‘I’d never loved it so much’: Ukrainian woman who felt compelled to return home

Yuliya Danilina: ‘If you go through a trial like this, it makes you realise what’s important.’ Photograph: Yuliya Danilina/Guardian Community

Before Russia invaded in 2022, a red dog collar arrived in the post. I’d bought it for my rough collie, Pippa, but it was too large. So I drove to Bucha, a 20-minute drive from my village of Klavdievo-Tarasovo, to get it resized by a leatherworker there. He was very kind and said he could fix it and to come back later that week.

The next day, the war started. I managed to escape the bombs and food shortages of the early weeks of the war, I left Ukraine and came to England to be with my then 27-year-old daughter, Sasha. Arriving in March 2022, it took me about a month to come to my senses – I didn’t realise how deeply in shock I was.