The Spaniard who goes to Kiev to save his family: "They are bombing but I can't choose, I have to go"

And while almost all of Ukraine flees in terror from the Russian invader, and if perhaps the few who dare to enter do so to take up arms and agonizingly defend the country, a 55-year-old Spaniard from

has just flown from

to

and is preparing in

to catch a train this Thursday that, today, seems truly crazy: the one that makes the

route in just over a day .

How the hell is a train going to get into Kiev right now, with the Russians bombing the city?

"Well, yesterday he came in, I'm telling you", answers this newspaper (in an interview agreed days ago)

, who during the conversation alternates the Andalusian joke (somehow you have to process this), with some moment of irrepressible emotion , and with a very understandable hyperactivity: this official with five children and a couple of marriages behind him is about to enter fully into the lion's den of the second war on European soil in 77 years, to get his wife,

, 40, and her children,

(6 years old) and

(4), who have dual nationality, from the horror of war.

Come on, he doesn't wear a cape because he doesn't want to.

They are 30 kilometers south of

, at Roksolana's mother's house, and Juan Antonio is not sure how he is going to travel the

from the border to the capital and back.

But he does know one thing: he's going to do it, and he's going to get them out of the country.

As if he was just an army rescue unit from himself.

"Man, my cell phone's backup battery is failing and I'm scared," he says from Krakow, at almost zero degrees centigrade.

Every thing now counts.

Juan Antonio says that he did the mili "plugged in", but he is already in def with two.

What is your immediate plan, Juan Antonio?

The extraction plan, let's say. That, that, with a joke on top, hehe... No, man, what happens is that it's almost a military operation... Don't worry!

This is either done with humor, or imagine... If it weren't for the hint of humor and tragicomedy, it's true that this would be impossible... So, the plan. Let's see, there is total misinformation.

First: I have nothing fixed.

Everything is changing.

They are helping me to select reliable sources, because it changes every moment.

Because, let's see, I'm a civil servant, I don't have experience in these things... I did my military service but

, imagine... His wife and children, where exactly are they?

They are about 70 kilometers south of the capital, Kiev.

I am now based in Krakow because my wife has a friend here, and these friends will later come to the [Ukrainian and Polish] border to pick us up. How did you get into this situation, Juan Antonio? Last Friday morning I spoke with the Spanish embassy in Ukraine, and they tell me that there are no more convoys [to get Spaniards out of the country].

I spend 24 hours without sleeping, saying: 'What are you going to do, Juan?

What are you going to do?'.

And I get up on Saturday and say: 'I'm going there'. When did they go to Ukraine?

On January 21.

They were going to be until the beginning of March, until this week.

There they have their grandmother, who was having a hard time and loves them very much because they are her only grandchildren... But nobody expected the hatching of this. How did Roksolana and you meet? Well, hehehe... Do we have to go there? Man, she is going to get involved in a war no less, to save her and her two children...Yes, that's true...Well, she came in 2004 as a monitor for the association with which we brought children Ukrainians to Spain, acted as monitor and translator.

we met.

Then we started a relationship in 2007 and got married in 2008. We have always lived in Lucena, 10 kilometers from Cabra, where I was born.

The children are bilingual. They are very Ukrainian too.

Yes, yes, and this summer, when they were with my mother-in-law, they have loosened up a lot.

Well, Martín, who is very talkative, has already picked up the language very well.

Note that there people mainly speak Russian,

and the one who speaks Ukrainian generally does not speak it very well.

Since my wife and mother-in-law are philologists, people are surprised at how well Martín speaks Ukrainian. How long has Juan Antonio been bringing children from the Ukraine to Spain? Since 1996, more than 25 years.

I heard an ad on the radio in 1996: 'If you want to bring a child from Ukraine, call here'.

I called and brought 160. At my own risk!

I still don't know how I did it.

And when the summer ended I already wanted to get rid of that and the people: 'Well, next summer more'.

And I: 'But you're crazy'.

And then it was that we made the Miguel Vacas association, and look at all these years.

But let's see, I was going to tell you how I'm going to get in there... That, I see him accelerated.

Count, count.

There are three possibilities: bus Warsaw-Lviv, private transport up to 100 or 200 km.

within the Ukraine, so you then have to look for life, or the Warsaw-Kiev train.

I already have a ticket for the train. To Kiev?

Of course.

But of course, since they're bombing, I don't know if it's going to come out.

Yesterday it arrived, that I can tell you.

And today it has circulated.

It leaves at... Wait, it's in Polish.

At 5:48 p.m. it leaves, and you are at 11:00 a.m. in Kiev. Here between us: Juan Antonio, aren't you screwed up? I'm scared [he pauses].

I have controlled fear.

If I told you no, I'd be lying.

I do this because I have no other choice.

I can not choose.

They are bombing, but I can't stay in my house [he gets emotional]. And what does your wife tell you about there?

Can communicate?

How are they?

Are there Russians? We talk, yes... Let's see, I have three daughters from a previous relationship, girls in their twenties and a 15-year-old. And I'm telling you,

because they love their brothers very much.

It is true that in Kiev they have knocked down the communications tower, but where my wife and children are there is internet, and there is communication through WhatsApp and Skype. And there are no Russians there at the moment. My mother-in-law lives in a city 30 kilometers from Kiev , with twenty thousand inhabitants, and when the war broke out, at four in the morning, in an hour they took a car and went to the house she has in the country, further south.

The countryside, in Ukraine, is very rural.

It looks like the 19th century.

They are all like towns of deep Castile.

A road with farmhouses on the sides, nothing more.

At most an expansion, never a square.

This is a town of 400 inhabitants.

It's lucky they have that.

The Russians are not going to arrive there.Did your wife and his children try to leave the Ukraine?No, no.

We were obviously talking

but she said that it was going to stay in the Donbas.

The last option was the invasion, and she sees that Biden and the CIA said it, but they did not believe it there.

A daughter of his. No.

Do you know what one of them told me?

[gets excited] Excuse me... She told me: 'Dad, I don't want you to go, it's enough for us to have our brothers there, but I know you're going to go and I'm very proud of you.' Ukraine and Russia during these 25 years. Russians have always understood that Ukraine was not a country in itself.

But look, it's funny: Ukraine for Russia is the same as Asturias for Spain. And that? Kiev is where the current Russia originated.

In the year nine hundred and something some Vikings came from Sweden.

They reached the Dnieper, went down and founded Kiev.

On the Maidan there is a statue of the four Vikings who founded Kiev.

And from the Saint Sophia Cathedral Kievan Rus was created, and from there comes Russia.

The name comes from there.

And a Kievite prince founded Moscow. But the rivalry. Yes, it's huge.

Many Russians say that Ukrainian is not a real language, well, that nonsense of nationalism.

Politics. As almost half-Ukrainian, with a Ukrainian family and for the country for 25 years: do you think the West is doing enough for Ukraine? Look, Ukraine has been willing to achieve freedom and democracy for many years, and with a very imperfect regime , but with a lot of will to achieve it.

And the West has spurned such attempts for many years.

Maybe because they don't want to anger Putin, or because it's a very poor country and a lot would have to be invested... And about the aid now: there's a lack of weapons,

Zelensky is asking for more weapons.

It is an ant facing a giant.

And if things get bogged down and the Russians get angry with Putin, let's see what happens. How are you going to move around the country, Juan?

Throwing away dollars, I imagine. If I get to Kiev by train, and if I get out of Kiev alive as it is... I know Kiev very well.

From the train station where I arrive, I would know how to walk to the village where my children are, it's 60 kilometers.

If it is the case, I walk them, and in a day and a half I would be there.

They tell me that the Kiev metro works on some days.

And then they are letting you rent cars, strangely... The same is so that they can leave Kiev by car, to get them out of the possible bombings.

Realize that you want to get in, but people often want to get out... Well, there are people, I am told, who are making many thousands of dollars, people who are cheating,

unscrupulous people... There are bad people everywhere, but there are also many who are helping too.

There is a website that we have signed up for where they lend you the car... And when I get there, to the town? children, and we take a road that I know, and that will take a thousand hours, but it is the safest way to leave the country... My mother-in-law does not come because she has a son who has been recruited and wants to stay there. Juan Antony, one thing.

You have to have them quite square to get in there now, right? I'll tell you something about myself.

Look, I have five children and, well, I've been a great father.

Let's see, everyone loves their children very much, and I just like everyone else, okay?

A few years ago there was a TV ad that said: '

Who put the first diaper on you?

Who cuddled you the first time.

Who took you to the doctor when you were sick...' Things like that, right?

And he ended: 'Happy Mother's Day'.

And my oldest daughter told me: 'Dad, it turns out that you are a mother'!

Hahahaha...Hahaha... Juan Antonio, all the luck in the world, I'm sure it's going to turn out well.

Can I write to you, see how things go?

Almost better not.

Now I have to concentrate on this.

When I get there and see my kids... [gets excited] When I get there I'll send you a picture.

I'm sure it's going to be fine.

Can I write to you, see how things go?

Almost better not.

Now I have to concentrate on this.

When I get there and see my kids... [she gets excited] When I get there I'll send you a picture.

I'm sure it's going to be fine.

Can I write to you, see how things go?

Almost better not.

Now I have to concentrate on this.

When I get there and see my kids... [she gets excited] When I get there I'll send you a picture.

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