Dundee’s City Square is being transformed into a sea of blue and gold today (Saturday February 24) as the city’s Ukrainian community turns out in force to mark 730 days since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
While the anti-war element against Russian aggression will not be forgotten, the organisers – the Dundee branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB) – are focusing on gratitude to the people of Dundee and Scotland for two years of support.
With approximately 400 Ukrainian refugees in Dundee, 300 in Perth, 200 in Angus and 100 in north Fife, Dundee-based Ukrainian children have made placards to thank people for their remarkable kindness and generosity.
Ukrainian women have been making friendship bracelets, which they will distribute.
Two years on, however, questions remain over the future of the refugees – and millions like them displaced across Europe. Hundreds of innocent people and defenders are still being killed in Ukraine every day.
According to the AUGB, at least 19,546 Ukrainian children have been abducted from their families by Russian forces.
Thousands, meanwhile, have been injured, killed or remain missing.
Dundee Ukrainian refugees tell of their gratitude, hopes and fears for the future
The Courier sat down with several Ukrainian women at Meadowside St Paul’s cathedral community hall in Dundee. We found out how they have integrated into the Dundee community and what their hopes and fears are for the future.
Yuliia Nicholls, 42, from Kharkiv, is not a refugee having lived, mainly in England, since 2012.
However, she experienced “secondary trauma” from afar when the full Russian invasion took place on February 24, 2022.
She took up work 18 months ago in the medical school office at Dundee University. There she provides pastoral support for international students and began to build connections with the city’s refugee community.
The divorcee, who recently joined the Dundee-branch AUGB committee, said the St Paul’s Church hub “helped enormously”.
Together with her partner, she’s organised the Dundee knitting project.
This involves the making of camouflage nets, which will be sent to the Ukraine frontlines as part of their “unconscious mission not to remain indifferent”.
However, on a lighter note, she laughs that being in Dundee has also taught her local words including ‘”eh” and “peh”!
“I love the international aspect of Dundee – there are so many cultures!”, said Yuliia, who thinks it’s important for people in the UK to “understand this war is not so far away as some people might think”.
“I already feel integrated into UK culture. I’m still of course learning and exploring Scottish culture.
“But while I do not think I will go back and live in Ukraine, I would love to go and see my family there living happily.”
Top Ukraine restauranteur narrowly escaped 500kg Russian bomb
Before the war, Haleyna Pashchenko, 52, from Kherson, was the owner of one of the top three restaurants in Ukraine.
Haleyna and her partner Yevhenii Khramov, 61, enjoyed “big holidays” exploring Scotland and England after her daughter enrolled as a physics and mathematics student at St Andrews University six years ago.
After clinging on in Ukraine for as long as they could, however, they now live as refugees in a small flat in Dundee.
They were forced to abandon their home, family, friends and business. That was almost destroyed when the Russians dropped a 500kg bomb metres away.
However, the ability to help from afar remains important to them. They spend money on jeeps with Yevhenii driving them over to help the war effort.
“This hub and organisation is one of the most important for Ukrainians here in Dundee as it helps to co-ordinate and unite us,” said Haleyna.
“When I came here, it was really important to find Ukrainians who had an active position and would like to do something to support Ukraine – not just be here, but be active!
“I think everybody should do something.”
Haleyna said they are both settled in Dundee. They are extremely grateful for what Scotland and Dundee have given them.
However, they miss Ukraine. When they recently returned to Kherson on a visit they were pleased to see family.
They would love to come back to Dundee as tourists.
But for now, they feel immense uncertainty about the future.
‘I do not think the war will end soon’, says Montrose-based mother-of-two
Divorced mother-of-two Valentyna Mykhailenko, 52, is living in Montrose. She travels into Dundee twice a week to study at Dundee and Angus College.
She stayed in Kiev for the first few weeks of the war.
However, as hostilities intensified, she made the “difficult decision” to leave with her youngest son, now 15. She left behind her eldest, now 23, who is a student in Kiev.
Her ex-husband has been fighting since the first days of the war.
She also has relatives close to the frontline while her brother has been in Russian-occupied territory since 2015.
After leaving Ukraine via Poland then staying with friends in Israel for six months, she and her youngest son got a visa, arriving in Scotland in September 2022.
She’s grateful for the support she receives from the “lovely people” of Tayside.
However, she continues supporting her homeland by volunteering through an online psychological support line for Ukrainian cancer patients.
“It is very important that I continue helping Ukraine from Scotland,” she said.
“Unfortunately I do not think the war will end soon.
“We need strong association of Ukrainians in Scotland.”
Bank manager cousins have ambitions to open Dundee Ukrainian food outlet
Ukrainian cousins Inna Polishchuk and Inha Lysa, both 38, worked as bank managers in the city of Bila Tserkva, near Kyiv, before the war.
After the full-scale invasion of Russian troops, they spent the night in a basement for two weeks while their city was bombed.
They fled when Russians starting abusing, raping and killing children in front of their parents in nearby towns.
The pair arrived in Dundee as refugees with their four children on July 22, 2022. Now they have ambitions to establish Dundee’s first Ukrainian food outlet.
Grateful for the support they have received from the likes of Business Gateway, Employability services and Dundee City Council, they would love to rebuild their lives in Ukraine.
However, with so much uncertainty, they need to act here for their children.
“People say be patient – everything will be ok,” said Inna.
She is also a talented painter and volunteers with AUGB, helping prepare free food for 200 at a recent Dundee Ukrainian party.
“But we don’t just want to sit at home and wait for a miracle.
“We don’t want to be on Universal Credit all the time.
“We want to work and have our own money.
“Dundee doesn’t have a café like this and we want to be the first!”
Home town bombed
The cousins both study English at Dundee and Angus College. They said they have met many great people who’ve helped them. That includes Auchmithie-based artist Mary-Ann Orr, who recently featured in The Courier.
They call their families back in Ukraine every day.
The day after they went back to visit Ukraine in December, their home town was bombed.
Inna gets emotional when she thinks of her mum, who she hadn’t seen for two years, and who didn’t want to leave when the war started.
“It’s very hard…”, said Inna, wiping tears.
But for their younger children, who study at “lovely” Glebelands Primary, it’s easier, she added.
They have made many friends at school. Yet they also continue following the Ukraine curriculum online with a Ukrainian teacher twice a week.
‘Peace on Earth’ is the simple wish of Ukrainian refugee Iryna
Iryna Hradova, 48, from Kharkiv, arrived in Dundee with her daughter Polia, 22, son Stanislav, 14 and grandson Ivan, on July 25 2022.
She used to watch wars on TV in “far off places like Syria”, never thinking it would happen to her.
Yet now she finds herself thousands of miles from home. She is uncertain what the future holds, but has one wish – peace…
“My body is in this place, but my heart is in Ukraine,” she said.
“All my prayers, all my heart, I want peace.
“It’s all I’ve wanted all my life – peace in all the world. I want peace in Ukraine.”
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