So he moved to London from the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa in October 2022 and is now studying law. “It is extremely difficult to achieve anything in Ukraine because of all the nepotism and corruption,” said Kulia, 21.
It remains to be seen whether the Ukrainians will be able to remain in their adopted countries.
The temporary protected status granted to Ukrainian refugees by the Council of the European Union is set to expire in March 2027, although it has suggested a transition to a more permanent status after that.
In the United States, the United for Ukraine humanitarian program implemented by the Biden administration was suspended for new applicants after President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, and applications for humanitarian parole extensions were frozen, leaving many Ukrainians in legal limbo. Many now fear they could soon face deportation to an active war zone.
Blazhevych said that after temporary legal status for her and her children expired in July 2025, she lost the right to work and survived on canned food while her extension was pending, and incurred a large debt.
That status was later extended until July 2027. but he said the new rules were designed to make “people give up and leave, but I have nowhere to go.”
“I saw the death toll,” he said of his hometown, Kostyantynivka, which has been under evacuation orders for more than a year. “Children aren’t supposed to be there.”
Although Kulia, the law student, said she had returned to Odessa for a visit, she no longer “felt at home in Ukraine, At least not in the same way as in the UK, because this is where I formed my personality.”
“Ukraine feels like it’s a different life, a different reality, and sometimes I don’t even identify with that reality anymore,” he said, adding that while some of his relatives remained in Odessa, “it’s hard to stay in touch with them.”
“I’m embarrassed to tell my family about any happy moment in my life,” he said. “Because I know that their reality is very different from mine.”
