When the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, millions were forced to flee. For one woman from Sumy, a city close to Ukraine’s north-eastern border with Russia now contended on the frontline, the decision to leave came down to one thing: her children.
“I’m from Sumy,” she says simply. She arrived in the UK on 12 March 2022, just weeks after the invasion began. Her journey was shaped by fear, urgency, and the responsibility of caring for her two young children. “I was afraid to go anywhere… I thought only about my children,” she explains. One of them was just a year and a half old at the time. “I was scared to go anywhere at all.”
The UK was not part of a long-considered plan. Instead, it was the presence of someone she trusted that determined her destination. “I chose the UK because I had a friend here,” she says. That connection provided certainty in a moment when everything else felt unstable – a known community. “They suggested for me to come here… they are safe in this place.”
Her journey out of Ukraine followed a route taken by many fleeing the conflict. She first travelled west to Rivne, away from the heaviest fighting. “From Sumy to Rivne… it was a little calmer,” she recalls. From there, she crossed into Poland by bus before continuing on to the UK. “From Rivne I went by bus to Poland… then to the UK.”
Before the invasion, her life had been stable and fulfilling. “Before 2022, the life was beautiful,” she says. She worked in administration at a milk production factory and describes her life as “amazing… usual life.” Despite the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, daily life in Sumy still retained a sense of normality. However, war had already touched her family long before 2022. Her husband had been a soldier, deployed to the front line in Donetsk and Luhansk after fighting began in 2014. “I waited for him… two months, then two months again,” she says, describing the long cycles of separation that defined those years. He died in 2017 fighting Russian-backed separatist forces, leaving her to raise their children alone.
Even with this personal connection to the war, the events of February 2022 still came as a shock. “We couldn’t believe that they could do it,” she says. “We believed that it wouldn’t happen.” Like many Ukrainians, she had grown used to a conflict that felt distant and contained, and never imagined it would escalate into a full-scale invasion affecting the entire country.
Despite this, life had continued with a sense of normality until the morning everything changed. “It was a nightmare,” she says. “We woke up at four in the morning.” The sound of explosions shattered any remaining sense of safety. “We took all our food… and went to the basement,” she recalls. In Sumy, the war was immediate and relentless. “They shot at us with tanks… we were very afraid.” Within hours, her entire world had shifted. “Everything changed at that moment.”
Now in the UK, she is rebuilding her life with the support of those around her. She speaks with deep gratitude about the family who hosted her. “I am very grateful to my hosts,” she says. “They are like relatives to us.” This support has been especially important for her children, who are now experiencing a sense of normal life again. “My children used to sit at home… or in the basement,” she says. “Now they go to school.” The change has been transformative. “They start to speak English more better than me,” she adds, with a smile.
Yet despite finding safety, her connection to Ukraine remains. Like many displaced Ukrainians, she is determined to contribute to the war effort in any way she can. “I would like to do something to make Ukraine win,” she says. Her contributions take the form of community work, helping at local events where food and handmade items are sold to raise money. “I cook… I make flowers,” she explains. “I do whatever they ask me to do.”
Her desire to help goes even further. In the early days of the invasion, she tried to join the effort directly. “I went… and asked them to take me at least as a cook,” she says. But she was turned away. “They said, ‘you have a child, go and stay with your kids.’” Even so, the instinct to contribute remains strong.
That commitment is also reflected in the sacrifices she has made back home. She has offered her own property in Ukraine to soldiers, providing them with shelter during the harsh winter months. “Let our guys live there,” she says. Soldiers often lack basic comforts near the front line, and her home offers a rare place to rest. “They need a place… to get warm, to wash.”
The war continues to shape her life in profound ways. Many of her family members and friends are still fighting. “My brother… my friends… all are on the war,” she says. Like many Ukrainians, she never fully believed the invasion would happen. “We couldn’t believe it would happen,” she recalls.
Now, the war has strengthened her sense of identity and belonging. “Yes… I like Ukraine more,” she says. Distance has not weakened her connection to home, but deepened it.
Despite everything she has endured, her hope remains simple. “I hope one day I can fall back in my home,” she says.