Gold Coast man Jason Marrable flies to Europe to rescue Ukrainian sister-in-law, baby

A mum who fled war-torn Ukraine has found safety with family on the Gold Coast – but is haunted by what she has been forced to leave behind.

A GOLD COAST man who travelled to Europe to rescue his Ukrainian sister-in-law and her baby from a humanitarian crisis says it was “awesome” to have them in Australia, but there was huge sadness about those left behind.

Jason Marrable travelled to Warsaw, Poland, after his wife’s sister Iryna fled there with her nine-month-old son Maxim from their home in war-torn Kyiv.

The trio landed at Brisbane Airport on Saturday, exactly two weeks to the day since Mr Marrable flew out on his rescue mission.

But Iryna’s husband Vadik has stayed in Kyiv to help fight Russian invaders.

“I was excited when we landed. It was awesome to be home,” Mr Marrable said. “... But at the same it was tinged with a lot of sadness that there are people dying, people being murdered.

“Iryna’s also really sad that her husband Vadik is there and she doesn’t know when she’s going to see him again.”

Mr Marrable’s wife Nataliya said she was overcome with emotion when she met her sister at the airport.

“I was very excited,” she said. “There was lots of television cameras and I said to myself, I’m not going to cry in front of the cameras, but when I saw her I just couldn’t stop.”

Mr Marrable said the family’s focus now was to help Iryna and Maxim adjust to life on the Gold Coast. He said they were among millions of Ukrainian women and children seeking refuge.

“In less than two weeks, the population of Brisbane and the Gold Coast have fled their homeland,” he said.

“Three-and-a-half million mums and children have been forced out of their homes.”

MARCH 10: GOLD COASTER’S DESPERATE RESCUE MISSION

On Saturday morning, Jason Marrable was at home on the Gold Coast.

By Sunday night, he was at the centre of one of the greatest human tragedies the world has seen.

Mr Marrable is in Warsaw, Poland, with his sister-in-law Iryna and her nine-month-old baby Maxim.

Iryna and Maxim have just completed a harrowing 10-day trek from her home in war-torn Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

“It’s been a whirlwind. I left Brisbane Airport at a 2.45 on Saturday afternoon and arrived in Warsaw about 1.30 on Sunday,” Mr Marrable said.

“We reunited with Iryna and baby Max. It’s the first time I’ve met Max, and haven’t seen Iryna for a number of years.

“That was a pretty emotional time for those guys. She doesn’t speak any English so all she could say to me when she saw me was ‘we safe, we safe, we safe’, which was f****** heartbreaking.”

Mr Marrable is now trying to help Iryna rest and recover as best she can after her harrowing journey to Warsaw with Maxim, during which she hardly ate or slept.

“We got her out of Kyiv. That was a mission in itself,” Mr Marrable said.

“We got them across the border and literally, she has one little bag, it’s like something you wouldn’t even take to the gym.

“And she had 30-odd hours of sleeping in the woods, and train stations and buses and all the time not letting go of that baby.

“No nappies, no food, no formula, having to beg farmers for cow’s milk.

“ … And to get to the final destination where they could jump on the train, they had to give up their car, they gave their car to a man that would drive them the final 140km to get them across their border.

“That was the deal, we’ll give you the car if you drive us.”

Vadik, Iryna and Maxim pictured before Ukraine was invaded.

Not with them is Iryna’s husband and Maxim’s dad, Vadik.

Able-bodied men are not allowed to leave Ukraine. He had to say goodbye to his family near the border, not knowing if or when he will ever see them again.

“He’s got pretty stark decisions to make,” Mr Marrable said. “He had to stay. He either fights and lives or fights and dies or hides as long as he can. That’s his reality.”

Mr Marrable, a project manager with events specialist Clifton Productions whose family also own Amphawa Thai Restaurant in Bundall, is now working to get Iryna and Maxim to the Gold Coast, where his wife Nataliya and daughters Sofia (10) and Lucia (6) are anxiously waiting to welcome them.

On Tuesday he helped Iryna navigate the Polish health system to get a Covid-19 vaccination, using “a lot of Google Translate, a lot of charades, a lot of drawing pictures” to overcome the language barrier.

Their next stop will be Frankfurt in Germany, where they will be hosted by a local family until Iryna’s and Maxim’s visas come through.

Mr Marrable said the Australian Government had “been great”, waiving visa fees and helping expedite a 12-month visitor visa, while Flight Centre founder Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner had stepped in to pay for flights for Iryna and Maxim and logistics company Mainfreight had helped with accommodation in Poland.

But while Iryna is now safe, many more challenges lie ahead.

“Three weeks ago they were living a normal life, doing normal things, doing exactly what we do with our children, and through no fault of their own their life have been torn apart and turned upside down. They’re basically displaced war refugees,” Mr Marrable said.

“ … Even though Iryna’s safe now she’s definitely got some post traumatic stress going on. I can’t imagine what she’s going through.

“ … Probably the biggest challenge for her at the moment is she’s not eating. She’s just so highly stressed and strung she doesn’t have an appetite.”

A GoFundMe appeal has been set up to help Iryna and Maxim, who it is hoped will be in Australia in about two weeks.

“Luckily enough we’ve got the financial means to support them in the short term, but it’s that kind of, what’s their medium to long term potential look like,” Mr Marrable said.

“We put a target of $20,000, I think we’re close to $17,000, which is amazing.

“It just shows the power of community.

“I go through those donations every day and thank everyone individually and there would be 60-70 per cent of these people I don’t know.

“ … I had a really moving message from some 13-year-old kid from Vancouver on my Instagram page saying that he was really moved, his great-grandparents were from Ukraine, and he was promising me that he was going to go and get an after-school job and he was going to donate all of his earnings to the cause.

“That was some 13-year-old kid in Canada. It was amazing.”

There are many more people who need help.

Mr Marrable said he was witnessing desperate scenes in Warsaw, which was crowded with women, children and elderly people carrying their “worldly possessions” in plastic bags.

“You can see the fear in their eyes. That’s one of the consistent things,” he said.

“This morning I was down in the central train station in Warsaw … going around providing some food and money to families, and all it is is mums and children. There are no men involved.

“ … It’s heartbreaking. You just see this look of hopelessness in their eyes.

“ … I’ve been helping out where I can. Handing out twenty euro notes. Your wallet gets empty pretty quick.

“But first and foremost they wanted food. I took a bunch of families this morning into McDonald’s.

“Money, they are very suspicious of. There’s a kind of look in their eyes, ‘if I take that twenty euros what do you want from me?’. Because there’s a lot of human trafficking going on at the moment. A lot of traffickers coming in, the people that prey on these situations. There’s been some terrible stories in the local media around here about people being raped, children being kidnapped.

“It’s just heartbreaking what’s happening. We just can’t understand it.”

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