“Nobody thought that the war would last for a year, at first during the first weeks no one thought it would even last for months. Now all our thoughts and our hopes are with our military at the front line – it is pure hell.”

Yuliia Lysanets was a teaching fellow at Poltava State Medical University when war transformed her life.

“I can guarantee that every Ukrainian remembers and will remember the day of the invasion perfectly well. My husband woke me up and said that Russians were shooting missiles at Kharkiv, which is just over 100km away from us. My major feeling was that my life was ripped away from me and it was over.”

Yuliia’s husband went to work while she packed a go-to bag, which every Ukrainian now has, containing essential items including documents, keys, food water and charging devices. She says: “For the first two days of the invasion, my husband and I couldn’t eat anything, our hearts were literally going crazy, physically bumping violently, even when we tried to sleep, something that we had never experienced before.”

From the start, Yuliia knew she wanted to contribute to the national war effort in whatever way she could. She felt her way of helping would be to make sure the next generation could continue to be educated so that they could rebuild the country quickly when the war ends.

“While our warriors are at the military front line, we have to do everything possible to contribute to our own common resistance.”

Yuliia moved to Warwick as one of the Sanctuary fellows, a programme which was launched by the University after the Russian invasion to provide a safe haven for Ukrainian academics to continue to share their knowledge and expertise. From Warwick, she taught students back in Ukraine remotely as well students in the UK, building her skills so she could become and even better teacher when she eventually returns to Ukraine.

“Warwick is amazing, everything looks so high-tech and so nice. The colleagues are so supportive, and I really appreciate the entire procedure of the Fellowship I was given here, letting me and Ukraine know we are not alone in our struggle.”

Fearful of losing contact with her friends and family, Yulia returned to Ukraine to be with her husband and parents in December last year.

“I wanted to be home for Christmas; I decided to come back earlier because it was painful to be so far away from my family… It was just in time; if I stayed any longer I would have lost contact with my loved ones because of the regular blackouts as a result of the attacks”.

Despite the danger, Yuliia has decided to stay in Ukraine, teaching students remotely, from what is effectively a war zone. She speaks of a nation quietly battling on, whilst trying to maintain as much of their old lives as possible.

“My home city is not in a front-line region, so we’re lucky that we can continue to educate our people – training them to be doctors, dentists, engineers, the skills we need for the future. But we do have planes flying over all the time and between three to five air raids every day. When the alarm sounds everyone goes into the shelter, so we work frantically in between raids to teach as much as possible in those precious minutes. Everything is working normally to the best of the ability, but everyone is stressed, the news impacts everybody differently every day. We’ve all been taught first aid in case the worst happens.”

While she feels her place is in Ukraine for now, Yuliia hopes to come back to Warwick when the war is over.

“It was an unforgettable experience to be at the University of Warwick, I have the warmest memories possible. It was a fairytale and I hope to come back at some point if I have a chance to visit the UK again when the war is over.

“We are all working towards the common goal – victory, independence, and our right to exist. The most important thing is for Europe and the rest of the world to not forget about us because we want to accomplish what we started together, to make it finish as soon as possible. We want to make sure this never happens again.”

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