‘We just have to keep going’ say Ukrainians in Leeds

After three years and seven months of fighting, Ukrainians in Leeds feel as though their war has been forgotten about.

Ukrainian refugee and volunteer, Dariia Kovnatska said she gets asked “is war still in Ukraine?”

“We see less news about Ukraine. We don’t see exactly this type of content, like reality,” she said.

“This is why we decided to show it.”

Kovnatska has been living in the UK from September 2022 and volunteers for the charity, The Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, Leeds.

Source: Emma Haresign | All Rights Reserved

On Saturday the charity hosted a photographic exhibition titled, Through Their Eyes: The Life of Ukraine’s Defenders.

It included raw, unedited photos taken from the front lines and showed the soldiers day-to-day lives fighting for Ukraine

The exhibition’s aim was to remind people of the war and its impact in Ukraine and in Leeds.

On Saturday night, Russia launched more than 50 missiles and around 500 attack drones. Lviv, in western Ukraine, reportedly experienced the largest attack on the region since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

Kovnastka said that the visuals help people connect and understand “it’s still going on and we need support and we need to stand with Ukraine, every day, every minute, every second”

An ex-solider who fought in Ukraine, Lukas (not his real name), attended the exhibition and said “Without the support it would be impossible to fight, because you need food, you need fuel, you need cars, you need plate carriers.”

He said the support from volunteers was the reason he was fully dressed, “From socks to night vision”

“Everything was given to me from volunteers. If people know, people help. Simple as that”

Olga Callaghan, chair of the Leeds branch of the Associattion of Ukrainians in Great Britain said: “It’s important for people to see these photographs, to see how the soldiers are living. Not just the fact that they are fighting but the fact that they are human beings and they live in these trenches, these conditions”

Source: Emma Haresign | All Rights Reserved

Since the war in Ukraine began, interest over time has been the lowest this month according to Google Trends.

Lukas emphasized the importance of support for Ukraine.

“We need the support, without the support we cannot win the war,” he said.

“There is no army which can survive a prolonged war, a mass war, without civilians and the rest of the infrastructure of other countries helping out, it’s literally impossible.”

After more than three years of fighting, the war in Ukraine is no longer breaking news, therefore there are not as many articles written regarding the war, but for the Ukrainian communtiy in Leeds it is much more than that.

Callaghan said: “This isn’t just a story that is happening somewhere, a war that is at the other end of Europe, this is personal, there are people here who suffered.”

“They had homes, they had jobs they had hopes and future in Ukraine and all of a sudden on the night of 24 February 2022 their hopes and their futures changed.”

Source: Emma Haresign | All Rights Reserved

Councillor Barry Anderson said “Its important to keep it at the forefront of peoples knowleadge. It is easy for people to forget that the war in Ukraine is still going on.”

The photography exhibition was part of the charities annual cycle of events. Larysa Dumenka, who is part of the Chair of trustees for the charity said, “Soldiers we support were sending information to me, giving their permission to display photographs, knowing we do this for raising awareness of ongoing war in Ukraine and we are looking for the ways to engage public and organisations to network and fundraise for vital life saving equipment for Ukraine.”

Lukas worries that Russia will not stop at Ukraine, and has concern for countires whcih boarder Russia and Ukraine. He said: “This conflict is not going to finish with Ukraine,”

Callaghan said: “We just have to keep going, this has not ended and i can’t see an end in sight at the moment.”

“We have to keep going. If not us, to make people to remember who else will do it? We are Ukrainians and we will have a free Ukraine, if not today then tomorrow, we will.”