With people escaping the conflict in Ukraine joining the millions already displaced globally, volunteers from the British Red Cross are doing everything they can to help those who arrive in the UK
On 24 February 2022, Olena became a refugee overnight. The landscape lighting designer had just arrived in the UK to visit her son, who is studying at a British college. But they woke up to the news of the escalation of armed conflict in Ukraine. “I couldn’t believe it was happening,” she says. “My heart ached, my soul was breaking because I was so worried about my husband, our relatives, and our home. In one night, I turned from a successful woman into a homeless person.”
In the long months since the outbreak of the conflict, an estimated 7.7 million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded across Europe, with millions more displaced inside the country. In the UK, almost 200,000 visas have been issued to Ukrainians seeking refuge here. They need accommodation, financial assistance, emotional support, and information about what to do next.
Top, the Red Cross at work in Irpin, Ukraine. Photograph: Sam Atkins/British Red Cross; Bottom, Olena. Photograph: Stephen Burke
