Two months after Russian bombs began falling on Kyiv, Oksana and Lena find themselves in a Peckham pub, ready to tell the story of how they fled their home, a 2,500 mile transcontinental journey, and reached the UK.
To look at these two relaxed, smiling women, sipping from mugs of English breakfast tea – no milk, no sugar – it’s hard to imagine what they’ve been through. “We still don’t believe it. Before we had normal lives, then one day, one morning, everything changed”, says Lena.
Born in Sevastopol, Crimea, Lena, 37, lived in Kyiv and was working in the cosmetics industry. She and Oksana, 38, a bank employee, are distant cousins but introduce themselves as best friends.
Before the war began, they had been laying plans for the future. Bags were being packed for holidays to Barcelona, calls made to parents to organise family get-togethers, and fingers were crossed for promotions at work.
Peckham woman offering free English lessons to Ukrainian refugees
Oksana said: “In the weeks before you had news from the TV everyday saying that tomorrow there will be war but when you hear this everyday and it doesn’t happen you think ‘it’s just more news’.
“To be honest we didn’t believe they’d attack Ukraine, especially Kyiv.”
But on 24 February they awoke to the sounds of shelling: “Then we understood it had started.”
They left their homes and hid in an underground bunker for three days, trying to stay warm in a dark, damp chamber as temperatures plummeted to -5 degrees.
With Kyiv under siege, they fled to Lviv in the western region. Hoping that peace would soon be negotiated, they took just one backpack each.
At the station, thousands were evacuating. Entire families squeezed onto seats intended for four people, and men were turned back, told they must fight.
Lena said: “A lot of men accepted this. It’s your country, your house, your family, your children. Guys who worked in offices were becoming army men.”
With the scale of war escalating, the pair crossed the border into neighbouring Poland. Oksana began hearing that her childhood city, Volnovakha, was being obliterated. Fortunately, her parents had escaped to Kyiv.
Neighbours who had stayed told Oksana that her family home, built by her father, had miraculously survived, but was being occupied by Russians – part of their ‘nationalisation’ scheme.
Once in Poland, they were amazed by the country’s generosity. They were given clothes, food and free access to healthcare and transport.
But with almost one million refugees in Poland, they felt the burden was too great so they applied for the UK’s Homes for Ukraine scheme.
While they waited for their application’s outcome, they left Poland, which was struggling under the pressure of so many refugees, and headed for Berlin.
They applied for the scheme on 18 March and on 17 April, while in Berlin, they found out their UK visa was being issued. “We felt so lucky to get this visa and to have found such amazing people to host us in London”, says Lena.
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They have now been in London since Thursday 21 April and say seeing London buses and famous buildings is “like being in a movie”.
Lena said: “Everyone tells us that London is a great city and even people who have lived here for ten years are still discovering things every day so we’re just trying to get used to being here!”
They are now living with Lynda Tyler-Cagni and Gian Piero Cagni, a Camberwell couple who have given them a place to stay and even set them up with their own personal living room.
On Friday 29 April, weeks after the Russians retreated from Kyiv, they pounded the capital’s residential buildings once again.
Asked what the future holds, Lena said: “It’s very difficult for Ukrainians to create long-term plans. We don’t know how long we’ll be here but we’re happy to have the opportunity to stay.”