A Ukrainian refugee hopes people will offer the same kindness to those seeking refuge in the UK as they did to her when she was forced to flee war. Yuliia Kiviuk now calls Merseyside her second home and hopes to establish a new life here.
She worked as DJ in Ukraine – until the invasion
Yuliia, 31, was born in Ukraine and lived there up until three and a half years ago. Working as a DJ, she lived in the capital of Kyiv and toured the country doing gigs.
After coming back from an event in February 2022, she remembers seeing on the news that war with Russia was on the horizon, and later that night she was woken by a friend’s phone call at 4am, who then told her the war had begun.
She said:
I had goosebumps and in that moment I didn’t know what to do. You don’t know what you should take with you, where you can hide.
I left everything, all my clothes. I took only a laptop, one pair of trousers, one hoodie, one pair of shoes and that was all. I left everything.
For the first week, it was unbelievable. You don’t understand what you understand, what you feel. It’s like you are a robot.
You go to the bunker, you sit, you wait, and you wait for the news. You can’t sleep. You are always nervous, you can’t eat.
She had to escape
She then spent two weeks sleeping upright in the basement seeking shelter from bombs, telling the LDRS:
Every night we heard explosions. It was a crazy time, it was horrible. You are tired all the time because you can’t sleep.
They lost access to water, Russian soldiers were close to where she was and Yuliia said she could not stay any longer. She travelled for 30 hours with her friend’s cat to eastern Ukraine in an eight-seater van along with 15 other people.
From there, she made her way to the Polish border walking several miles in the cold. She temporarily settled in Poland before moving back to Ukraine.
She finally settled in Birkenhead and now addressed a council meeting
Quickly she realised she could not stay in her home country with the constant sirens and moved to Germany with her mum first before eventually settling in Birkenhead. Yuliia said:
In Merseyside, they are the kindest people in the United Kingdom. It’s really my second home.
I want to thank my sponsor and the British people who invite Ukrainian people and let them live in their homes. It’s not easy.
Yuliia was one of two refugees who addressed councillors at a Wirral Council meeting on October 13 and was given a standing ovation. This came before a fierce debate around immigration and people seeking asylum in the UK.
She said: “Most of you will not know what it feels like that a foreign army has come into your country, I hope you will never know. I hope that you can continue to offer the same welcome, the same sense of home and hope to others in need just as you have to me.”
Yuliia hopes to raise awareness of the plight of refugees
Yuliia thought her speech would help raise awareness of what is happening in Ukraine but also highlight others in similar situations, adding:
A lot of countries also suffer and I really want peace in the world.
I think everyone deserves a happy and safe life. Maybe my speech can help people wake up and think I will try a new country, maybe it will be good for me, maybe I should say goodbye to my native country now but not forever and not sit there with depression and anxiety. We have only one life and we need to try.
It is not an easy decision to leave your country
Yuliia went back to Ukraine for the first time this summer after two very close friends died in the war. She told the LDRS:
You leave everything. It’s really horrible. I think we should help people.
Maybe ten years ago, I also didn’t care about politics and political news but when I felt it myself, everything has changed in my life, in my mind, in my head.
I realised we are all human and we need to show our humanity. There is a lot of evil in this world and why not be more kind, caring for everybody, for pets, animals, people, nature?
To leave your country, it’s really difficult. I couldn’t do this the first time. I came back from Poland and tried to live again in my country.
I always said Ukraine was the best country for me and I didn’t want to change it but the situation is very difficult. You can’t continue your normal life in those conditions so you must, you don’t want to but you must go to another country.
You must move on. It’s not because I wanted to. It’s like bipolar disorder. You are in a new country. You are really happy you are in a safe place but all the time you miss your old life.
Everything reminds you about your native country. You can’t relax, keep calm, and live a full life here. It’s a lot of memories. It’s difficult even now. I miss it every day.
A Local Democracy article by reporter Ed Barnes.
