A Ukrainian couple who fled the Russian invasion only to have their car broken into in Ireland have said Irish people are ‘the kindest people’ they have ever met.

Nearly €10,000 has been raised for Olena Orman and her husband Anass since their car was broken into at their emergency hotel accommodation in Dublin on Thursday.

The couple arrived in Ireland nearly two weeks ago after travelling more than 3,000km from the violence in Ukraine.

They have been staying at the Travelodge in Ballymun since their arrival, alongside other refugees from Ukraine.

In her GoFundMe post, Olena said Irish people have been “nothing but good to us” since they arrived – until someone broke into their car and stole all their belongings on Thursday night.

Irish welcome

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Anass said the incident “doesn’t change anything about how we feel about Ireland and about Irish people”.

“Honestly, in the past we have travelled around many countries and, trust me, I’m not exaggerating when I say that Irish people are the kindest people I have ever seen in my life,” he said.

He said the couple packed the car with all their belongings on Thursday as they were supposed to move on to new accommodation in Cork.

“We packed our stuff the night before, just to prepare the car for the next morning,” he said.

“We put our luggage - which was all we could carry when we left Kyiv under the sounds of bombings - and next morning, when we woke up, we went downstairs to the parking lot only to discover that someone broke into our car and took basically almost everything we had.

“On top of that, because they hurt their hand breaking in, everything they left had blood all over it so I am not even sure we could use any of that.”

Theft

He said the thieves took everything of value.

“There was my laptop, there was a drawing tablet of my wife - she is a psychologist, but she also does a little bit of graphic design.

“There were clothes; all of the little things we could carry; the hairdryer for my wife, things like that.

“They took basically everything. Products, shoes, clothes and my guitar as well.”

The couple travelled on to Cork despite their misfortune and when they woke up this morning, they found that thousands of Euro had been donated on their GoFundMe.

This morning, the fund is just short of €10,000 – more than triple their original goal of €3,000.

You can listen back to Anass on Newstalk Breakfast here: