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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced millions of people to flee their homes. Almost 170,000 of them have spent much of the last 18 months navigating new lives in the UK.

Sky News spoke with five refugees who shared their stories of starting over in Britain, risking life and limb to visit their homeland, and their hopes and fears for the future of the war.

Alyona Kaporina. Pic: Ste Blackledge

‘Helpless as my family preps for nuclear disaster’

Knowing her family is preparing for the “end of the world” near an imperilled nuclear plant makes the safety of the UK bittersweet for Alyona Kaporina.

The director, 39, has found support in her new home of Manchester, but she feels “completely helpless” knowing her sister, Valentina, and niece, Agnessa, are “living in fear” in a village close to the Zaporizhzhia power station.

In June and July, the plant was threatened by a collapsed dam, explosives allegedly installed by Russians, and power outages caused by military activity.

“These were very exhausting weeks. We are preparing and living in constant expectation of the end of the world,” says Agnessa, with Ms Kaporina acting as a translator.

“We have been living with a sense of fear… no sedatives work any more.”

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While her family stocks up on iodine tablets, tapes their windows airtight and hermetically seals their food in case of nuclear disaster, Ms Kaporina waits nervously for news 1,600 miles away.

“It is not just words, it is a real threat,” she says.

“In June, it really scared me and my relatives, and they really prepared. I was really very nervous.”

Fighting on the information front

Unable to help her family on the frontline, Ms Kaporina, originally from Kyiv, has devoted herself to what the Ukrainians call the “information front” by organising a rally in Piccadilly Gardens every Saturday.

Refugees meet to speak in their native language, sing Ukrainian songs and to remind the UK the war is still raging.

“I think the world is a little bit tired maybe about news from the war. And people in Ukraine are tired but our soldiers continue to die defending our country,” she says.

Last week, a close friend’s husband was among them, leaving behind his pregnant wife.

“It happens every day. Sometimes you don’t know those people, sometimes you know those people who died for your freedom, your independence.”

Explaining why her group gathers every Saturday, Ms Kaporina says: “Russia continues to attack our civilian people, our civilian cities, and we never know when it will be over. We [don’t] have any right to forget.”

People from England, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Lithuania join her each week to raise awareness.

“It is really important and it’s really [a] pleasure and we are grateful to a lot with people for their support.”

Ms Kaporina says the UK has been very welcoming since she arrived in May last year, but she and other Ukrainian refugees have struggled with incompatible job qualifications and felt isolated by language barriers.

“I know that for many people it is a big problem because when you live in Ukraine you can have very nice degree, and you can have a very high job and a very big experience, but when you arrive in UK and you don’t speak English you are really nobody,” she says.

Pic: Natalie Baksheieva

‘Missiles almost killed me twice – and I’m going back again’

Mother of two Natalie Baksheieva is full of gratitude for the welcome she has received in Winchester – but it won’t stop her returning to her homeland, even if her life is in danger.

“What struck me here is that people are genuinely, sincerely compassionate,” she says.

“I am touched. I feel it is so important for us to survive. This idea that we are not alone gives us strength.”

Missiles have almost killed Ms Baksheieva twice during her three trips back to Kyiv.

Russian bombs exploded a little over a mile away from her flat in October, striking the route she planned to take to the dentist.

Before that, her neighbouring block of apartments was partially destroyed by rockets hours after she left the city at the end of a separate visit last July.

A neighbour's building is reconstructed after a missile attack in Kyiv
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A neighbour’s building is reconstructed after a missile attack in Kyiv

She remains undeterred, with another trip to settle legal proceedings over the guardianship of a relative planned next month, but says she is “afraid” of the “roulette” she is playing.

“Honestly, I dread it,” she says, adding there have been four sirens a day in recent weeks.

Separated from her son

Multiple people died, cars were incinerated and a “huge crater” was left next to her dental practice in October’s attack. Ms Baksheieva, a sales coach, fears her son, 22, trapped in Ukraine by martial law, might be among Russia’s next victims.

“Living with this, it is painful. It is like an ongoing pain that you cannot just brush off because it is about your kids,” she says.

During her first visit back, nobody smiled and “you could feel the anxiety in the air”, but by 2023, acute stress had become “chronic” background anxiety.

Sirens were constant, but people were used to it. Missiles exploded, but often shot down by Kyiv’s air defence shield.

“At the beginning there would be empty streets. With time, people would ignore sirens and continue to play in the playgrounds with kids.”

Ms Baksheieva, who grew up in the Soviet Union, has harsh words for anyone calling for a compromise with Russia to end the war.

“Have you ever lived in an unfree country? Have you ever experienced that? Because [freedom] is like air, you don’t realise it until you don’t have it.”

She describes a lack of freedom as “something physical”, adding: “You don’t understand. It is like living suffocating.”

I didn’t vote for Zelenskyy

Ms Baksheieva credits Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the West’s backing – despite having not voted for him.

“I didn’t think he was a great president before but what he has done since the beginning of the war is extraordinary.

“I think it is diplomacy 2.0 that he created. Because he is not a diplomat. Because he jumped from stage to presidency, he lacks all those layers of we-are-very-concerned bulls***.”

Vinnitsa. File pic:AP
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Returning to Ukraine because he ‘can’t survive’ cost of living crisis

The cost of living crisis and separation from his wife and young son have convinced Agha Hassan Abbas to return to Ukraine.

He found he “can’t survive” here on the shifts he picks up as a barista and his wife, who is Pakistani, has had her visa denied.

Having spent the past year moving between the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and Canada before his arrival in the UK, Mr Abbas fought back tears as he described being left with nothing.

“I am not happy. Sometimes I am sitting and I am crying,” he says. “We are not living.”

He recalls his prosperity in Ukraine: “I had so many things there. I was the owner of my shops. I had my own home, I had my car, but now everything is zero in my life and I am going to start again. It is very disturbing for me. I am 42 years old.”

This is not the first time Russia has forced Mr Abbas to start over. He abandoned his first kebab shop in Luhansk for the western city of Vinnitsa in 2014 when Russian armed groups seized parts of the Donbas.

“I never thought it would happen again in my life. In my life I have seen two times war. Two times I have started my life and I lost everything,” he says.

Mr Abbas' kebab shop in Vinnitsa, Waypma
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Mr Abbas’ kebab shop in Vinnitsa

Mr Abbas was in Pakistan visiting his wife’s family when Russia invaded Ukraine last year, and did not settle in one country until arriving here in January.

He had hoped he could sell his car, welcome his wife to the country and that they could make a living doing “any small job” anywhere affordable – but his hope is lost.

“I don’t know when, but I will go back [to Ukraine] because I don’t think I can survive alone here… I don’t know how I will manage it – it’s very expensive,” he says, adding that he is very thankful nonetheless to have been offered a visa in the UK.

Having renounced his Pakistani citizenship when he became a Ukrainian national in 2005 (Ukraine does not allow dual citizenship), Mr Abbas says he cannot join his wife in Pakistan either because he is not allowed to work in the country.

He recognises he is taking “a very big risk” returning to Ukraine, but says it is his home.

“I have everything in Ukraine. My whole life I spent everything, I risk everything, in Ukraine.”

Asked if he intends to help rebuild when the war is over, he says there is no doubt in his mind.

“The land who give me everything: My everything for this land,” he says.

“I will participate – not physically because of an issue – but I will participate financially, if I am there and I am earning.”

He vows: “I will start again.”

Pic: Veronika Prykhodko

Marriage in the aftermath of a ‘massive’ Russian attack

Watching her cousin exchange vows in the aftermath of a “massive” attack on Mykolaiv was “surreal” for Veronika Prykhodko, 27, who has been living in London since last May.

As the authorities searched for bodies in buildings destroyed by Russian drones, she and her relatives at the wedding last month toasted the Ukrainian army for enabling them to hold it.

The night before, Ms Prykhodko and her mother, who were visiting Ukraine for three weeks, saw air defence systems spring into action for the first time, firing a “chain” of rockets at incoming drones, which exploded and rained down hunks of metal.

“It is basically a movie that you watch with your eyes from the window – which is wild,” Ms Prykhodko says.

It was a stark example of how her friends in Ukraine now live two very different lives, one during the day and one at night, when most Russian attacks occur.

While visiting Kyiv, Ms Prykhodko slept in a bathroom or an underground car park to escape missile strikes, before waking up to drink coffee with friends on another “beautiful day”.

Kyiv, photographed by Ms Prykhodko
Image:
Kyiv, photographed by Ms Prykhodko

“That’s the routine. That’s the new normal. Everyone is very philosophical about it. They’re like ‘if it hits me it hits me, I did everything I could’. They hide obviously and do everything to protect themselves, but there is no way they can 24/7 sit at home crying,” she says.

Ms Prykhodko is sanguine, likening positive experiences to putting on an oxygen mask during a plane emergency before helping anyone else.

“You cannot just live on patriotism. You really need to live your life – and then be able to help the army and help rebuild the country’s economy.”

Anger and guilt

That’s not to say the daytime in Kyiv was normal. Air-raid sirens were near-constant. At all times, Ms Prykhodko considered where she could hide if bombs began to fall.

She described an unabating tension driving her “crazy”, paranoia prompting her to hear sirens when there weren’t any. But one emotion overrode all others.

“I was angry the whole time,” she says. “The nation has never been so angry and so p***ed at somebody. I’m not just saying everyone hates Putin but you hate the whole country too.

“What I hate the most is I cannot feel safe in my own country.”

Read more from Sky News:
What a new UK defence secretary means for Ukraine
New video of Prigozhin from days before death
Russia uses ‘200-year-old strategy’ to protect Crimean bridge

Returning to London at the end of last month came with its own emotional burden – the gnawing feeling of “survivors’ guilt”.

Ms Prykhodko says she feels “privileged” to be safe, to work and afford to rent, to be a woman who can leave the country while men like her father, aged between 18 and 60, remain under martial law.

“You unconsciously start blaming yourself for having such a good situation,” she says.

People in the UK have been “mega supportive”, she says, particularly of her mother, who speaks little English and has struggled to communicate while buying food or using the job centre.

But the Homes for Ukraine scheme visa ends in 2025, and the pair are in limbo over what happens next.

“The future is quite blurry but also que sera, sera, we’ll see what happens. I’m hoping the war will be over.”

Pic: Kristina Nepushenkov

‘My daughter speaks English now – but what happens when our visa runs out?’

A dentist who fled to the UK with her six-year-old daughter has described the heartbreak of seeing her child “lose everything”.

Both have been forced to start their lives again, with Kristina Nepushenkov, 47, finding her qualifications aren’t recognised in the UK and Agatha restarting her education at reception level without any friends.

After a year and a half in England, Agatha is unable to read or write in Ukrainian, so Ms Nepushenkov wants to continue her education in the UK – but the visa system has left them in limbo.

“I want to make my daughter happy. She lost everything,” says Ms Nepushenkov, who lives in Maidenhead.

“She always asks ‘where are my grandparents, where is my dog, where is my father, where are my friends?’ And what I can do?”

Some of Ms Nepushenkov’s friends stayed in Ukraine: “It’s not that they don’t care for their lives – they choose to stay because it’s very scary to lose everything.”

Ms Nepushenkov, now training in dentistry for the second time, says she knows numerous Ukrainian medical professionals, including doctors, whose qualifications could not secure them jobs in the UK.

They have found themselves earning less money and facing a higher cost of living, while struggling to find places to rent. Ms Nepushenkov and her daughter live in a one-bedroom flat.

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“It is a strange feeling,” she says.

“It is like your life has completely changed. But I try to find better in this situation – because maybe for my daughter it is better to live here.”

Developing her language skills has made Agatha happier in the UK than when she first arrived, Ms Nepushenkov says.

“She started to speak with officials, with waiters in the restaurant, and she is so happy that they understood her.”

She laughs. “Sometimes I cannot understand her. English people understand her very well, but I can’t.”

Yet it could “all be for nothing”, she says, if their visas aren’t extended at the end of next year.

The pair remain in limbo over what status they will have in the UK in 2025 – while also uncertain if they will have a home to go back to in Ukraine by then.

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Donald Trump announces sweeping global trade tariffs – including 10% on UK imports

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Donald Trump announces sweeping global trade tariffs - including 10% on UK imports

Donald Trump has announced a 10% trade tariff on all imports from the UK – as he unleashed sweeping tariffs across the globe.

Speaking at a White House event entitled “Make America Wealthy Again”, the president held up a chart detailing the worst offenders – which also showed the new tariffs the US would be imposing.

“This is Liberation Day,” he told a cheering audience of supporters, while hitting out at foreign “cheaters”.

Follow live: Trump tariffs latest

He claimed “trillions” of dollars from the “reciprocal” levies he was imposing on others’ trade barriers would provide relief for the US taxpayer and restore US jobs and factories.

Mr Trump said the US has been “looted, pillaged, raped, plundered” by other nations.

President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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Pic: AP

His first tariff announcement was a 25% duty on all car imports from midnight – 5am on Thursday, UK time.

Mr Trump confirmed the European Union would face a 20% reciprocal tariff on all other imports. China’s rate was set at 34%.

The UK’s rate of 10% was perhaps a shot across the bows over the country’s 20% VAT rate, though the president’s board suggested a 10% tariff imbalance between the two nations.

It was also confirmed that further US tariffs were planned on some individual sectors including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and critical mineral imports.

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Trump’s tariffs explained

The ramping up of duties promises to be painful for the global economy. Tariffs on steel and aluminium are already in effect.

The UK government signalled there would be no immediate retaliation.

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We will always act in the best interests of UK businesses and consumers. That’s why, throughout the last few weeks, the government has been fully focused on negotiating an economic deal with the United States that strengthens our existing fair and balanced trading relationship.

“The US is our closest ally, so our approach is to remain calm and committed to doing this deal, which we hope will mitigate the impact of what has been announced today.

“We have a range of tools at our disposal and we will not hesitate to act. We will continue to engage with UK businesses including on their assessment of the impact of any further steps we take.

“Nobody wants a trade war and our intention remains to secure a deal. But nothing is off the table and the government will do everything necessary to defend the UK’s national interest.”

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Who showed up for Trump’s tariff address?

The EU has pledged to retaliate, which is a problem for Northern Ireland.

Should that scenario play out, the region faces the prospect of rising prices because all its imports are tied to EU rules under post-Brexit trading arrangements.

It means US goods shipped to Northern Ireland would be subject to the EU’s reprisals.

The impact of a trade war would be expected to be widely negative, with tit-for-tat tariffs risking job losses, a ramping up of prices and cooling of global trade.

Research for the Institute for Public Policy Research has suggested more than 25,000 direct jobs in the UK car manufacturing industry alone could be at risk from the tariffs on car exports to the US.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) had said the tariff costs could not be absorbed by manufacturers and may lead to a review of output.

The tariffs now on UK exports pose a big risk to growth and the so-called headroom Chancellor Rachel Reeves was forced to restore to the public finances at the spring statement, risking further spending cuts or tax rises ahead to meet her fiscal rules.

Read more:
What do Trump’s tariffs mean for the UK?
The rewards and risks for US as trade war intensifies

A member of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), David Miles, told MPs on Tuesday that US tariffs at 20% or 25% maintained on the UK for five years would “knock out all the headroom the government currently has”.

But he added that a “very limited tariff war” that the UK stays out of could be “mildly positive”.

He said: “There’s a bit of trade that will get diverted to the UK, and some of the exports from China, for example, that would have gone to the US, they’ll be looking for a home for them in the rest of the world.

“And stuff would be available in the UK a bit cheaper than otherwise would have been. So there is one, not central scenario at all, which is very, very mildly potentially positive to the UK. All the other ones which involve the UK facing tariffs are negative, and they’re negative to very different extents.”

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Israel announces military operation expanding in Gaza to seize ‘large areas’

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Israel announces military operation expanding in Gaza to seize 'large areas'

Israel is beginning a major expansion of its military operation in Gaza and will seize large areas of the territory, the country’s defence minister said.

Israel Katz said in a statement that there would be a large scale evacuation of the Palestinian population from fighting areas.

In a post on X, he wrote: “I call on the residents of Gaza to act now to remove Hamas and return all the hostages. This is the only way to end the war.”

He said the offensive was “expanding to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and capture large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel”.

The expansion of Israel’s military operation in Gaza deepens its renewed offensive.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that had begun in January ended in March as Israel launched various air strikes on targets across Gaza.

The deal had seen the release of dozens of hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, but collapsed before it could move to phase two, which would have involved the release of all hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

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26 March: Anti-Hamas chants heard at protest in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had already issued evacuation warnings to Gazans living around the southern city of Rafah and towards the city of Khan Yunis, telling them to move to the al Mawasi area on the shore, which was previously designated a humanitarian zone.

Israeli forces have already set up a significant buffer zone within Gaza, having expanded an area around the edge of the territory that had existed before the war, as well as a large security area in the so-called Netzarim corridor through the middle of Gaza.

This latest conflict began when Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages.

The ensuing Israeli offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Read more:
Father demands protection after Gaza aid workers’ deaths
Anti-Hamas chants heard at rare protest in Gaza

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Bodies of aid workers found in Gaza

Aid group Doctors Without Borders warned on Wednesday that Israel’s month-long siege of Gaza means some critical medications are now short in supply and are running out, leaving Palestinians at risk of losing vital healthcare.

“The Israeli authorities’ have condemned the people of Gaza to unbearable suffering with their deadly siege,” said Myriam Laaroussi, the group’s emergency coordinator in Gaza.

“This deliberate infliction of harm on people is like a slow death; it must end immediately.”

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‘Liberation day is here’: But what will it mean for global trade?

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'Liberation day is here': But what will it mean for global trade?

“Liberation day” was due to be on 1 April. But Donald Trump decided to shift it by a day because he didn’t want anyone to think it was an April fool.

It is no joke for him and it is no joke for governments globally as they brace for his tariff announcements.

It is stunning how little we know about the plans to be announced in the Rose Garden of the White House later today.

It was telling that we didn’t see the President at all on Tuesday. He and all his advisers were huddled in the West Wing, away from the cameras, finalising the tariff plans.

Follow the events of Liberation Day live as they unfold

Three key figures are central to it all.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the so-called ‘measured voice’. A former hedge fund manager, he has argued for targeted not blanket tariffs.

Peter Navarro is Trump’s senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing. A long-time aide and confidante of the president, he is a true loyalist and a firm believer in the merits of tariffs.

More on Donald Trump

His economic views are well beyond mainstream economic thought – precisely why he appeals to Trump.

‘Stop that crap’: Trump adviser Peter Navarro reacts to Sky News correspondent’s question over tariffs

The third key character is Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary and the biggest proponent of the full-throttle liberation day tariff juggernaut.

The businessman, philanthropist, Trump fundraiser and billionaire (net worth ranging between $1bn and $2bn) has been among the closest to Trump over the past 73 days of this presidency – frequently in and out of the West Wing.

If anything goes wrong, observers here in Washington suspect Trump will make Lutnick the fall guy.

What are Donald Trump’s tariffs, what is ‘liberation day’ and how does it all affect the UK?

And what if it does all go wrong? What if Trump is actually the April fool?

“It’s going to work…” his press secretary said when asked if it could all be a disaster, driving up the cost of living for Americans and creating global economic chaos.

“The president has a brilliant team who have been studying these issues for decades and we are focussed on restoring the global age of America…” Karoline Leavitt said.

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‘Days of US being ripped off are over’

Dancing to the president’s tune

My sense is that we should see “liberation day” not as the moment it’s all over in terms of negotiations for countries globally as they try to carve out deals with the White House. Rather it should be seen as the start.

Trump, as always, wants to be seen as the one calling the shots, taking control, seizing the limelight. He wants the world to dance to his tune. Today is his moment.

But beyond today, alongside the inevitable tit-for-tat retaliation, expect to see efforts by nations to seek carve-outs and to throw bones to Trump; to identify areas where trade policies can be tweaked to placate the president.

Even small offerings which change little in a material sense could give Trump the chance to spin and present himself as the winning deal maker he craves to be.

One significant challenge for foreign governments and their diplomats in Washington has been engaging the president himself with proposals he might like.

Negotiations take place with a White House team who are themselves unsure where the president will ultimately land. It’s resulted in unsatisfactory speculative negotiations.

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Treasury minister: ‘We’ll do everything to secure a deal’

Too much faith placed in the ‘special relationship’?

The UK believes it’s in a better position than most other countries globally. It sits outside the EU giving it autonomy in its trade policy, its deficit with the US is small, and Trump loves Britain.

It’s true too that the UK government has managed to accelerate trade conversations with the White House on a tariff-free trade partnership. Trump’s threats have forced conversations that would normally sit in the long grass for months.

Yet, for now, the conversations have yielded nothing firm. That’s a worry for sure. Did Keir Starmer have too much faith in the ‘special relationship’?

Downing Street will have identified areas where they can tweak trade policy to placate Trump. Cars maybe? Currently US cars into the UK carry a 10% tariff. Digital services perhaps?

US food? Unlikely – there are non-tariff barriers on US food because the consensus seems to be that chlorinated chicken and the like isn’t something UK consumers want.

Easier access to UK financial services maybe? More visas for Americans?

For now though, everyone is waiting to see what Trump does before they either retaliate or relent and lower their own market barriers.

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