Ukrainian women in new project - 6th March 2024

A new photography project tells the stories of some Ukrainian women. When Russian soldiers entered Ukraine on 24th February 2022, these women came to the UK.

Both Katia Duncan, and Vlada Stoliarova have Ukrainian relatives. They created the project - 'Nezlamna'. Nezlamna means something which can't be broken.

Katia Duncan: "And one of the questions that we've asked the women is, what, what, what is your story of being "nezlamna", of being this unbreakable woman. And they say, I don't feel like that. I feel like I break down every single day. And then I build myself back up."

The project looks at 18 women. They're like thousands of Ukrainian women. They all left their country to protect their children. Yulia Zabrodska took part.

Yulia Zabrodska: "We, Ukrainian woman meet with challenges and I think all of us we have a sense of guilt that we left our country. And these projects show that we are strong, we're fighting, and we try to settle in foreign country and protect our children."

Vlada took pictures of the women with flowers. The flowers are beautiful, but strong too, like the women themselves.

Vlada Stoliarova: "I think it's very important to show that these refugees, that these women, that they're real. They used to have their lives in Ukraine, they full of love and full of just problems and the usual life that we have. But one day, it changed."

Nezlamna shows the difficult choices which the women made, like deciding to leave Ukraine. Their lives aren't simple abroad, either. Now, they're single parents. They worry about the situation at home. Many of the women had a good education and good job. Doing the same work now is impossible. That's because of problems such as their English.

Nezlamna's really helped the group. And it's helped other women too. They can see their own stories in the project.

Katia Duncan: "They lived through the experience, but also it has been therapeutic to other Ukrainians who, who saw themselves in these stories, so Ukrainians who read and relived and they felt that 'I'm not alone. I'm not alone in feeling like this.'"