Return trip from Ukraine to Cootehill

Yulia Kabul came to Cootehill on July 6, 2022, seeking refuge from the war that was happening in her home in Ukraine.

She spoke to the Celt last week on her way back to Ukraine and shared her story with us.

On February 24, 2022, at around 4am, Yulia and her husband awoke to sounds outside their home in the Ukrainian city of Kyiv. “Yulia, it’s like bombs,” her husband said.

The couple frantically searched for documents; she feared for her 10-year-old son's life. He was still sleeping.

“It was awful,” she remembered.

A former head of digital marketing, Yulia was at an international exhibition in Dubai a few days prior, when speculation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was rife. Upon noticing the blue and yellow flag on her name badge, some people queried, while others wished her the best of luck.

“No, it will not happen,” she had replied.

“I didn’t believe it until I heard the bombs that morning,” she said in disbelief.

“I am talking, I am watching the news, I was there, and I left Ukraine, but still for me it feels like a nightmare.”

She described the night she and her husband decided that their home in Kyiv was no longer a safe place for them.

“Kyiv was the main goal, they [Russia] wanted to take it in three days,” she said.

“It was really dangerous.”

They were sheltering beneath her sister's house in the Kyivan countryside, having left their own home, which was in the centre. The family, along with her sister and brother-in-law, hid in a food storage basement in the ground.

“We were sitting there for maybe two hours, above us we heard the awful sounds of planes and bomb attacks,” she said.

“If a bomb or something came down, it was a grave for us. I was very scared.”

Since the war began, the family had been sleeping in their clothes, boots by their bedside, in the event they would have to flee. They had little food, they could not withdraw cash and, even if they could, Yulia remembered there was “nothing to buy” as the stores were empty.

“You don’t know what will happen in the next hour or the next five minutes,” she said, describing how this desperation gave her the “courage to change something".

She had heard about Ireland from a colleague.

“She told me it’s a really nice quiet country, it’s very safe,” Yulia said.

She had enough English to get her by and decided to flee with her son.

“We saw a special line for Ukrainian refugees [at Dublin Airport] and since that moment in time we had some support,” she said, detailing the work of volunteers.

They spent the day in Citywest Transit Hub while their documents were reviewed. That evening they travelled to Cootehill, arriving at around 10pm.

Yulia stayed in the Errigal Country House Hotel for 11 months. Her son attended St Michael’s National School. He had a limited bank of English words consisting of ‘hello,’ ‘goodbye’ and ‘apple,’ having studied French in Ukraine.

She remembered the first day at his new school. She recalled his words.

“I will never go to this school, let’s return to Ukraine. I don’t care if there are missiles and bombing attacks. I want to go home because I can study there, I don’t understand anything.”

After three weeks, with the help of the school staff, he began to make friends with the local children and was able to complete his fifth class studies.

“They were very nice children, they were very kind to my son,” she said, detailing that they explained “the simple things” and invited him to play football.

“It was the best school out of his previous education, "she said, praising the teachers and his classmates.

Yulia shared her son’s education journey through the Springboard+ initiative. She studied Applied Global Digital Marketing online at the Technological University Dublin as she found it difficult to find an English language course.

“I decided, if I have no opportunity to study English, I can study a different subject but in English.”

She sent an application to Mastek, a local low emissions machinery manufacturer, where she gained the position of marketing executive at the end of December.

Having left Cootehill on Sunday (June 4), Yulia will continue to work remotely in this position. She has fond memories of her time in Cootehill.

“People say 'hello' when you are just walking around the street. We do not know each other but they say 'hello, how are you?'. I really like this, and I would like to have this tradition.

“I can say that in Ireland I was lucky because I got some peace,” she said.

Yulia knew that her time in Ireland was always going to be temporary. “I felt like it was time to return home,” she said.

Initially, she thought the war would last for two weeks, which turned into two months and now over a year.

“We can’t stay waiting, we need to get used to living in the new conditions in our country,” she explained. With “big support from partners and modern air defence”, Yulia hopes they will be safe upon returning home.

The Ukrainian woman said this past year will serve as a reminder “that there are no guarantees".

“Everything can change in one day.”

Despite her experiences, Yulia said the words “I am lucky” many times while speaking; her husband and parents are still alive and for that she is grateful.

She explained that other people were not so lucky.

Yulia wishes to thank everybody in Cootehill who provided support to her and her son during this difficult time, specifically the staff and principal of St Michael’s NS, Fiona O’Hanlon from Dídean, her colleagues at Mastek, the staff at Errigal Country House Hotel and all volunteers in the area.