The Ukrainian combining studying in the UK with a ministerial role

Olena Sotnyk at the opening of an exhibition called Children. War. Future. on the platform of Independence Square metro station in Kyiv in 2022. Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images

For months Olena Sotnyk has clocked up thousands of miles, commuting from the UK where she is studying at a top London university back home to war-torn Ukraine.

Sotnyk is an adviser to the Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Olga Stefanishyna, but has been combining her role with studying at King’s College London, where she is doing a master’s in conflict, security and development.