A Ukrainian woman who fled the war in her home country has found unexpected love in the UK. Yulia, from Mikolaiv, arrived in the UK in April 2022 under the Homes for Ukraine scheme and was taken in by Emma Nishigaki in Evesham, Worcestershire.
Yulia is now in a relationship with another of Ms Nishigaki's lodgers, a UK granddad. She said: 'I didn't plan to find somebody here, but it's happened really natural.' Ms Nishigaki commented: 'It's good to see something positive has come out of this awful time in Yulia's life.'
Yulia, who used to work as a bank supervisor in Ukraine, now works for a food company making sauces. She said: 'I am making sauces in my new job and this is really interesting for me, because I like cooking. I'm cooking at home and I'm cooking at work, I'm cooking everywhere.'
Ms Nishigaki added: 'I've acquired another daughter, she's just embraced the family and embraced our life and I really can't imagine life without her now.' Yulia said she misses family and friends and hopes to return to visit them in 2023. Speaking about her grandparents, she said: 'They are OK, they have food, they have water, they have everything that they need for life, but I think mentally they are broken.'
