Ukrainians celebrated their country's Independence Day at a fundraising event in Swansea, but behind many smiles was a story of upheaval and friends and family left behind in a war zone.
Those at the city's Grand Theatre, where blue and yellow was the order of the day, included Olha Boiko, her husband Oleksandr and her mother Valentyna Nahorna. Olha - pregnant with her third child - fled her home in Boryspil, near Kyiv, with her two daughters after the Russians invaded in February. Her youngest child is four months old on August 25, and they live with a host family near Llandovery, Carmarthenshire.
"We came in the night - in the morning we opened the curtains and saw a lot of sheep," she said. "We are still there - the family are very, very nice and very kind, but we are looking for accommodation." Olha said they would like to stay in the area because her children aged 11 and eight had settled well at local schools and made friends. You can get more Swansea news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
