Home Is Another Country: Stories from the Ukrainian Community in the UK.

On the 24th February 2022 Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in an escalation of violence that had been rising since 2014. It caused Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II, displacing more than 7 million people in Ukraine*, and forcing almost 6 million people to leave the country.**

The UK launched the Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes For Ukraine, allowing Ukrainians to apply for a visa if they had a British sponsor. By May 2023 around 174,000 people had arrived from Ukraine.***

Home Is Another Country is a reflection of the humanitarian front line of the war in Ukraine. In contrast to media images of violence and destruction, it focuses on the personal impact of the conflict, exploring the effect on individuals and families.

The work challenges assumptions of home and where we belong. Combining revealing personal accounts of what forced people to flee their homes, alongside stories of life in the UK, it shares a range of experiences from across the generations.

Home Is Another Country exposes the challenges and hardships of migration in wartime, but also highlights the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit, sharing stories of hope, humour, and inspiration.

* IOM https://www.iom.int/news/71-million-people-displaced-war-ukraine-iom-survey

** UNHCR https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine

*** Migration Observatory  https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/ukrainian-migration-to-the-uk/

Helen, 69, Mariupol “I am learning to be a refugee” says Helen, an English teacher. She survived 10 days of intense bombing, living without water, electricity, or heating. “I couldn’t take the cold any longer,” she says, “I was using water from the f
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Alex, 43, Kharkiv “You don’t feel like refugees,” says Alex, describing the confusion he felt as he crossed the border from Ukraine into Moldova with his family in the early days of the conflict. “We never dreamed of living somewhere else.” He owned
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Kate, 43, Kharkiv Looking out of the window of her 9th floor apartment Kate remembers seeing the sky light up with bombs. It was 5.30am on the first day of the Russian invasion. “At this time the only thing you’re thinking about is your children.” Th
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Maksym, 40, Poltava “I feel guilty for being here,” says Maksym. He tried to join the military after the war began, but was turned away because of an old knee injury. This decision meant he was legally able to leave Ukraine, but he was still torn. Hi
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Eleanor, 8, Kyiv “I was only allowed to bring one toy,” says Eleanor, hugging the doll she brought from Ukraine. More than a year after moving to Winchester she has a busy schedule of extracurricular activities and clubs. “I have drama, music, perfor
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Mariia, 40, Kharkiv “The guard was pulling people’s fingers off the carriage door,” says Mariia remembering the panic as she boarding an evacuation train from Kharkiv. She got separated from her family on the platform. “I could see my mum on the trai
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Arina, 13, Kharkiv “There were a lot of questions,” says Arina remembering her first day at school in Winchester. “It was like no one had ever seen a Ukrainian person before.” She only spoke basic English when she arrived and says it took a year befo
Milana, 18, Boryspil “At 5am we turned on the TV, I opened Instagram…nothing.” There was a communications blackout across much of Ukraine on the first day of the war. Milana lived near Kyiv’s main airport and had been woken up by her father in the ea
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Anya, 40, Severodonetsk “We ate birthday cake there,” says Anya, remembering celebrating her daughter’s 9th birthday in a bomb shelter a few days after the war started. She describes hearing tanks and battles nearby. “We didn’t think that it would co
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Helena, 64, Severodonetsk “I didn’t want to go. It was very scary,” says Helena. “I thought I would stay with my sister, but then the children persuaded me to go.” After weeks of heavy shelling she left with her daughter, two granddaughters and their
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Svitlana, 45, Lviv “We saw the rocket fly, I couldn’t move.” Svetlana was in Lviv city centre with her daughter when the attack started. “I feel somebody hug me, push me back, into a shop. Then we heard the explosion. When we went outside there was f
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Liliana, 39, Kyiv “I came to Winchester in year 11 to study at Westgate school and do my GCSEs,” explains Liliana. She had stayed in touch with her host family after returning to Ukraine, and when the war started they offered to sponsor her and her c
Damir, 10, Kyiv “I had to sleep in the car,” says Damir, as he remembers driving with his the family to the Polish border. “It was far. It took 24 hours.” When he arrived in the UK he didn’t speak any English. “It’s easy now,” he says, explaining tha
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Kateryna, 42, Kyiv “Every night I was sleeping in the car,” says Kateryna, remembering sheltering in the garage of her apartment building during air-raids. She wasn’t planning to leave Ukraine, but when she found out she was pregnant she didn’t want
Lala, 41, Kyiv “In my suitcase was only my traditional Ukrainian dress and my shoes for the stage, nothing more.” A professional singer and musician Lala was a rising star on the music circuit when the war started. After months of air raids she decid
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Tetiana, 39, Poltava “Every day there were air raids,” remembers Tetiana whose children were six and eight months when the war started. “We were really scared. We didn’t sleep. It was exhausting.” She managed her husband’s business in Ukraine and was
Tetiana, 64, Kharkiv Tetiana has filled her flat with plants. A retired doctor, she is an avid gardener and grew fruits and vegetables back home in Kharkiv. She now shares an allotment with her former sponsor where they grow beans, cucumbers, beetro
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Vadim, 63, Kharkiv “We were woken up at 4.30am by our apartment shaking from the explosions,” says Vadim, 63, recalling the day the war started. His 10th floor flat was only 15km from the Russian border. “I was scared,” he says. “I could see the miss
Valentyna, 62, Kharkiv “We were panicking,” says Valentyna as she recalls hearing bombs from her home. “We didn’t want to leave,” she says, but it became too dangerous to stay. “The air siren system was chaotic. We could hear artillery. We were const
Zarina, 10, Kyiv “I left all my jeans in Ukraine. I really want to have some straight jeans,” says Zarina, explaining that as well as clothes, she’s also trying to save up for a microphone and a music stand. “I love listening to music and singing. My
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