Ukrainian couple are engaged

A COUPLE who came to South Oxfordshire after fleeing the war in Ukraine have become engaged.

Bogdan Karashevskyi proposed to Svitlana Korovina on Saturday as her 28th birthday present and she accepted.

The couple were in London with their hosts, Rosie and Jeremy Brazil, from Newnham Hill, near Highmoor, who had given them tour bus tickets and a river trip as a gift for Miss Korovina’s birthday on Friday.

She said: “I was in shock — I really had no idea it was going to happen. I was just dancing around all relaxed and loving London.

“We were in Parliament Square and I was getting ready for a photo in front of Big Ben and then he just ran to me and got down on one knee with the ring and said, ‘I love you so much’. I hugged him and we were both crying a lot and it was after hugging that he asked me if I wanted to be his wife. Of course I said ‘yes’.”

Mr Karashevskyi, also 28, had been planning to propose to his girlfriend of three years since June but waited for the right occasion.

He had asked her what her favourite place to visit had been and she said Big Ben so he asked the Brazils if they would mind going back. He gave as an excuse that he didn’t like the photos they had taken there and wanted some more.

Mrs Brazil, who suspected that he wanted to propose, was happy to play along.

Mr Karashevskyi said: “It was the perfect time. We were having such a good time sightseeing and when I saw how beautiful London is, I thought it was perfect.

“I was so nervous. I was shaking and my legs went like jelly and when I said I loved her my voice cracked and I couldn’t speak — I just cried.”

On Miss Korovina’s birthday, the couple drove to Manchester to see her twin brother, who is in the Merchant Navy, at the airport as they hadn’t seen him since New Year. They spent 90 minutes with him before he had to fly off again.

The couple moved to England in May from Warsaw, where they had been staying for two months, through the Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme.

They had left the capital Kyiv on February 23, the day before the country was invaded by the Russians.

As this was before the war, Mr Karashevskyi did not need to fight but he took flak jackets, supplies and vehicles to the border to help soldiers and collected people who were crossing the border, including one of his friends who had been shot. In Poland they were joined by the wife and child of one of his friends who was still in Ukraine when men were told they had to join the war effort.

Mr Karashevskyi would drive the child to school and worked for Uber Eats while Miss Korovina and her friend did hairdressing and nails from home.

Now Mr Karashevskyi works at a BMW warehouse in Oxford and Miss Korovina has continued working as a beautician. The couple plan to wait until they can go back to Ukraine to have a big traditional wedding with their family and friends and want their English hosts to join them as they say they have become like family.

Mr Karashevskyi was off work this week and the couple were able to spend more time together as he usually works many hours. They named it their “week-moon”.

On Tuesday, the four of them went to Henley to David Rodger-Sharp jewellers to see if they could make the engagement ring a bit smaller.

Mr Rodger-Sharp told them it would be best for them to go to the shop where it came from.

Mrs Brazil, a part-time dog trainer, said: “We admire their positivity and their gratitude despite everything that is happening in their country.

“They refused to sign up to Universal Credit even though they were advised to. They wanted to work and the money they get they send to their parents and grandparents in Ukraine. We are so happy that they are engaged. I cried with them when it happened. It’s wonderful and it still makes me well up to think about it.”

Mr Brazil said: “They are like our surrogate children — they are like family to us. We get on so well and we are very happy for them.”

• While at the jewellers, Mr Brazil bought his wife an eternity ring.