A teenage refugee performed her country's national anthem in Liverpool city centre on the anniversary of the war in Ukraine.
Alisa Bushuieva fled Ukraine when bombs began dropping on her native Kharkiv a year today at the very start of the Russian invasion. A keen piano player, Alisa would play for other refugees at various camps to comfort them and today performed in Liverpool ONE to mark the anniversary of the war.
Speaking after her performance, which included the country's national anthem and other "sad songs," Alisa said it was important "to show our people how we support them." The event was particularly pertinent as a family friend had recently lost their life amid the fighting, according to mum Svitlana.
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Alisa told the ECHO: "It's important to show our people how we support them - how we feel about them.
"They're suffering and we need to show them that we are here and that we are with them.
"Life in the UK is very different from our life, even including the mental ways people think. It's very interesting, but we very much want to go home.
"I'm very proud of my country that for a year during this hard time it still stands very strong. I hope that soon it (the war) will be finished."
She said: "When I played I was very proud of all those protecting our country. We were very affraid for all our lives, for our relatives, friends. We were scared."
Alisa studies at a music school back home, but she has had to take up online music classes in the UK to continue learning. She said: "I want to continue it for all of my life.
"I'm studying at music school and it's my last year. Music helps people feel better. It saves lives and I need to make people feel better."
The family now live with RAF veteran and former wing commander Jeff Scholefield, 75, in Neston. Jeff said: "They arrived in August last year, five weeks after I started the process.
"My motivation is very simple really. I was in the military for over 30 years.
"I felt I had to do something to show Mr Putin that he wouldn't win. The best way I could do this is to take in a family.
"Luckily they've been such a lovely couple."
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