A quiet New Year’s in for this family! Surrogate twins born in Kyiv days before Putin’s men launched their horrific invasion of Ukraine will see in 2023 from the safety of their new home in Britain

• Metaish and Manisha Parmar spent 13 years trying to have children
• Unlike the UK, Ukraine offered the option of legalised commercial surrogacy
• But the babies could not be brought back to the UK without birth certificates
• As the couple waited for the documentation, war broke out on February 24

With their cute button noses and cheeky smiles, ten-month-old twins Sai and Amaya are the picture of cherubic innocence in the arms of dad Metaish and mum Manisha.

But while the Parmar family are today peacefully celebrating their first New Year together at home in Bedfordshire, they are all lucky to still be alive.

For Sai and his sister Amaya took their first breaths in Kyiv, just days before Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Parmars, from Dunstable, had spent 13 years trying to have children, and research led them to Ukraine which – unlike the UK – has legalised commercial surrogacy.

The Parmar family (pictured) are today peacefully celebrating their first New Year together at home in Bedfordshire

With their cute button noses and cheeky smiles, ten-month-old twins Sai and Amaya are the picture of cherubic innocence

Metaish and Manisha flew to Kyiv ahead of the twins’ birth on February 11, but the babies could not be brought back to the UK without birth certificates and passports – which take weeks to get. As they waited, war broke out on February 24.

The family spent five days sheltering in a bunker before racing 400 miles across the country to get documents so they could flee to the Polish border and return to the UK. Their survival, first reported by The Mail on Sunday, beat the odds.

‘Most of the families in that bunker are now dead,’ said Metaish. ‘Many were killed by shelling. Some were taken and killed or raped.’

Metaish, 45, and Manisha, 43, talk frequently to those who sheltered with them, and their surrogate, who is in Ukraine with her nine-year-old daughter. ‘We offered to take her into our home [in Britain]; it’s the least we could do,’ said Manisha. ‘But her partner is fighting so she wants to be by his side.’

Remarkably, the twins show few signs of having experienced such horrors. ‘Amaya is very inquisitive. Sai is more chilled,’ said Manisha.

Metaish is back at his job as an NHS cyber security manager, and Manisha will return to working as an import co-ordinator this month.

The family, pictured in March 2022, spent five days sheltering in a bunker before racing 400 miles across the country to get documents so they could flee to the Polish border and return to the UK

But the legacy of their escape hangs over their lives. Bonfire night caused the twins to cry as fireworks brought back memories of bombs.

‘The building next to our bunker was hit by a missile. The twins were eight days old. They were terrified,’ said Metaish, who saw a therapist to help with PTSD. ‘We think, “What if we were still there? Would we be alive?” We had to take risks to get food. Every time I left the bunker I said goodbye, as I didn’t know if I was going to return. I’d be the only person on the streets, thinking, “What if a Russian gets closer?” ’

The twins have been a lifeline. ‘They’ve been my therapy. When they wake up, they’re always smiling at you,’ said Manisha.

The couple plan to take the twins on their first holiday to Lapland, with Metaish adding: ‘When there is peace in Ukraine we will go back. We want the children to meet the surrogate. The war is not fair on the innocent people affected. We were once those people.’

Meanwhile, Ukraine is dealing with fresh Russian missile strikes. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said there had been several blasts in the capital, causing at least one death. And President Zelensky warned Russia could launch more attacks to make Ukrainians ‘celebrate the New Year in darkness’.

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