'Ireland is my home now': Meet the Ukrainian children who found refuge from the war in Cork

Monday marks three years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Some of the children who fled the war with their families tell Sarah Horgan about their harrowing journeys to reach the safety of Cork City

Alina Hrebneva, with her daughters Nadya, 6, and Polina, 12, at the Cork Deaf Association, where Alina works. Picture: Chani Anderson

Polina Hrebneva’s rainy day fund helped her family be among the many thousands who have fled war torn Ukraine over the last three years.

She, like so many others, have found safety and chance once again to be a child now they are here.

Now 12 years' old and living in Cork City, Polina's everyday life is a far cry from the chaos she left behind.

This Monday will mark three years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Many have commented on the bravery shown by adults during this time. However, the courage of their children is often overlooked. 

While it may have gone unnoticed by the rest of the world, their heroic actions will never be forgotten by loved ones who battled with them through terrifying times.

Polina from Kiev was among those noted for her steely determination during March 2022.

When her family were planning their escape, Polina remembered cash she had put away for a rainy day. The funds were predominantly made up of pocket money and birthday gifts.

Polina had no idea what she would eventually spend her savings on at the time. Little did the nine-year-old realise she would be using the cash to save her family’s life.

“In Ukraine I had money,” she explained. “I was saving all the time. I’m not sure why. People were gifting it to me for my birthday and stuff. 

"Both my great grandmother and my grandmother would give me money. When the time came I used it for us to escape. My parents used it because they only had money on their card which couldn’t be used.” 

Polina and Nadya. Polina attends a Cork Educate Together national school: 'I walked in and they were all waving Ukrainian flags.' Picture: Chani Anderson

She recalled seeking refuge with her family in a kindergarten in Ternopil before travelling with them to the Slovakian border. 

It seemed like a dream come true for her three-year-old sister Nadya, who had all the toys in the world and no one to share them with. However, Polina knew something was amiss.

“My dad had the car. We were driving for days. We stayed in a kindergarten. There should have been kids there, but there were none to be seen. It was just us and the owners. 

"Being in a kindergarten at night and without kids was creepy. When the sirens went off I was terrified. We had to go into hiding. I had heard of war before that but I didn’t really understand what it was or how bad things were going to be.” 

It was only when she started school in Cork that Polina realised the global significance of her plight.

“I walked in and they were all waving Ukrainian flags,” the Cork Educate Together national school pupil said. 

“Everybody in the class was waving this flag. Each child had made their own. I guess it made me proud but I was also a little overwhelmed.” 

She confesses to having mixed feelings about living in Cork.

I feel at home here but I also want to go back to my old life. However, if I go back I won’t have the same things. I won’t have the same friends. I kind of want to leave and I kind of don’t. It’s really confusing. 

Polina spoke about how proud she is of her mum.

“Another mum might have kept their children in a not so great situation but she got us out. She was brave.” 

12-year-old Arina Shynkarenko’s story is equally as harrowing. 

The first-year student of Nagle Community College, Mahon, said she initially learned war had broken out at the beginning of what she thought would be a normal school day in Odesa, Ukraine, back in 2022. 

She and her family finally left Ukraine in the summer of that year.

“I was getting ready like it was any other day. I was putting on my shoes when mum came over and told me I wasn’t going to school. I can remember asking why. That was when she told me that the war had started. 

"I never knew that this could happen and that this was what the world was like. I was so scared.” 

Up to that point, Arina had experienced an idyllic childhood.

“I had a common childhood. I went to primary school and played games with my friends. I went for picnics with my family and learned gymnastics. 

"My parents told us we were going to Ireland. They said it was only for a few months. That was July, 2022. I thought that war would end in August but it didn’t.” 

Sadly Arina had to leave most of her possessions behind.

“I took my clothes and my phone but we had to leave most of our belongings. I begged mum to let me take my favourite teddy. He had been with me since I was one so I couldn’t leave him behind. She agreed to let me bring him and I still have him today.” 

Concerns about relatives in Ukraine often dominate Arina’s thoughts.

“I miss my grandparents the most because they were a big part of me. I used to go to their house every weekend and hang out with them. They had a pet dog and two cats. One of those cats died and I wasn’t there and I feel sad about that.

"I videocall them all the time. They are proud of me for learning English so fast. I do worry about them a lot, especially when I hear about bombs going off near their home.” 

Arina, who lives in a modular house in Mahon, leads a happy and fulfilling life in Cork.

I have a lot of friends here. They tell me that everything’s going to be alright and that someday the war will end. Thank God for my Irish friends. I don’t dream of going back to Ukraine to live because I love Ireland and it’s my home now. 

"If I have the opportunity I’d like to stay here and go back to Ukraine now and again to visit my family.” 

Walk for Ukraine

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Nika Mirtalibova will be among crowds of young people taking to the streets of Dublin this Sunday as part of the Walk for Ukraine to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion. 

The event will begin at 1pm and leaves from the GPO on O’Connell Street before making its way through the city to Merrion Square.

Originally from Kiev and now living in Meath, she described when her nightmare started in early 2022.

“I can't really explain the feeling,” she told the Irish Examiner. “The first time I heard the air sirens was really terrifying because it felt like those films about the end of the world. That’s how it sounds because you don’t know what’s going to happen next. 

Nika Mirtalibova, now 15, who was sleeping in a metro station Kyiv before fleeing war in the country to come to Ireland in early 2022.

"In the first few hours, I didn’t know what to feel. The second night we spend the night in the underground metro. My mum said we had to go there as it was much safer. We were looking at the news every single second. There was always a bomb coming or a drone flying close by. 

"You are wondering what it will sound like or feel like if it comes your way. You are waiting for something but you don’t know what exactly. I think that’s the most terrifying feeling.” 

Then just 12, the teenager was accompanied by her mother and older brother Damir, who is now 17.

”At night, they opened up the trains for people to sleep in but a lot of people were just sitting there at the station,” she recalled. “It was really weird because I had used the metro a lot in my life before that to go to Kiev or if I needed to get somewhere really quickly. 

"I couldn’t believe I was sleeping there. We also had our dog with us — a small Yorkshire terrier name Flora. I was more worried about her than myself because she didn’t know what was happening. We got her to Ireland where she died in September, 2022.” 

She described the trauma that followed her after moving to Ireland.

“When I first came here, I was really scared of loud noises and sometimes planes. It wasn’t all of the time, but sometimes it will happen in a random moment. That’s really terrifying. However, the hardest part is hearing people talk about the war who don’t really care about what’s happening. To me that’s really sad.”