‘They had to put us on YouTube!’ Rachel Riley and Pasha Kovalev Reveal the Ukrainian Refugees They Hosted Didn’t Know They Were a Famous Couple
Rachel Riley and Pasha Kovalev have revealed that the Ukrainian refugees they welcomed into their home did not know they were a famous couple when they arrived.
The Countdown star, 37, and her Strictly star husband, 43, wanted to help Sasha Borysenko, her eight-year-old son Mykyta, her mother Luba and her aunt Gayla amid the conflict with Russia.
Gayla arrived last June and recently the rest of her family joined her, with everyone now going by the nickname ‘star’ for Rachel after finding out she’s a celebrity.
raquel said Mirror: ‘They didn’t know who I was. They had to YouTube Pasha and me.
Sasha, 35, who was a lawyer in Ukraine, added: ‘We are very grateful. Rachel and her family are the best people. She feels like we are at home.
Together: Rachel Riley and Pasha Kovalev have revealed that the Ukrainian refugees they have welcomed into their home did not know they were a famous couple.
Kind: The Countdown star, 37, and her Strictly star husband, 43, wanted to help Sasha Borysenko, her eight-year-old son Mykyta, her mother Luba and her aunt Gayla amid the conflict with Russia (pictured) with his daughter Maven)
“It was only when I got to the UK that Galya told us, ‘They’re stars.’ That’s our nickname for Rachel now. We call her a star.
Rachel and Pacha, who is Russian and wants to show that not everyone in his home country supports the war, raved about how well Mykyta gets along with her two daughters.
In November 2021, Rachel gave birth to her second daughter, Noa, following Maven’s birth in 2019.
Rachel told BBC Breakfast last month of her introduction: ‘It’s very rewarding and it’s working for us.
“Our girls love having this little boy, it’s like they have an extra brother and he has little sisters that he takes care of.
It is like an extension of their mother and aunt taking care of them. He has had to mature before his years, he just turned eight years old. He is really a little young man because it has been imposed on him.
“But it’s a brilliant thing to be able to do it and we’re getting along like one big family.”
Riley has previously said of her guests: “At the moment, we have four Ukrainians living with us, they are working as cleaners, they take three buses around London for two hours to do cleaning work and come back.”
Inadvertently: Rachel has now told The Mirror: ‘They didn’t know who I was. They had to YouTube Pasha and I’
Family: In November 2021, Rachel gave birth to her second daughter, Noa, following the birth of Maven in 2019.
Positive: Rachel told BBC Breakfast last month that she got them: “It’s very rewarding and it’s working for us.”
‘Last week, one of their clients bought them a bouquet of flowers and our lady, she came home and burst into tears, because it meant a lot to her, to have that gratitude and for someone to recognize the hard work and effort. which he puts into making her life a little more enjoyable.
‘They can be really simple things. It costs you nothing and makes someone’s day.
Sasha was forced to flee her home in the southeastern city of Enerhodar with Luba, 58, and Mykyta in March last year after the Russian invasion.
She said of the terrible moment: ‘The explosions started on March 4 when the Russians tried to capture the nuclear plant near our house.
‘It was a horrible situation when the Russian troops entered the city. They started shooting and kidnapping civilians. They were very aggressive.
They then fled Ukraine and joined the Riley family after Rachel reached out to Refugees at Home and offered to foster people.
Sasha now works as a cleaner together with Galya and Luba, and hopes to return to Ukraine one day.