we flee to Britain and safety. He urged me, ‘Go Mum, take Veronica. And Dad will meet you on the other side’.”

In the end Oksana and Veronika faced a nightmare trying to enter the UK.

After driving across Europe to get to France, the UK Border Force in Calais wouldn’t let the family into the UK for over a week. They sent them back and forth between the British Embassy and the UK visa processing centre over 10 times.

“It was an especially hard time because Veronica suffers from diabetes and illness where her blood sugar levels can go dangerously high if she doesn’t take her medication or eat the right food,” explains Yakiv.

“We took very little stuff with us – very little medication, very little food,” says Veronika

“They should understand our situation, the stress we are in because I ran from the bombs in Ukraine.

“I ran to my father who is a UK citizen. I wanted to stay with my father in the UK for safety. I hope that other families who are going to arrive in the UK will face less difficulties.”

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Finally, UK authorities granted Veronica and her mother their visas so they could get into the UK with Yakiv, but the agony is far from over for the family, who have been forced to separate.

As the war in Ukraine rages on, they’re increasingly worried about Veronika’s older brother Denys.

“Last week Denys took an oath to defend our country,” his mother says.

“We are so proud of him fighting for our country. But I’m terribly worried because he has hearing difficulties. If he hears a command to ‘run’, he might not hear it properly and won’t be able to follow instructions.”

Now the family are raising funds to buy Denys new hearing aids as they are not in a position financially to do so themselves.

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The cost of the pair Denys needs is around £2,500 and they are praying for kind donations.

Denys’ family speaks to him every day on the phone. He says things are quiet where he is in western Ukraine at the moment, but the battery on his hearing aid is low and he’s running out of his medicine for diabetes.

Only a few pharmacies where Denys is posted have the insulin he desperately needs.

“We try and reassure him by saying ‘We’ll send you some over,” says Oksana.

“I just don’t believe this is happening in our country. I want all our boys to come back in one piece.”

Veronica can’t bear the idea of her brother being left in their tattered homeland.

“I hope for Ukrainian victory and the country builds itself back and I will be able to return,” she says.

“We tell Denys every day ‘We love you so much – hold on, be strong’.”

• If you would like to help raise money for Denys’ hearing aids, you can donate to his Just Giving page here.