A Ukrainian bride has made the perilous journey to Ireland to be reunited with her Trinity graduate husband in Dublin.
Just two months ago Andriy Babiy and Sofia Kaminska exchanged vows in the 19th century Potocki Palace in Lviv.
The historic building which houses some of Ukraine’s national artworks was the backdrop for the intimate wedding of the students with just their parents as witnesses.
The pair fell in love during the pandemic after meeting on an online dating site last February, with romance blossoming over Facetime before they finally met in person last summer in a bar in Lviv.
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Andriy, who has lived in Dublin with his Ukrainian parents since he was four or five, has a shared heritage with his law graduate wife with the newlyweds switching seamlessly between English and Ukrainian as they reveal how they have come together amid conflict and uncertainty.
“It just shows how life works,” said 24-year-old Andriy. “You meet this person and you’re like, I want to spend the rest of my life with them. And that was pretty much it.”
After marrying on January 14, they lived in Lviv where 21-year-old Sofia was continuing her law studies while Andriy, who was working remotely for a start-up, returned home to Dublin on February 10 to get his driving license.
Andriy, who is an Irish citizen along with his parents, had a flight booked back to Lviv in March to reunite with his wife.
The day after the war started Andriy recalls: “I was absolutely shocked. I got a message from Sofia saying her town got shelled.
“They have a basement outside their home where they keep potatoes and other types of produce. But it became a bunker that night.”
Sofia knew there were red flags, but she said: “We didn’t expect it to be so severe, so tough, so bad.”
Last weekend, Andriy was waiting in a car on the other side of a remote border post in Poland as his young wife made her way across on foot in the freezing temperatures after watching her father drive back to their hometown town of Brody.
“The decision to come here was so tough”, she said, “But I see a lot of support from my family, from Andriy’s family, and I’m super thankful they have encouraged me, and they are helping me to come through the situation.”
In Dublin this week after flying to the Irish capital from Rzeszow, Sofia is acutely aware that her parents and her sister are in danger.
She is urging Irish people to sign a petition to close the Ukrainian skies to Russian war jets.
Andriy is helping raise funds after founding Action4Ukraine with other Ukrainians who attended Trinity.
And the organisation has already raised much-needed funds for the Red Cross Ukrainian fund.
He has also set up a website called protectukraine. info to direct Irish people towards fundraising initiatives for the wartorn country.
He said the only ray of light in this dark time has been the waiving of visa requirements for Ukrainians which has meant his wife could travel to Ireland.
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