Ukrainian who fled alone at 16 focuses on degree

Yulianna Skakun has begun a law degree at the University of Northampton

A Ukrainian refugee who came to the UK on her own, aged 16, has said she was now "focussed" on getting a law degree.

Yulianna Skakun moved from the war-torn country to Rugby, Warwickshire before starting her course this week at the University of Northampton.

Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with the country still under regular bombardment from Russia.

The student said her journey to the UK was "very stressful but I had a purpose... to get an education".

Since the outbreak of the war more than 200,000 Ukrainian refugees have moved to the UK.

Ms Skakun said she had first travelled from her home in western Ukraine to Poland before heading to England which she said was a "tough way".

The 18-year-old described how living in the UK was a "cultural shock - generally everything is different".

'Life totally changed'

After arriving in Rugby she took A-levels in politics, business, and English and also completed her final exams in Ukraine online.

"My parents invested a lot in to my education and my English," she said.

The University of Northampton's Waterside campus opened in September 2018

The refugee said she decided on a law degree as she enjoyed politics and her mother was a lawyer.

She also completed a placement at the High Court in June, helping her realise it was what she wanted to do.

Ms Skakun revealed her news life at university meant she no longer had to rely on her host family and could "be quite independent and focus on my law degree".

She described the university as "a multicultural community and we all get on".

"It was good weather the first week and the process [of starting university] was really smooth organised and structured," she said.

The student said she "can't predict" what she would do after she finishes her degree "because my life had totally changed".