Circus artists in Southampton after escaping war in Ukraine

Tatiana Kundyk performs a routine on the slack wire during the show

Two circus artists who fled the war in Ukraine have found safety, and work, in the UK and are due to start performing this weekend.

Husband and wife Tatiana Kundyk and Henry Ayala are both performers with Circus Extreme which is in Southampton.

Ms Kundyk was visiting her parents in Kyiv with Mr Ayala and their two-year-old son when the war started.

The couple fled the capital and were later rescued by a Polish man who drove them to Warsaw.

Henry Ayala is a tightrope artist and performs as a clown

Ms Kundyk, 37, a slack wire artist, and Mr Ayala, 42, a clown and tightrope performer, left Kyiv on the first day of the attacks but had to walk the last 12km (7 miles) to the Polish border in cold, harsh conditions.

They then stayed in various hotels in Warsaw while waiting for Ms Kunyk's visa to come through.

Another Circus Extreme performer, Liudmyla Vrinceanu from Kharkiv, has described the conditions her parents are enduring in the east of the country.

Liudmyla Vrinceanu has been staying in contact with her mother in Ukraine

"They were born in Ukraine, they will die in Ukraine," the 43-year-old said. They are refusing to leave their homeland despite the "constant fire" and her mother's ill health.

"They spend most of their time in a basement bunker with no water, no electric and very little food. They have been surviving on the store of potatoes they have," she added.

Circus Extreme is performing in Southampton until 8 May.

Exchanging one kind of danger for another, Henry on the high wire