TWO Helensburgh brothers have been reunited in Poland as they fled from the Russian war on their Ukrainian home.

Stuart McKenzie, 51, was joined by his brother Robert, 43, in Krakow and his family after days in cars trying to get to the border.

It has been a slow crawl as one million people, mostly women, children and the elderly, seek safety from the relentless attacks on civilians ordered by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Stuart previously told the Advertiser he and his wife Lena and sons Robert and Stuart were an hour from leaving Kyiv earlier in February. But they changed their minds and stuck it out, not thinking Putin would launch a full invasion.

But when it became clear Putin believed Ukraine never should have existed and his desire to wipe it from the map, Stuart took his family to safety in Poland.

Speaking when they were still trying to get to the border, Stuart told the Advertiser: "He’s with kids, he’s with dogs, he’s got his sister- and mother-in-law, there’s two cars. So they’re trying but it’s taken five days already, very rough, sleeping in conditions and trying to have enough fuel.

Helensburgh Advertiser:

“My business partner Mark is still very much in the city centre of Kyiv and bunkered down. It gets very noisy at night now and they’re sleeping down in their basement as well.

“I’ve spoken to many others around the city centre and they’ve got neighbours living together in the safest places they can find.

“Civilian houses are being targeted so it’s very terrifying but there’s millions of people on the border and depending where you are there’s no food, toilets or fuel.

“There’s some getting through but certainly not enough for the millions at the border, and these poor women with children having to leave their husbands to go and fight.

“And they’re coming into the country with very little money and support. But I can see some wonderful humanitarian support from everywhere.”

Stuart left Helensburgh in 1994 and has lived for the last 28 years in Ukraine, where he now runs a healthcare and natural products business with a base there and in Poland.