‘War changed everything’: Anguish as war forces Ukrainian families to spend Christmas apart
With Russia's war still raging, countless Ukrainian families are facing the pain of spending this festive period apart.
That is particularly the case for the millions of Ukrainians who have fled their homeland this year and left behind loved ones.
Anna Polukhina, a 37-year-old from Mariupol, is one of them.
Living at a refugee centre in Milan, she told Euronews it is difficult to celebrate Christmas when her family back home is living in a war zone. She said her mother’s house had been destroyed in the conflict.
“Family is something that's very important," she said. "It's everything. But the war changed everything. I may not have a chance to speak to family and all my relatives there,” she said, adding that it's hard to reach them in Mariupol, which is occupied by Russian forces.
“It's very difficult. I want to hear my mother, to speak to her,” she added.
The refugee centre is doing its best to lift her spirits. They will have a special festive party and Polukhina will make traditional Ukrainian dishes with her flatmates.
“They've put up two Christmas trees... it's really beautiful," she said. "There may be surprises for us, for the children. They've written letters to Santa Claus, maybe there'll be presents for all of us."
Elizabeth Pulvas, a Ukrainian refugee in Bucharest, is in a similar position to Anna. This will also be the first year the 23-year-old Ukrainian won't be able to spend Christmas with her family, who are in Kyiv.
“It is quite hard to understand that there is no possibility for all of us to unite in one place,” said Pulvas.
For the holidays last year, she had a big Christmas dinner in January with her friends where she cooked 12 dishes to celebrate the holiday. Fewer than two months later, Russia launched its
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