Ukrainian women and children on Tyneside marked their country’s independence day with an emotional performance in the heart of Newcastle, six months on from Russia’s invasion.
A women’s choir, whose members have found refuge in the North East after being forced to flee their homes, sang their country’s national anthem as the Ukrainian flag was raised at Newcastle Civic Centre on Wednesday morning in a show of solidarity with the war-torn nation.
Olena Proskurina, who escaped Kyiv after the Russian invasion that began on February 24, has been living with a sponsor family in Gosforth since June and says the support she gets every day from Geordies who see her wearing a badge with her nation’s yellow and blue flag is “huge”. The 33-year-old, who had fled to Moldova and then Albania before managing to find a sponsor in the UK, added: “I left Kyiv immediately as soon as I heard the bombs and went west. It was terrible, it was so scary.
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“I wanted to go somewhere where I could stay longer term, not just a few months, and a friend had told me about this beautiful city of Newcastle. This city and this country has given us the biggest support, I feel like the people I meet here sincerely want to help and to share our hurt.
“Today is the most important day in Ukraine but it is also a day of sadness now. It is more special than in previous years because Ukraine has shown to the world what freedom is. I am proud to be a Ukrainian, I am proud of our people, I believe in our people.
"I did not realise how strong and how honest we are and how much we can help each other. The Ukrainian flag is now a symbol for freedom around the world and I am proud of that.”
Olena’s sponsor, Denise Blake, said she was determined to offer her home as a safe haven for Ukrainian refugees after witnessing the horrors of the war on TV. She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Seeing the war made me so upset and I said to my husband that if it happened to us then we would want someone to take us in, I felt like we had no choice but to help. I have nephews the same age as Olena and I would want them to be looked after.”
August 24 marks 31 years since Ukraine first declared itself independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. Ukrainian Lesya Bourn has lived in Newcastle for 17 years, but her sister, nephews, and elderly parents have stayed in her home country throughout the conflict this year.
She said: “Today is very emotional because it has been six months since the Russian invasion. Our people are still fighting, still dying – ordinary citizens, civilians are dying every day for our freedom.
"Ukraine has always been under pressure, everyone wants to grab a piece of Ukraine. But we always fight and stand on our own feet.
“My grandparents’ generation fought and died for Ukraine, now this generation is doing the same. We already have a victory because we are still standing and, with the support of British people and the whole world, Ukraine still survives and is like a shield for Europe because you don’t know what might happen next. For the children, we need to end war in Ukraine and everywhere.”
Under the Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme, 83 households in Newcastle have hosted Ukrainians and 70 are currently doing so. The lord mayor of Newcastle, Coun Karen Robinson, told the Ukrainian families and friends gathered outside the civic centre that the city was proud to host them and of its history of welcoming people fleeing persecution, torture and religious intolerance.
She added: “I speak on behalf of the whole of the city when I say we stand with the people of Ukraine in these dark times and send them our love as we pray for a return to peace.”
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