A former Leek College teacher who was trapped in Ukraine says he has now managed to escape into Moldova with his wife and stepchildren.

Leek Nub News reported recently how Harry Richardson, who taught English at Leek College, moved to Ukraine three and a half years ago after marrying his Ukrainian wife, Alina, and decided to live in Ukraine because Alina's children and family were there.

The pair posted a video appeal to YouTube after becoming trapped in an underground cellar in a school in the Cherkasy region, which is in the centre of the country just south-east of the capital, Kyiv.

In the video Harry and Alina desperately pleaded for help for the people of Ukraine following the Russian invasion.

Now it has been reported that Harry and his family have managed to escape into Moldova by bus - despite the vehicle being stopped a total of 18 times at road blocks by soldiers and police along the way.

Harry explained to the BBC how he and his family were forced to leave most of their possessions behind in order to make the journey, including a number of sentimental items.

He added that he also felt guilty after being able to escape while there were still civilians left behind in Ukraine, but said he wanted to be able to continue raising awareness of the horrors taking place since Russia invaded.

He described Moldova as "peaceful" and "quiet", adding that he had experienced a lot of kindness from the local population since arriving, and that it was a relief to no longer be woken up in the middle of the night by air raid sirens.

However, he also noted that there were fears that Moldova could be the next country to be invaded by the Russians if they were able to continue their advance.

Harry said his stepchildren are now waiting to hear from the Home Office to see if they will be issued visas to come to the UK.