Latest news with #Liudmyla
Edinburgh Live
11-06-2025
- General
- Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh woman pleads to be reunited with Ukrainian husband 'too old to fight'
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info An Edinburgh woman hopes to be reunited with her husband who was stuck in their war-torn homeland due to his age. Originally from Kherson in Ukraine, Liudmyla Sinelnyk, found refuge in Edinburgh in 2022. But despite her relief, she was forced to leave her husband, Oleksandr, after living together for 37 years. The 57-year-old is hoping she can be reunited with her husband after the pair 'cried in each others arms' when they were separated due ongoing conflict. Liudmyla moved to the first country to provide her a safe home but Oleksandr was forbidden at that time to join her due to rules meaning men under 60 are not able to leave the country. Speaking to Edinburgh Live, she said: "Since the Russian invasion in 2022, I have been living and working in Edinburgh. "I really need help in reuniting with my husband, Oleksandr, who is now 60 years old and currently living in Dnipro —a city that is under constant shelling and great danger. "In order to bring him to safety in Scotland, we need a UK-based sponsor. According to the requirements, the sponsor must have at least one spare room available for inspection by the Home Office. "This room will only be used to meet the application requirements—Oleksandr will live with me, as I have accommodation and a stable job. "Any support will help save my husband's life." Liudmyla arrived in the capital through the Homes for Ukraine programme and is hoping the same can happen for her husband. She added: "When I left my husband, it was very difficult, we cried for a long time in each other's arms, we lived as a couple for 37 years. "At the beginning of the full-scale war in 2022, I arrived in the first country that provided me with protection. "My husband and I were not able to leave together because men under 60 were not allowed to leave the country due to military service." Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sentstraight to your messages. According to the UK Government website, the Homes for Ukraine programme allows UK citizens to offer a home for those who are fleeing Ukraine. Contributors to the programme can be matched with a person or family who have already lived in the UK but needs a new home. Anyone in the UK can register their interest if they have not already been matched with a Ukrainian person or family. Participants are expected to offer a room for at least six months, they should not have a criminal record and if they are not a British citizen, they must have leave to remain in the UK for at least six months. Information about the Homes for Ukraine Programme can be found here.
LeMonde
24-05-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
Russia-Ukraine prisoner exchange: 'We all pray that they are among them'
The news spread rapidly across the country. The only tangible result of direct talks between Ukraine and Russia on May 16 in Istanbul was the launch of a large-scale prisoner exchange, which brought a moment of hope amid a very dark period for Ukrainians. On Friday, May 23, both countries handed over 390 military personnel and civilians each. "The first part of the agreement to exchange 1000 for 1000 has been implemented," announced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, stating that prisoners who had not yet been released would be exchanged on Saturday, May 24 and Sunday, May 25. "Bringing our people back is exactly what we always work for. We will definitely bring everyone back. Every one of our citizens, every Ukrainian servicemember and civilian, all Ukrainian hostages held in Russia – we must free all of them." The liberated civilians and soldiers were awaited by hundreds of relatives of prisoners of war at a rendezvous point in Ukraine's Chernihiv region, which borders Belarus and Russia. Some had traveled in groups, like Inna and Lena (whose last names are not given, as is the case for all those with loved ones still detained), aged 48 and 50, whose adopted son, Ihor, and husband, Serhiy, had been taken prisoner in the first weeks of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 while defending the city of Mariupol. With them was Liudmyla, 49, who had come from Odesa, also hoping to see her son Volodymyr, who would soon turn 30 and was captured in April 2022. None of them knew whether their loved ones would be freed in this exchange. "We all pray that they are among them," confided Liudmyla. "In any case, it's impossible to just stay at home."
New York Times
15-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Slowly, Ukrainian Women Are Beginning to Talk About Sexual Assault in the War
A 77-year-old former high school teacher, turned out in a neat dress and hat, has been creating a quiet revolution in the villages of Kherson region in southern Ukraine. Standing before a group of 10 women in a tent in the center of a village in Ukraine's south last summer, she recounted her ordeal three years ago under Russian occupation. 'What I went through,' said the woman, named Liudmyla, her voice wavering. 'I was beaten, I was raped, but I am still living thanks to these people.' Beginning last year, Liudmyla and two other survivors, Tetyana, 61, and Alisa Kovalenko, 37, have spoken at a series of village meetings to raise awareness about conflict-related sexual violence. The meetings have been among the first efforts by survivors of sexual assault to bring into the open one of the most painful aspects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: what prosecutors and humanitarian workers say is widespread sexual assault of Ukrainian women under Russian occupation. Liudmyla and Tetyana asked that their surnames and village names not be published to protect their privacy. Ms. Kovalenko has long spoken openly about the assault on her, which occurred in 2014 during the war with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Relatively few women in Ukraine have come forward to report cases of rape during the conflict because of the stigma attached to sexual assault in Ukrainian society, which is deeply religious and conservative, especially in rural areas. Prosecutors have registered more than 344 cases of conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022, 220 of them women, including 16 underage women. But women's groups estimate the real number runs into the thousands, with at least one case in almost every village that has been occupied by Russian troops. United Nations human rights reports have documented dozens of crimes of sexual violence committed by Russian soldiers but have not detailed evidence of any abuses by Ukrainian soldiers. A recent report noted only 'two cases of human rights violations against alleged collaborators committed by the Ukrainian authorities.' Support groups and rights organizations have assisted many women with health services and psychological rehabilitation in the 1,800 settlements recaptured from Russian occupation, but said that not all of them were prepared to give testimony to the police. Many victims remain silent and isolated, and in some cases suicidal, according to members of SEMA Ukraine, part of a global community spanning 26 countries that helps survivors of conflict-related sexual violence with psychological, medical, legal and financial support. Set up in 2019 by Iryna Dovhan, herself a survivor of a vicious assault by armed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014, SEMA Ukraine has encouraged 15 survivors to come forward and join its community over the last six months, bringing the total membership to more than 60 — all survivors of sexual violence in war, she said in an electronic message. This month Ms. Dovhan is leading a group from SEMA Ukraine to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, where they will show a film featuring some of Ukraine's survivors of sexual violence during the war. They are also presenting an appeal, along with a group of Ukrainian male survivors, for Russia to be named by the United Nations secretary general as a party responsible for crimes of sexual violence committed in Ukraine. Liudmyla was one of the few who reported her assault to the Ukrainian police. Her daughter, Olha, insisted she report the crime once she escaped from Russian-controlled territory. 'I was against it,' Liudmyla recalled in an interview, 'but Olha said the Russians have to pay. Of course she was right to expose this crime.' The attack against her as she described it was particularly brutal. A soldier banged on her kitchen door at 10:30 p.m. one night in July 2022. Scared that he would break the door down, she opened it, and the soldier smashed her in the face with his rifle butt, knocking out her front teeth. He dragged her by the hair, hit her repeatedly with his rifle butt in the ribs and kidneys, and threw her on a couch, throttling her. He made cuts on her abdomen with a knife, and then raped her. 'I was helpless against him,' she said. He left six hours later, saying he would come back in two days and kill her with a bullet. Badly battered, with four broken ribs, Liudmyla hid at a neighbor's house and later traveled with a family to Ukrainian-held territory to join her daughter. She subsequently received a diagnosis of tuberculosis and was hospitalized for six months. 'I was depressed, I could not eat,' she said. But two years after the event, she found purpose in speaking to women's groups. She said it was the community of survivors at SEMA Ukraine that helped her recover. The SEMA Network was founded in 2017 by Dr. Denis Mukwege of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who has spent decades working with victims of sexual violence during wartime. The network promotes solidarity within communities, bringing women together to speak out and tell their truths, and helping them stand up for their rights. The word SEMA means 'speak out' in Swahili. 'Thanks to this community I started to eat,' Liudmyla said. 'I am holding myself together so that the world knows that they are aggressors, and despots, even to civilians,' she said of the Russian forces. Ms. Kovalenko, a filmmaker who in 2019 became one of the first women to join SEMA Ukraine, has recorded many women's testimonies for a documentary. 'It's important to talk in these village communities,' she said. 'It can help to reduce the level of stigma, so that people understand that they are not being judged.' Ms. Kovalenko was detained in an apartment and sexually assaulted by a Russian intelligence officer when covering the early conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014 as a filmmaker. She was one of the first women in Ukraine to speak publicly and to rights organizations about her ordeal. 'Compared to 2019, it is a revolution that women are speaking out now,' she said. 'It's a real revolution when a woman like Mefodiivna speaks out, and Tetyana.' She referred to Liudmyla by her patronymic, Mefodiivna, in a term of respect. Tetyana, who owns a store with her husband, Volodymyr, in a village in the Kherson region, gave her first interview to a journalist from The New York Times, and spoke for the first time at a village meeting last summer. Russian soldiers occupying their village frequently visited their store, and when it was closed they would break in. Then one night in April 2022, two soldiers broke into their house. They shot at Volodymyr — he managed to dodge the bullet and hide, she said — but they caught Tetyana as she tried to run away. They pinned her down in the yard, pulling her hair and beating her, and then one of the men raped her. They left only when an artillery attack began on the village. After months of counseling, and stays in the hospital and refuges, Tetyana said she had discarded feelings of rage and hate but still could not bear the physical touch of a man, including that of her husband. She was unsure whether she would manage to speak at the meeting organized by SEMA Ukraine. She finally did speak, but kept to a prepared script, explaining the stages of trauma a victim of sexual assault will display, and how to help them. The most important consideration, she said, was to reassure victims that they are safe. Over the longer term, she compared the trauma of sexual violence to sand clogged in an hourglass. 'If it is blocked, then nothing will pass through,' she said. It was clear she spoke from experience, but she was talking to women in the audience who had also lived through the terror of occupation. One woman said she had been buried under rubble when her house was hit in a shell strike, while another said she had been forced to host Russian soldiers in her home. 'All of us have some level of vicarious trauma after living in occupied communities,' Tetyana said. 'You need to work out your pain so it does not stay inside of you for too long.'
CBC
08-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
No Frills partnership a big boost to London Ukrainian business owners in exile
As it is for any Ukrainian living in exile due to the Russian invasion, these aren't easy days for Anatolii and Liudmyla Potomkin. The couple have three young children, including a newborn, and a bustling business called WOW Pierogies, which sells home-made perogies, cabbage rolls and crepes from their storefront on Hyde Park Road. "We wanted to bring some Ukrainian tradition into Canada," said Anatolii about this business. The roots of the business stretch back to the family's home city of Kyiv, where Liudmyla's grandmother taught her traditional recipes that have been passed down through multiple generations. "We had a wonderful café in Kyiv where we worked as a family," said Liudmyla. That all changed of course when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The Potomkins, who had one child at the time, were forced to flee. They left behind not only their business but also their extended families. "When the war broke out we lost everything in one day," said Liudmyla. "We decided to move to Canada, where we continue our family business." The business started with a storefront in Strathroy before moving to the Hyde Park Road location last year. The business is doing well but their their situation became further complicated when Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. Trump has appeared to be more supportive of Russian President Vladimir Putin than of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Trump and Vice-President JD Vance last week shouted down Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in front of news cameras in the Oval Office. This week Trump has threatened to cut of military support for Ukraine. This is all unfolding as U.S. tariff threats continue to roil the Canadian economy and undo years of friendship and business partnerships with the U.S. Anatolii Potomkin admits it's not an easy time, but said Ukrainians remain resilient. "It's bad news for Canada and for Ukraine," he said of the current political climate. "It's not necessary right now to have an economic war when we have war right now in Ukraine." Key deal with No Frills Amid all these challenges the Potomkins got some good business news this week when the owners of the No Frills grocery store at 599 Fanshawe Park Rd. agreed to carry products from Wow Pierogies in their store. Anatolii Potomkin said the No Frills shelf space is incredibly valuable and comes at a time when Canadian shoppers are increasingly looking for locally made products. "We are at farmer's markets but No Frills is a good next step for growing our business," said Anatolii. "It's such a big store with so much traffic." The No Frills location is owned Robert and Tracey Basso. The Potomkins came to the store with samples of their food and made a pitch for some shelf space. Robert Basso said it wasn't a difficult decision. "With all the things going on with the U.S., having a locally made product made the decision a little bit easier to do," he said. "No Frills encourages us to promote local vendors when we can." The Potomkins have made full use of London's extensive network of food suppliers. Flour for the perogies comes from the Arva Flour Mill. The pork and beef for the cabbage rolls is also bought locally. "We are supporting Canadian and local," said Anatolii. Liudmyla Potomkin said the No Frills partnership is another example of how the family has felt so welcomed in London. "In the context of the recent news we have seen about Ukraine, we have felt a lot of support from our people," she said. "People just came to our store to shake hands and say that they are with Ukraine. It is very sad what is happening on our land now, because our parents, friends and relatives are still there. But we try to do our best every day to ensure that our culture continues to live on."
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Ukrainian woman, 21, living in Colchester recounts terrifying war on anniversary
UKRANIAN refugees and their Colchester host families marked the third anniversary of Russia's invasion with over 320 Ukrainians being welcomed Colchester residents were invited to gather at the Old Library of the Town Hall to mark February 24, 2022, when Russia launched the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two. Liudmyla Korokhivska, 21, was just 18 when the war broke out. She said that in Ternopil, in the west of Ukraine, the war had "already been going on for eight years' following Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014. Liudmyla said that as her father is in the military and her mother is a key worker that she had to go to Poland to work for three months as 'there was no money' due to the war effort. Liudmyla was given a host family in Hadleigh, describing her host 'as an older mum' who gave her 'everything', including clothes and hygiene products as she was only able to bring a suitcase of belongings. Help - Liudmyla said that her host helped her with her documents, medication, and her stress (Image: Newsquest) After four months, Liudmyla moved to accommodation at Essex University, and is now in her second year of studying AI. She says she struggled because her sister, 13, remains in Ukraine and could not come with her because Liudmyla is a student without stable accommodation. She added: 'I know that a lot of Ukrainians are dealing with depression. 'We need support, and we have it as the University of Essex has provided us with this." Response - Host Andrew Neill said schools, hospitals, and businesses have all opened their arms in Colchester (Image: Newsquest) Andrew Neill, 57, from Lexden, has hosted refugees before from Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and the Congo, so he knew when the war broke out that he could take a family. Andrew said that of the family of six he hosted, the two girls, now aged six and 12, came to the UK without any English, but now speak English and Ukrainian "with a very Essex accent'. He added: 'The fact that Colchester as a city has been willing to open its doors to so many from Ukraine has made it easier for us to host."
