A UKRAINIAN woman has finally been reunited with her mum - after risking her life to stay in one of the country's most dangerous cities so her beloved dog could escape with her.

Brave Dina Mykhailova refused to leave without her 12-year-old pug Zeata, enduring eight months of hell in Zaporizhzhia and then a treacherous journey to escape a region annexed by Russian forces.

She only took flight once she knew all the paperwork was in place to get Zeata out by her side - and they made it with only days to spare as Putin's forces stepped up their bombardment of her home city.

Unable to fly because she was travelling with a pet, the 37-year-old travelled thousands of miles on a bus, going through five countries with her dog on her lap.

We previously told how her mum hospice worker Viktoriia was frantically trying to find a safe escape route out of the city close to the nuclear power plant.

Viktoriia, 61, of Findhorn Road in Inverkip, said: "Dina was simply unwilling to abandon her dog. This meant waited three months in a warzone after getting the letter to say she could come here.

"Zeata had to receive certain vaccinations and of course, couldn't go on a plane. They had to get out of Ukraine on a bus through Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany and then France."

Dina was a law lecturer in Ukraine and is now trying to rebuild her life her in Inverclyde.

Viktoriia told how the moment she was reunited with her daughter was a special one.

She said: "I was standing Central Station in Glasgow at 1am waiting on her train to arrive. It was almost deserted, just us, and when I saw her again it was so emotional."

Days after Zeata fled, the Russians stepped up their bombardment of Zaporizhzhia and imposed martial law in the region.

Dina, 38, said: "I am just glad to be here now with my family. It was terrifying at times trying to get here, but we are safe now.

"Zeata is settling in as well. There was just no way I was going to go without her, no matter what I had to endure."

The family can now only look on as Ukrainian forces fight for their country's future.

Viktoriia said: "It is a war no one wanted."

Stepdad Bill added: "We are glad Dina is here and that she is safe, but she is having to start over. She has had to give up her whole life, her job, her home and had to leave her friends behind. Her life is in the Ukraine and that is where she should be."

Viktoriia, a supervisor in the Ardgowan Hospice shop in the Oak Mall and Billy, a retired intensive care nurse, first spoke to the Tele about their battle to bring Dina to safety just days after the invasion began.

As they waiting for her to get out, Viktoriia, a former lawyer, has been helping fellow Ukrainian refugees settle in Inverclyde.

She added: "Some of them are now volunteering at the hospice because they want to give something back."

The Inverkip couple met in Kyiv in 2008, fell in love and married a year later in Greenock.