‘It’s our little Ukraine’: war-weary fans embrace Eurovision and Liverpool

Katya Miasoid, who fled Ukraine to the UK a year ago, now works in Liverpool. Photograph: Richard Saker/The Guardian

Every year in May, Katya Miasoid and her family gathered at her uncle’s house in north-eastern Ukraine. First, they would have a meal to celebrate his birthday, then they would crowd around the television with other members of the village to engage in the serious business: Eurovision. “It was our little family tradition,” said the 24-year-old.

But that was before the war. Now, having fled to Liverpool, and with most of her family still in Ukraine, such moments of togetherness have been forcibly consigned to memory. “Now it’s different times. In a way it’s hard to celebrate.”