It’s difficult to feel festive, say Ukrainians marking third Christmas in UK

Ukrainians in the UK marking their third Christmas away from home and another milestone since Russia’s invasion have said it can be “difficult to be in a festive mood”.

Maria Romanenko, 32, left the Kyiv region for Manchester shortly after the Russian invasion began on February 24, 2022, alongside her Mancunian partner Jez.

The couple made a perilous journey to the Polish border where they had to wait four days for confirmation Maria would be able to allowed to enter the UK with Jez. They arrived on March 2, 2022.

Ms Romanenko, a reporter who is spending her third Christmas away from home, said: “Christmas has not been what it used to be for me since 2022 because Christmas, of course to me at least, means friends and family, and it’s also a time for celebration and a time for reflection.”

She said Christmas and New Year’s Eve can be a reminder of all she left behind, including her grandmother Maria, who died aged 91 on Christmas Day 2022, and whom Ms Romanenko “never got to say goodbye to”.

“When I was fleeing it was a very quick decision – I couldn’t really see my family because I was worried for my safety and I never got to say goodbye to her, and a few months later I found out that she passed away,” she said.

“It reminds me that I won’t be with my other members of my family, so my father and my brother – who are in Ukraine – and I will also not be able to celebrate the festive period with my colleagues who were killed by the Russians.

“It’s very difficult to be in a festive mood when you know that your friends and family could be killed, but I’m trying to feel positive.”

Ms Romanenko did not envisage having to spend three Christmases away from Ukraine.

“Every time it’d be like another milestone, when I would think that that would be when I would be back in Ukraine – I think it was the same for every Ukrainian,” she said.

Since February 2022, Elena Lishchun, 59, has been staying with her daughter, Anna Walker, 36, who has lived in the UK for nine years and helped her mother find work near her home in Greenwich, east London.

Ms Lishchun told PA spending her third Christmas away from Ukraine was “bittersweet”.

“On the one hand, I would like to be there (in Ukraine) but on the other side, I would feel lonely because my family is out here, and home is where my family is,” she said.

The hairdresser has been able to rent a chair at Headcase Barbers in Greenwich Creekside, and improve her English.

Looking ahead to 2025, Ms Lishchun says she faces “uncertainty” because her visa expires in March and that could force her to return to Ukraine.

There is “no clarity” on her visa situation, she said.

“I’ll not have much to do other than go back to Ukraine, but I don’t want to think about it. If it happens, we’ll face it, but it’s not ideal.

“The minute you think things are getting better and people are going back to Ukraine, but actually, it is still really dangerous, and there are lots of areas and buildings that are still damaged by shelling every day.

“I’m a little bit worried about that but otherwise I’m just carrying on working, supporting my clients, being with family and just living the life that has now become a normality for me.”

Ms Lishchun said she wants “peace, as all of Ukrainians would, and for the planes to start flying to Ukraine again” in 2025.

“I’m not only hopeful for peace in Ukraine but for everybody, because regardless of whether it’s a war in Ukraine or any other war, it’s hard, and I have now experienced it first-hand, so I wish for peace for everybody,” she said.

Asked about what she wants to see from the UK Government in 2025, Ms Romanenko said: “I really want the new Government to support Ukraine in the ways that Ukraine is asking for, to provide all the weapons that they are able to provide and that Ukraine is asking for.

“We need to pressure Russia to stop thinking that they can get away with this behaviour, so just continue to support Ukraine and give Ukraine more defence weapons, because without those we can’t really defend ourselves.”

Christmas has been marked in Ukraine on December 25 since President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law in 2023 stating the country would “abandon the Russian heritage” of celebrating on January 7, the traditional date in the Russian Orthodox Church.