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Tagged: ukraine conflict

Finding Home in Exile: How Ukrainian Refugees Remember Their Time in Polish Households

By Kamil Łuczaj. What is it like to flee your home overnight and rebuild life in a stranger’s house? For many Ukrainian refugees who arrived in Poland after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the answer is woven with fear, resilience, and unexpected acts of kindness. But how do they remember those first chaotic weeks – and what stories do they choose to tell? This post dives into the narratives of 30 Ukrainian war refugees who found temporary refuge in Polish households. Through interviews conducted in 2023, it explores how they recount their journeys – from the moment the invasion began to their experiences settling into a new, unfamiliar space. While every story is unique, common threads emerge: the shock of displacement, the challenges of adapting to a new culture, and the fragile hope of rebuilding life from scratch.

War Memorials in Russian-Occupied Ukraine

By Denys Shatalov. The monuments we encounter in a territory tell us not so much about its past as about present ideology. The new study by Mischa Gabowitsch and Mykola Homanyuk, “Monuments and Territory. War Memorials in Russian-Occupied Ukraine” explores the fate of war memorials in the Russian-occupied territories during the first year of the ongoing full-scale war. The authors focus on war memorials honouring different eras and conflicts, from the medieval battle of Kalka to the Soviet War in Afghanistan and the Anti-Terrorist Operation in Eastern Ukraine (2014–2022), erected in Soviet times or during Ukrainian independence.

Dissimilar Integration Policies in Scandinavia: The Experience of Ukrainian Refugees

By Marthe Handå Myhre and Oleksandra Deineko. Since February 2022, thousands of Ukrainians have fled to Europe. Despite the fact that all three Skandinavian countries grant Ukrainian refugees residence permit, the distinct national integration policies continue to shape the everyday life of Ukrainian refugees and their possibilities for integration into the labor market. What signals have the three countries been sending to the Ukrainian refugees through their integration measures, and how does it affect the integration of Ukrainians? Between February and July 2024, the authors conducted interviews with Ukrainian refugees in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, gaining insight into the challenges they are grappling within the three countries resulting from the respective national policies.