On New Year’s Eve the streets of Kyiv were alive. Margaryta Romanova and her son stood at the heart of the city gazing up at the Christmas tree and its decorations - the troops at the border were merely background noise.
But now, Margaryta marches every Sunday through the streets of Cardiff. With her childhood home reduced to rubble, she stands alongside dozens of others waving the Ukrainian flag. Margaryta thinks about New Year’s Eve often. This was the last time she saw her son.
Margaryta’s son, Sasha, was nearing the end of his Masters degree in mid-February this year. The 24-year-old and his family had bought tickets to attend the graduation ceremony at Kyiv University, but that’s when the bombs started.
