A British romantic is rushing back to the Ukrainian refugee he courted and cast aside — just months after chucking his longtime partner.
“I think we can make this work. She’s a really attractive woman and always has interesting stuff to talk about,” Tony Garnett, 30, told the Daily Mail about his refugee sweetie.
“I want to know her much better, and this time we will take things slower.”
Garnett fell for Sofiia Karkadym, 22, in May, just 10 days after welcoming her into the home he shared with Lorna, his partner of 10 years, and their two children. The Lviv triangle made international headlines for months.
The Donetsk Juan left Lorna and moved into a rented cottage with Karkadym — but the cunning couple split in September because Karkadym allegedly instigated drunken, violent fights and expressed jealousy of Garnett’s daughters.
Karkadym returned to Ukraine after her visa expired, but the two war-crossed lovers kept in touch.
Garnett said he flew to Poland last week and boarded a bus to Ukraine to visit Karkadym and her family in their village a few hours outside of Lviv.
“I went to Ukraine and brought her back. It was not a great place to be,” Garnett explained. “There were regular power cuts, and the Russians fired about missiles at Lviv when I was there. Luckily, the Ukrainian defense systems intercepted them.”
He continued: “To be honest, I had missed her, and my anger over her drinking had subsided. She promised me she would never touch alcohol again, and since that day I got to Ukraine to see her she hasn’t touched any drink.”
Garnett said he received an incredibly warm welcome from Karkadym’s family, which reminded him of her “good nature.”
“[Her family] have put their trust in me to look after their daughter, and that is what I will do. I have given them my promise,” he vowed.
The pair decided to take a second shot at love by moving to Yorkshire, England.
“I knew that it was very tough for her leaving her family and her country and arriving in Bradford, and drink was something she turned to,” Garnett justified of Karkadym’s initial stay in the UK.
The former security guard says he does not have a job — but plans to get one. He revealed he took in two more Ukrainian refugees he claims he supported financially before helping find them long-term housing.
Karkadym, meanwhile, aims to start college soon.
“I love Tony very much, and I would like to marry him when we can. I have really missed him,” she gushed. “I was very upset when I came here because I left my family behind, and I did drink too much. I have promised him that I will never touch any alcohol again, and I have not drank any.”
Karkadym said she was happy Garnett traveled all the way to Ukraine, proving how much he cares for her. She blamed their problems on her loneliness and fear from leaving her family behind — but she believes that won’t happen this time around.
The couple seems to be charging ahead, discussing marriage and having Garnett’s vasectomy reversed, so they can have their own children one day.
“I love Yorkshire, and the British people have been very nice to me everywhere I’ve gone. It is good to be back,” Karkadym raved. “I hope Tony and I can stay together forever. We are very good together.”
As for Garnett’s former partner, Lorna, she admitted to the Daily Mail she is “not a big fan” of him, but acknowledges he has been a good father to their children. She seemed amazed Garnett and Karkadym are rekindling their romance.
“I am surprised they are back as a couple. But they deserve each other as far as I am concerned,” she emphasized.