'We just don't know what is next': Ukrainians in Cork react to Zelenskyy address

Tetiana Petrenko and her daughter Polina, 3; Anna Shvydko and her son Myron, 5; and Anastasia Musienko and daughter Taisia, 4, watched Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address on TV at the Kingsley Hotel, Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins

They sat in hushed silence, some holding their head in their hands, others with tears in their eyes, as their president told Irish politicians about the horrors of war in their country.

Strangers before last Saturday who now share a heartbreaking bond none ever wanted, this group of Ukrainian war refugees gathered in the Kingsley Hotel, their home for the next few weeks, to watch Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s historic speech to the joint houses of the Oireachtas.