A UKRAINIAN refugee who started from nothing in Abergavenny has just returned from her trip in Eastern Ukraine, bringing Christmas gifts from Wales to residents in the midst of the fighting.
Maryna Korolova, 38 from the Donbass Region of Eastern Ukraine, who now lives in Llangynidr, Powys with her family since the 24/02/2022, and owns and runs Squeezing in Abergavenny. She went to the following three regions of Eastern Ukraine (Kharkiv, Donetsk and Samar) on behalf of the Zhyya Nadiya Foundation, based in the capital of Ukraine (Kiev) between January 6 and January 8.
On December 12 last year Maryna announced on Abergavenny Voice the start of her project titled ‘Christmas Boxes’. From this, she asked local friends as well as local customers to donate some necessary items for Ukrainians in need as well as soldiers fighting on the frontline with the Russian Federation.
Overall, Maryna collected a total of 173 boxes and delivered them to Eastern Ukraine just before the arrival of the New Year with her friends – volunteers from the Charity Foundation. Within Eastern Ukraine, the most dangerous places were Mirnograd and Pokrovsk, due to only being 800 meters away from Russian soldiers, where the war first began.
Maryna flew from Bristol to Krakow in Poland, where she took three trains (From Krakow Airport to Krakow Railway Station, then from Krakow Railway Station to Przemishl and onto Przemishl to Kyiv. Maryna then travelled from Kyiv to Eastern Ukraine on the branded vans “Zhyva Nadiya” with other volunteers as well as a Chaplain).
The reasons why Maryna returned to Ukraine for the first time was that in giving birth to a baby girl in a bomb shelter in the warzone and raising her in Abergavenny, Maryna needed time to settle her body, mind, soul, spirit and also make a new life for her two sons and husband in a new country.
Most of all, she needed to settle her heart after so much turmoil, then she was able to cater for the needs of other children in faraway lands, having the means to do so by opening up her own business in Abergavenny in the process.
In speaking in her own words on behalf of the 100 Ukrainian refugees currently living in Abergavenny & surrounding areas, Maryna shares: “Since the war began, I have dearly yearned for my country and my countrymen.
“Thank you, Wales, for filling the crater-sized hole in my heart by all the support you have rendered to me and my family, to ensure my nation’s children have a future and supporting those brave soldiers on the frontline.”
