‘People sometimes ask me if there is still a war on’: Ukrainians living in Malta

When Oksana Samoilenko and her two children fled to Malta from Kharkiv, Ukraine, they faced several challenges as they adapted to life as refugees, such as learning English, finding work, settling her sons into school and adjusting to the sounds that accompany village feasts.

Her first thought on hearing the petards was that the war had followed her to Malta. She hid under the bed and called her friend, who told her it was part of the celebrations for the feast in Mellieħa.

“Sometimes, I still have a panic attack when I hear the sound of explosions; it reminds me of the war,” she says.

Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine four years ago, uprooting the lives of more than six million people who fled the country. Samoilenko and her family are among the 1,914 Ukrainians who remain in Malta as holders of a temporary protection certificate issued by the International Protection Agency after the outbreak of the war.

The Maltese welcome extended to Samoilenko’s sister, her children and a friend. They were invited by Lyuba, a relative who is married to a Maltese man and were given a place to live.

While Oksana Samoilenko misses Ukraine and her home, she continues to live in Malta for the safety of her two children. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

“When we arrived at the apartment in Mellieħa, we found neatly folded clean clothes and pyjamas on the bed and food in the fridge,” she remembers, tearfully.

“One time, Lyuba’s husband came to the house with flowers and when I asked why, she told me: ‘He just wants to see you smile’. All I could do was cry at the thought of how kind these people were to us and ready to help my family and me.”

New world

Before the war, Samoilenko was a teaching assistant and mother of two boys, Aleksander and Maxim, and was doing ordinary things like planning a trip away for her husband.

On February 23, 2022, she was enjoying a day of ice skating with her eight-year-old son. The next morning, she woke up to a new world.

Oksana and her son, Alexander, a day before Russia launched its full invasion in Ukraine. Photo: Oxsana Samoilenko

“I remember opening the curtains and seeing the rockets flying over and our military army shooting at them,” she said.

“I saw people on the street running with suitcases to get away. In the nights that followed, my family and I would go down to the cellar to seek shelter from the missiles. We gave our children colouring books and played music so they wouldn’t hear the missiles.”

A year after fleeing to Malta, her sister decided to return to Ukraine.

“When she left, I felt alone but I was not ready to go back to Ukraine as I was worried about the safety of my children,” she said.

She now works as a chef in a Valletta restaurant and her sons have settled into their studies. Her ordinary life in Malta jars with what is happening at home.

“People sometimes ask me if the war is still going on,” she says.

“People seem to forget that there is a war happening in Ukraine. I cannot help but speak with passion about my country. But people forget that, every day, there are people still dying in Ukraine.”

After February 24, 2022, the Samoilenko family would spend nights in the cellar. The children would wear headphones and draw to distract themselves from the sound of missiles outside. Photo: Oxsana Samoilenko

‘Just existing’

Some of those who arrived in Malta did so through the kENUP Foundation, which offered refugees free flights and accommodation through the ‘Ukrainian Families Adoption’ initiative. Among them was

Victoria, who moved into some offices that were turned into apartments in Kalkara.

She said: “It was a difficult time but I am so grateful to the NGO kENUP Foundation and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando (its director), who did everything to make sure we did not feel alone and helped us survive during this vulnerable situation.”

Victoria describes living a dual life, physically in Malta, but emotionally in Ukraine. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Victoria, who asked for her surname to be withheld, said the decision to leave Ukraine was “one of the most difficult decisions of my life”. She and her 16-year-old son arrived in Malta, a country she knew “nothing” about.

Looking back, she said that, at the time, she simply “existed” and was full of hope that she would return home to Kyiv soon.

“We were lost but hoping for better times,” she said, recalling how, at the beginning, all she could do was check the news constantly and keep in touch with her loved ones.

“We lost a lot. We lost our normal lives, our peace, our stability, our dreams. We were separated from our families, my son from his father. I had to be resilient, I had to be strong and move forward.”

For almost two years, the kENUP office space in Kalkara became Victoria’s temporary home. Photo: Victoria

Dual life

Four years on, Victoria is working at the National Skills Council and her son has settled into a course at MCAST.

“You live a duality,” she explained. “Physically you are in Malta but emotionally you are in Ukraine. Now I know I have settled here but my emotions, my heart, are still in Ukraine. Just because I am no longer in the country doesn’t mean I am away from the war. I think about it every day.”

While her family has settled back home in Kyiv, Ukraine, they still shelter from missile attacks in the evening and then have to wake up in the morning and go to work, as if nothing had happened.

A few suitcases and their whole life inside them: Victoria and her son’s bags when they arrived in Malta, searching for safety. Photo: Victoria

“It is an injustice to know our country is still being bombed and attacked by another country. Ukraine deserves dignity and respect. Instead of weddings, there are funerals in our country,” she continued.

When asked if they have plans to move back to Ukraine once the war is over, both women said they had mixed feelings. Both want to return home but their children’s safety will always come first.

“Ukraine is my home and, while my heart wants to go back home, I first think about my sons,” Samoilenko said. “My own son tells me that he sees no future in Ukraine, for them. They want to move forward.”

A silent solidarity walk, organised by the Foundation for the Ukrainian Community in Malta, will take place in Valletta today. Attendees will meet at 6.45pm in front of the Tritons Fountain, in Floriana.