For months Olena Sotnyk has clocked up thousands of miles, commuting from the UK where she is studying at a top London university back home to war-torn Ukraine.
Sotnyk is an adviser to the Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Olga Stefanishyna, but has been combining her role with studying at King’s College London, where she is doing a master’s in conflict, security and development.
Alongside her academic and political work she is a lawyer, a former member of parliament and a human rights defender, working on issues of sexual violence. She has already obtained three university degrees.
The focus of her political work is on European integration for Ukraine so she squeezes in visits to other European capitals too.
Sotnyk is in Kyiv for the first anniversary of the Russian invasion and said the resolve of Ukrainian citizens was undiminished.
“You won’t see on the front pages of the newspapers what ordinary citizens in Ukraine are doing every day. Small businesses are trying to pay their taxes, systems are working very efficiently despite the war to keep important services running, people like my mum are donating part of their pensions, people are making candles in cans to give to the soldiers. Everywhere on billboards we can see messages like ‘Stand With Ukraine’ and ‘Be Brave’. And on the streets people are so polite.”
Leisure time in London is short and she rarely has time to visit the art galleries and museums she loves. But one thing she loves about the capital is the new Ukrainians she meets here.
“If I’m out somewhere I might tag the place where I am on my Instagram. Then I get messages from other Ukrainians saying: ‘Oh I’m in the area, it would be great to meet for coffee.’ This would never have happened in peacetime. Now we have become a big family. I love hugging Ukrainians in London.”
Understandably, the war is never far from Sotnyk’s mind and she reiterated the plea made by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for more arms to fight Russia.
“It’s super-crucial that we receive more weapons and receive them faster,” she says. “If this happens I’m sure we can have a decisive breakthrough by the end of the spring or the summer.”
She says she has been able to embark on the master’s in London because King’s College has been helpful in accommodating the ultra-juggling which is her daily life. She is preparing for exams in May and has benefited from the university’s sanctuary scheme.
A new sanctuary hub for Ukrainian students has been set up offering a range of scholarships and fellowships for individuals affected by the war in Ukraine, including students and academics from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
King’s College London has worked in partnership to develop the University Sponsorship Model with Citizens UK, Ukrainian Sponsorship Pathway UK (USPUK), Open University, Newcastle University and the University of Leicester.
“Our ambition is that the University Sponsorship Model can be scaled and replicated to deliver transformative educational opportunities and safe and legal pathways for displaced students and academics from across the world,” said Dr Leonie Ansems de Vries, reader in international politics and director of the King’s Sanctuary Programme, King’s College London.
Sotnyk said the war had taught her what is important in life: “It isn’t watching something on TV or scrolling through Instagram, it is human relationships. Everyone who is living a peaceful life should really appreciate that life.”
