29-year-old Maria spent Valentine’s Day with her boyfriend in Poland this year. They hadn’t planned to embark on a romantic getaway where they could eat piles of pierogi and stroll along the Vistula river hand-in-hand: initially, Maria’s British boyfriend was meant to fly over from Manchester to Kyiv, where Maria lives.

He was unable to travel as by then, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) was advising UK nationals against travelling to Ukraine. “I was really upset because I wasn’t sure when I’d see him again, so we booked flights to Poland and met there,” Maria tells me. “While there, Putin made his crazy speech. I laughed at how ridiculous it was, but at the same time it was quite scary.”

On February 23, Maria left Poland to return to her family who live near Kyiv, accompanied by her boyfriend who wanted to ensure her safety. As soon as they landed and switched their phones on, they were hit with a barrage of news about the increasingly desperate situation in the country. 

The next day, everything changed. On February 24, Russia invaded, with bombings reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa, and the Donbas region. “It felt surreal, I was not expecting that to happen so quickly and at such a scale. It was a complete shock,” Maria says. “That’s when my boyfriend was like ‘that’s it, we need to get out of the country’.” The couple then undertook an arduous, nine-day journey back to the UK. Maria – who went to school in Oxfordshire and attended the University of Leeds before moving back to Kyiv – never expected to return to living in the UK in this way.

“It’s absolutely horrible to see this happen while my family is there. I follow the events, I talk to my family and friends and see their updates. I was given free calls to Ukraine by my phone operator in the UK, so I’m able to call them regularly. At the moment you can’t always rely on them having good internet, and my 92-year-old grandma is bedridden and can’t use instant messengers, so it’s good to have the ability to call them for free,” Maria tells me. “I’m very worried – what’s going on is atrocious. Having my family and friends in Ukraine is very scary.”

20-year-old Uliana, a student at the London School of Economics, is another Ukrainian currently in the UK. She tells me that on the night Russia invaded Ukraine, she was wide awake. “There had been reports saying that an attack from Russia was imminent,” she recalls. “At about 3am UK time, people reported that the Russian president was giving a speech announcing a [so-called special military operation] against Ukraine [...] then I received reports from my friends and family saying they could hear explosions in Kyiv. Another friend from the Western side of Ukraine told me that she woke up to the sound of bombing.”

Uliana says she “constantly” checks on her loved ones who are still in Ukraine. “I get really anxious if they don’t reply within 15 minutes. I texted my Japanese teacher yesterday at 4:30pm and I still haven’t heard from her – she always used to reply on the same day,” she says. “There’s a constant feeling of agitation and anxiety. I always tell people to stay safe, never ignore sirens, be vigilant and follow all the regulations.”

“I just thought, this is the end. This is the last time I’ll hear from my friends and family. It’s a terrible feeling” – Svetlana, 19

19-year-old Svetlana moved to the UK from Ukraine four years ago. She recalls how on February 24, she woke up to a deluge of messages on her phone from friends in Ukraine telling her that they were being bombed. “It was 6:30 in the morning,” she tells me. “I had no words to say – I just started crying.”

“I didn’t know what to think – I just thought, this is the end. This is the last time I’ll hear from my friends and family. It’s a terrible feeling. When my friends were texting me on that first day, they said ‘just remember we love you, we miss you, and goodnight.’ It was like they were saying goodbye because they didn’t know if they were going to wake up the next morning,” Svetlana says. “My heart just broke into tiny little pieces. That’s my motherland. That’s where I grew up. That’s where my family is. That’s where my soul is.” 

Maria, Uliana, and Svetlana are all remaining hopeful despite the mental anguish they’re currently experiencing. “I do believe there is a bright future ahead of Ukraine and the whole world will help us rebuild my homeland,” Uliana says. Svetlana adds that she’s “100 per cent sure” Ukraine will win the war.

In the meantime, Maria is grateful to have been welcomed in the UK. “I had a neighbour come over with his five-year-old son; he knocked on the door and he was like, ‘my son made you this drawing’, and it was the sweetest thing. It said ‘welcome home’ and had Ukrainian flags and flowers drawn on it,” she says. “It’s been great. I’m very appreciative of the support I’ve received.”