Ukrainian refugee who opened cafe in London reflects on 1,000 days of Russia's war in Ukraine
Yelyzaveta Tataryna opened her cafe in London after being forced to flee Ukraine because of Russia's invasion.
Yelyzaveta Tataryna's dream was to open a cafe in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.
The 25-year-old from Kryvyi Rih in eastern Ukraine spent years honing her craft and almost had the money she needed to realise her goal.
Then Russia invaded Ukraine.
"I thought it would be over very, very soon," Ms Tataryna tells the ABC as Ukraine marks a grim milestone — 1,000 days since the war began.
She remains a refugee, one of more than 6 million people forced to flee Ukraine.
"I don't remember how it is not to be a refugee, how it is to not be worried about your family," she says.
Her journey first took her to Poland, where she volunteered at a relief centre providing other refugees with aid and helping them find shelter.
After briefly returning to Kyiv hoping to open her business, she realised the war wasn't stopping and made the difficult decision to leave.
"It's bombs, explosions everyday in our home cities and we just can't live there," she says.
"Every time I would fall asleep, I would think, 'will I wake up tomorrow or not'?"
"So I moved to the United Kingdom and thought, 'let's start'."
She was determined to make her business dream a reality.
An anonymous Ukrainian businessman gave her a loan which helped secure a long-term tenancy in an old kebab shop.
The cafe's bright colour makes it unmissable in central London.
She worked 16 hours a day to transform the space in to the Cream Dream cafe, which opened on Valentine's Day in 2023.
"I thought it would be cool to open something here … something Ukrainian where women can meet, can do some business, you know, meetings, social events."
The bright pink shopfront stands out amongst the wintry grey of central London.
The vegan cafe sells Ukrainian wine and traditional meals, with a map of Ukraine on the wall a proud reminder of home.
All of the staff are also Ukrainian refugees from the war, something Yelyzaveta Tataryna is proud of.
Cream Dream cafe is full of memories of home.
"It's nice to to give people an opportunity to start working here … to [help them] make a first step in a community where people understand Ukrainian.
"My kitchen, for example, most of them don't speak English and that's fine. We understand each other."
She says she's "privileged" and knows that despite everything that's happened she's one of the lucky ones.
"I would say more than half of my friends are in the war now and a lot of my friends have already died," she says.
"It's terrifying to think about it."
Ukraine and Russia decimated by war
The war in Ukraine is the deadliest in Europe since World War II but neither Russia or Ukraine release official casualty statistics.
At the end of August, the United Nations estimated that at least 11,743 civilians had been killed and 24,614 wounded in Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Ukrainian prosecutors say 589 Ukrainian children had been killed.
Kryvyi Rih in eastern Ukraine has been under near-constant attack by Russia since the war began.
Ukrainian officials have said the figures are likely much higher, with verifying deaths and injuries difficult in areas like Mariupol, which was under Russian control.
Western estimates put the number of dead and wounded soldiers in the hundreds of thousands on both sides but believe that Russia is suffering worse loses.
The UK chief of defence staff Sir Tony Radakin told the BBC this month that Russia was approaching 700,000 casualties since the invasion began and lost 1,500 soldiers a day on average in October.
However, Ukraine's population is a third of the size of Russia's and continues to face severe manpower shortages.
The United Nations estimated that Ukraine's population has declined by 10 million people, or by a quarter, since the war began.
Russian missile strikes continued to hit places like Odesa this week.
Deputy Director of the Russia and Eurasia Programme and Head of the Ukraine Forum at policy think-tank Chatham House, Orysia Lutsevych, says a major challenge for Ukraine would be replenishing its military ranks.
She says Ukraine recently called on some 160,000 people to be trained and mobilised for the front line.
"Right now, Ukraine is really in this disadvantageous position because they have to face Russians in close combat," Ms Lutsevych tells the ABC.
"That is not something that any general could wish for its troops.
"So providing Ukrainians capabilities that would limit Russian attack is something that is a big problem for Ukraine."
US eases long-range missile usage for Ukraine
Over the weekend, US President Joe Biden reportedly gave the go-ahead for long-range American missiles to be used on targets inside Russia, angering Russia.
Ms Lutsevych, welcomed the move but says it's limited to the Kursk region, where Ukraine is battling Russian and North Korean soldiers to hold onto land it took from Russia in August.
"It will make a difference. But from what I understand, the decision from the White House is only limited to Kursk Oblast. It doesn't cover all of Russia. So, again, it is a relaxation of a certain restrictions, but not full relaxation," she says.
"That means that all those [Russian] fighter jets and all those munition storages remain protected from these kinds of attacks."
She says the next major challenge for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the incoming Donald Trump administration.
Trump has said he would end the war in a day, with reports that he is considering a freezing of the front line to bring the conflict to a quick end.
Orysia Lutsevych says Ukraine faces significant challenges as the conflict continues.
She says any move that would see Ukraine surrender territory Russia wouldn't work for Ukraine "nor for the same for the security of Europe".
"Zelenskyy and his team is working hard directly with Trump and with his advisers and possible future appointees, explaining why it's in America's national interest to make sure that aggression, even partially, is not rewarded."
However, she admits some within the Ukrainian government might be hopeful of a different approach from Trump's second term as president.
"There are groups of people who are disappointed with Biden's strategy to support Ukraine, and they see this strategy more like preventing Putin from winning rather than equipping and funding for Ukraine to win," she says.
"This kind of slow-drip, very measured, very late assistance, is actually creating a dangerous balance on the battlefield, where Ukraine in the end may lose in this protracted war of attrition that for Russia is easier to sustain because of the scale.
"There are voices hoping that with a new team in the White House, perhaps more resolute, perhaps more out of the box, perhaps more unexpected moves, more bold moves can be taken by Donald Trump to that end."
UN warns Ukrainians are vulnerable heading into winter
The United Nations has warned that as the conflict grinds toward its third winter, civilians are more vulnerable than ever.
Russia has regularly targeted Ukraine's energy grid, with the United Nations saying 65 per cent of the country's energy production is offline due to Russian strikes.
That is more than at the same point in 2022 and 2023.
Russia again attacked Ukraine's energy infrastructure at the weekend.
The UN said it was concerned that further attacks would force more Ukrainians to flee.
In addition to the 6 million people who have fled the conflict internationally, 3.6 million people are internally displaced in Ukraine.
Yelyzaveta Tataryna is proud of her Ukrainian cafe but ultimately wants to return home to her family in Ukraine.
Yelyzaveta Tataryna's mother and grandmother are still in Ukraine.
She says her mother is an engineer who doesn't want to leave the country and her mother behind, and also because Ukraine needs skilled people to help the rebuild.
"It's hard, but it's her decision … it would be much easier for me if they would stay here with me," she says.
She remains hopeful that the family will be reunited soon.
"I would like to go back to Ukraine, I want to raise my kids in Ukraine, I want to … build another kingdom in Ukraine," she says, adding that she doesn't want to wait another 1,000 days.
By：ABC(责任编辑：admin)
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