Ukrainian fears becoming ‘refugee in her own country’ if she returns

Sabina Artemieva, herself a refugee, is helping other Ukrainians settle in the UK.

Sabina Artemieva, a Ukrainian refugee, speaks at an event celebrating World Jewish Relief’s 90th anniversary (World Jewish Relief)

Ukrainian refugees are still arriving in the UK a year on from the Russian invasion of their homeland.

More than 30,000 Ukrainians have arrived since September, many under the Homes for Ukraine scheme that pairs refugees with host families.

But some are now able to receive help settling in from earlier arrivals such as Sabina Artemieva, who fled her home in Kyiv with her teenage son on March 4 and arrived in the UK three weeks later.

She said: “My rabbi called the night before and he said there’s a bus, you have to be there.

A few months ago, I realised that my life here now is the same as I had in Ukraine. My apartment is the same, I have a job, my son is in school, I have friends, I have my community

Sabina Artemieva

“The next day was Shabbat, and I thought if my rabbi is telling me to leave Ukraine on Shabbat, he must know something.”

She went first to Moldova and then to Romania before applying to come to the UK, where she thought her knowledge of English would make it easier to get a job.

The former translator, 39, quickly found work with World Jewish Relief, a refugee charity established in 1933 to help Jews escape Nazi Germany, and now helps Ukrainians find homes and deal with the bureaucracy of applying for universal credit and finding school places for their children.

She said: “Demand is still high but unfortunately, all over the United Kingdom, we don’t have enough sponsors.

“Around 180,000 Ukrainians have come here since the beginning of the war and most [people] who wanted to help already have somebody. They prefer to continue with these people, or some of them maybe think that it’s enough, you can’t live with someone who’s a stranger for a long time.”

Most applicants have already left Ukraine, with many based in neighbouring countries such as Poland and some applying from Western Europe, while around 40% apply from within Ukraine.

Ms Artemieva said: “Some of them, after one year, they can’t handle it anymore, it’s difficult. For some time, you have hope that it will finish, but when you are under shelling for 11, 12 months, at some point you realise that’s enough and they can’t stay there.”

For some, including Ms Artemieva, it may prove difficult to go back as well.

She said: “A few months ago, I realised that my life here now is the same as I had in Ukraine. My apartment is the same, I have a job, my son is in school, I have friends, I have my community.

“I’m so settled in here that I don’t know if I want to change it immediately when the war ends. Because going back to Ukraine, to an almost completely ruined country, with no job, I don’t have my own property there – if I go, I will be a refugee in my own country.”

One of her main concerns is her 18-year-old son, who struggled initially with the language barrier but now speaks English, is doing well at school and hopes to go to university in the UK.

Ms Artemieva said: “Doing this [moving country] for the second time when you’re at such an age when things are very important to you, I don’t want to break him.”

Whether they will be able to stay or not depends on the Government. The current Homes for Ukraine visa scheme allows Ukrainians to remain in the UK for up to three years, but what happens after that remains unclear.

Ms Artemieva said: “I wouldn’t want to change things to worse. If I’m comfortable here, why should I go immediately back just because it’s my country?

“It’s not only about being patriotic and living in your country, it’s also about your life. I don’t want to ruin it every one or two years and start from scratch.”