A Ukrainian political and TV news journalist who covered the conflict from a bunker while bomb sirens sounded across Kyiv, has praised the “beautiful UK” for the support she has been given since arriving as a refugee.
Hanna Dzoba- known as Anna Dzoba in Ukraine – her partner Dima, and their family, are currently being hosted in Branston as part of the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
The 27-year-old is one of more than 120 learners who have have taken places in more than 30 courses organised for refugees from the Ukraine conflict in partnership with Lincoln College.
Hanna’s experience started after receiving a call from coworkers at the Ukrainian TV Channel Priyami at 5am on February 24.
“My colleague called and said ‘Anna, don’t worry but war has started’ and my first thoughts were ‘what? It’s a joke, what’s happened? Can it be real? I can’t believe it.'”
She was given two hours to come to terms with what had happened before she went to work – but not all her colleagues attended due to the danger.
Hanna in her role as political TV journalist. | Photo: Supplied
Over the next few days Hanna saw her city transform as transport was stopped, while underground stations became make-shift hospitals.
Air sirens rang out across the city. “I just went walking to my job – almost 10 kilometres – and all the time the air siren was going off.
“I was thinking ‘What are you doing? Why are you going to your job? Why are you not at home right now with your family?
“But then I think again, ‘no, stop, you must do it because you know everything about the Ukrainian Russian conflict and you must help people who right now are scared like you.”
Hanna hiding in a parking lot on the second day of the war. | Photo: supplied
From the second day of the war, Hanna and her team lived, slept, ate and worked in a bunker office, updating people via live broadcasts, interviewing key people such as ministers and government spokespeople, and working in two-four hour shifts to keep people informed.
“Maybe after the first 15 days I felt like my mind was broken, because it was very hard work without sleep, staying without my family, sometimes I didn’t have the time to call them.
“It was a very scary situation for me, that first time it was scary when the air sirens rang, but after 10 days people were saying ‘oh it’s not a problem, I can stay at home, I can walk on the street, it’s ok’.”
Her TV station set up a makeshift office while they carried on broadcasting live. | Photo: Supplied
She said it got to the point where people hearing the air raid siren just said “oh my god, I’m so tired, I want to sleep, I just won’t go to the bunker, it’s just not for me, I want sleep, go to hell Russian people”.
On March 8 a rocket landed within a kilometre of her home. “After that, we started to think we must do it right now [leave] because it was very dangerous for us to stay in Kyiv.
“Everyone was shocked, and my boyfriend asked me ‘what do you want to do right now?’ and I just sat and said ‘I don’t know, I don’t understand what’s happened with me, my city, my walls and my life.
“I just know that I want to hug my mother.” In the end they decided to go to their parents in their home city of Kamianske, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, that same day.
What should have been a six hour trip, took a whole day, and when they arrived their parents said they had found a place to escape to in Bulgaria.
Four hours later they started the trip at dawn to the border, a trip that should have taken 10-12 hours — but it took six whole days.
“We had to constantly change our route due to rocket attacks,” said Hanna.
“For example, when we were 20km from Vinnytsia, the rocket attack on the city began. From that moment on, I did not appear on the air of the TV channel, but from time to time I helped with news.”
After that they travelled through Romania to Bulgaria, where they stayed with friends until Hanna found out about the UK’s Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Staff worked, ate, slept and lived in the makeshift basement office during the early days of the conflict. | Photo: Supplied
She applied for a spot for her and Dima’s family and thankfully were able to find generous hosts Helen and Richard Green in Branston.
“They opened the door to us in their house and decided we could stay with them, it was very surprising for everyone.”
Since arriving Hanna and her family praised the generosity of the British people, the donations of clothing and other items for refugees.
“Great Britain is very full of care, they just try to do everything for us, they tried helping us with the English language, with all the documents,” she said.
“It’s very beautiful, it’s a beautiful country with beautiful people.”
However, there was some reminiscence when she added: “I think everyone one of us who has come here, we just miss our home.”
Hanna with her mother. | Photo: Supplied
Since arriving in the UK, Hanna has taken part in a number of activities including a “Lady Book Club” and a meeting group for Ukrainian people to meet their hosts, and even help each other learn English.
Not long after, she and Dima also signed up for English language courses with Lincoln College, firstly with other nationalities and then in groups specifically designed for Ukrainian refugees.
They include one-to-one lessons and homework such as writing letters, watching movies in English and learning song lyrics.
Despite only doing one or two English courses while growing up and in University in Ukraine, Hanna’s grasp of the language is coming along well, though she admits there is still space for improvement.
“They give us a lot of information about how the English language uses tenses… and they teach us how to write, grammar and how to speak.
Hanna and her partner Dima with hosts Helen and Richard Green. | Photo: Supplied
The refugees comes from a wide variety of stories and backgrounds.
Many are women, some with children, and they have left their husbands and partners back home in the war-affected country.
They include teenagers applying for university places and along with software developers, lawyers, senior managers, architects, scientists.
For more information, or to apply becoming a host, email: [email protected].
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Anglian Water has “a lot to answer for” after a long-running sinkhole debacle, Holbeach’s MP has claimed.
Nearly £500,000 has been spent over the last three years by various authorities attempting to repair the hole on Boston Road South.
People whose lives had been disrupted demanded answers from the water company and council at a town meeting on Wednesday evening.
The delayed sewer works have now been completed, and the road repairs are currently expected to be completed by Friday, August 26.
Most of the anger was directed against Anglian Water for not keeping people informed of what was happening.
Sir John Hayes, MP for South Holland and the Deepings, said: “There has been a breakdown between Lincolnshire County Council. Local people have been put out. Anglian Water have a lot to answer for,” he said.
“It is not acceptable that the people I represent have had to have this since 2019. This cost is our money.
Problems have persisted on Boston Road South for years | Photo: The Lincolnite
“It is not acceptable people not knowing what is happening next. There is also the noise which is affecting people’s lives.
“Only Lincolnshire County Council are taking responsibility and not Anglian Water. People will know who to hold accountable.”
He also called for people to be compensated for their trouble as a gesture of goodwill.
Anglian Water said they were very sorry for not communicating better, and claimed that they had been working closely with the council to fix the problems.
A spokesperson said they would look into compensation.
One resident told the meeting that they hadn’t been informed about recent roadworks, and hadn’t been able to get off their drive for work on Monday.
Lincolnshire County Council apologised for not dropping letters off to all houses affected.
Questions also revealed that tankers full of sewage and storm water were being taken away from the sinkhole daily.
Anglian Water has spent approximately £350,000 trying to rectify the problem, and another £115,000 has come from Lincolnshire County Council.
The road repairs were pushed back from July 4 after Anglian Water said that more time was needed to repair the sewer.
A former pub in Boston will be merged with a neighbouring building to create larger residential home.
Plans have been granted for a new use for the Red Cow Hotel on Wide Bargate.
The pub has had a turbulent history recently, briefly closing and reopening in 2014, before shutting again shortly after.
Planning documents say it’s fallen into a poor sate of repair. However, applicant SHWilkinson Architects Ltd is now working to bring it back into good condition.
Boston Borough Council has granted permission to build a two-storey extension to link it with the Georgians, an 18th century townhouse used as a care home for the elderly.
The extension will be set back from the road so it doesn’t detract from the historic architecture.
Artists impressions show what the larger, combined care home would look like.
The extended care home on Wide Bargate, Boston Photo: SHWilkinson
The recently-approved application states: “The link will allow both buildings to operate under a combined management and staffing rather than two independent staffing units, were they kept separate.”
It adds that the plans are an “opportunity to bring the derelict and deteriorating building back into use and to address localised issues with vermin appearance.”
The buildings’ external features will be restored and replaced where needed.
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