Her home engulfed by war, Ukrainian mother Yana Felos found herself in the United Kingdom in April 2022 with no friends, no family and no community. Originally from a Russian-speaking area of eastern Ukraine, the war broke up what little community she had left. And some friends from home have gone down a concerning pro-Russian political path, she told CNN in an interview in London. Felos and her daughter are among the 6.8 million Ukrainian refugees who remain abroad, mostly in Europe, their lives mired in uncertainty. On one of her return visits to see her former husband in Ukraine, Felos recalls telling her daughter that the sounds of nearby explosions were fireworks.

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Persons: Ukraine CNN —, Yana Felos, “, ”, Felos, Russia’s, –, ” Felos, Alisa, London –, Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky, Johanna Geron, Ella Libanova, ” Libanova, Maryana, “ It’s, ” Voronovych, Victoria Rybka, Rybka, We’ve, ” Rybka Organizations: Ukraine CNN, CNN, of National Unity, Trump, Union, Ptoukha, Social Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv School of Locations: Kyiv, Ukraine, London, Ukrainian, United Kingdom, Belarus, Russian, Europe, United States, Brussels, Belgium, Russia, Austria, Kharkiv, Germany