大象传媒

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the United Nations estimates that seven thousand civilians have been killed and more than 10,000 people have been injured. For millions of people across Ukraine, air raids, blackouts and cuts to water supplies are a daily reality.

Over the past ten months, we鈥檝e been hearing from people in the country about their experiences of living through the war and, as Christmas approaches, we wanted to catch-up with some of them.

Marharyta who lives in Vinnitsya tells host James Reynolds that for the whole year she has experienced 鈥渁 feeling of fear鈥� but 鈥渢hey will never give up.鈥� She鈥檚 joined in conversation with Daniel, Lidia and Yulia, who describes her thoughts whenever a Russian missile passes over her house near Kyiv. They share their feelings about the prospect of Christmas, the challenge of maintaining traditions and the festive music that unites them.

Some eight million people have left Ukraine since the start of the war; and we make contact again with three Ukrainians adjusting to life far from home. Tania, now studying in Spain, describes the fear she experiences every time she sees an aircraft. Sonia, now in the US, tells us about how her three-year-old daughter is struggling to communicate at her new nursery. Viktoriia, who鈥檚 13-year-old son is at school in the UK, offers her some advice.

(Photo: Artist Daniel Skripnik working during a blackout in Kyiv. Credit: Daniel Skripnik)