Two elder Ukrainians who found love amid the war after meeting at a Kyiv refuge centre have spoken about how cigarettes, humour and companionship have got them through the past year of trauma.
Volodymyr, 70, and Olga, 67, made separate 500-kilometre journeys from their home city of Kharkiv, northern Ukraine, before meeting at Depaul Day Centre in the capital around 11 months ago. Speaking with the PA news agency at the centre, they said smoking, joking and being together helped them to survive.
Olga had to contend with worries about her daughter, who is abroad with “no support”, and her son-in-law, who is fighting on the front line in Bakhmut – as is Volodymyr’s son. When asked how she copes, Olga said: “I’m a big joker”, while producing a pack of cigarettes, adding: “I don’t drink alcohol, so I just smoke a bit and it helps me to feel a bit better.
“What do we have without humour? Without humour there is literally nothing left… Sometimes I am sad and I cry when no-one is looking because I’m trying not to show it because your kids are looking up to you.”
She joked: “I also have Volodymyr, who is looking up to me as well, and I don’t want him to think that I am a cry-baby.”
Volodymyr said he was “really thankful” for the support given to Ukraine by Britain, and that his love for Olga had helped him through the ordeal. Olga added that the Kyiv refuge centre had given them “really good and high quality” food packages, and even sourced some spectacles for her to wear.
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