Ukrainians in the UK fear Russia will never end war

Ukrainians living in Britain fear Vladimir Putin's war on their country “will never end” after watching the summit between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky unfold at the White House last week.

- JESSICA BENJAMIN

Monika Popadiuk, who moved to the UK from Kyiv in July 2022, said she was “afraid of losing everything a second time” if the devastating conflict is not brought to an end. The 28-year-old left her dream job as a lawyer in Ukraine’s parliament and moved to rural Somerset under the British government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Like many displaced Ukrainians, Ms Popadiuk desperately wants to go back to her old life in Kyiv. But she does not feel that will be possible in the near future, despite the meeting last Monday being hailed as “real progress” by prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.

“The ‘peace’ people talk about does not feel like peace to me,” she told The Independent. “It feels like just a pause. Unless Ukraine is given real security guarantees, the war will resume.”

She is concerned that any peace talks between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders would only “freeze” the war.

“It does not seem that the Kremlin truly wants to end this war. Even if the war is frozen now, it will start again in a few months or years, when Russia is stronger than today.”