Ukraine pain won't go away for refugee turned Cambridgeshire chef
Viktoria moved to the county last year after fleeing her home country
A refugee who fled Ukraine for Cambridgeshire has told of her ongoing pain as her home country's war with Russia continues.
Viktoria moved to the UK in April last year and settled in the county under the government's Homes for Ukraine scheme.
She fled the city of Poltava last year and now lives with her husband and three children.
And for World Refugee Day which takes place today, Greatest Hits Radio spoke to Viktoria, who works as a chef in Wilburton.
“I feel like our family is a family of 40 million people, and we’re united by the war,” she said.
“We could hear sirens, explosions on the shelter all the time.
“The situation in Ukraine remains difficult; you wake up in the morning, read the news and it is completely horrible.
“We always feel pain; I’m not sure about fear because I feel like Ukrainians don’t have fear anymore, but you’re always in pain with what you see every day.”
"Now we're happy to live like a family"
Viktoria’s parents are currently in Ukraine and her sister is due to visit the UK with her children.
It took 18 days for Viktoria to arrive in the UK from Poltava via Poland and France, and the process was not easy.
“It was a bit stressful because it’s another country, another language, but if you know why you’re here, you just know that you need to do that for your children, for everything,” she said.
“When we were in Ukraine until March last year, almost all the region was occupied by Russian troops so we decided we need to protect our children first.
“It was like a miracle because we saw on Facebook about this Homes for Ukraine programme from the UK to support Ukraine.
“It was difficult to find a place to live because of prices, because we’re from another country and we need to prove a lot of things.
“But at the same time, we were lucky because we’ve got Tracy who helped us a lot to do that, and now we’re happy to live like a family.”
Cost of living and 'unpredictable weather' to live with in UK
Viktoria and her family arrived in the UK and lived with Paul Beastall and his wife Tracy Hutchison, who applied to sponsor four Ukrainians under the government scheme.
After being supported by Paul and Tracy, is living in a separate home with her family and the plan is not to leave the UK any time soon.
“The plan is we are staying here probably until our visa’s finished and then we’ll think about the next step,” Viktoria said.
“We’ve got a visa for three years, so we can stay here for three years at least.
“We are lucky because we didn’t lose anything, but we know people who lost their lives, their houses, lost everything and it’s horrible.”
"We believe in our army, and we can win"
For Viktoria, some of the key differences between living in Ukraine and the UK is the standard of education, higher cost of living, but also the “unpredictable weather; you just need to take everything with you!”
She feels her relatives in Ukraine will remain in the country until victory is secured, but when that day will come is uncertain.
“It’s happening every day, and it’s not going to stop,” Viktoria added.
“I feel like we need to get this victory because if Ukraine fails, Russia will never stop; with our resources, they will try to invade in other countries around the world.
“But we are a nation who believes in God and we believe in our army, and we can win.”