'I want to stay in the UK to help my family in Ukraine'

Anastasiia Timoshenko has taken a job in the UK as a marketing intern. despite having years of experience in the profession

Almost two years since Russia invaded, government figures show about 195,000 Ukrainians have fled to the UK under visa schemes.

With one survey suggesting fewer than a third will return, the BBC has spoken to refugees who plan to stay in the UK long-term.

'I want to support my family'

Anastasiia Timoshenko, 22, fled Kyiv soon after war broke out in February 2022.

She spent days in a bomb shelter before getting a train to her home city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine.

"I was taking some really strong medicine to calm down, as I was really anxious and I decided to leave Ukraine," she said.

She escaped to Hungary before being helped apply to the UK's Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme, finding a "really nice" host family in Solihull in the West Midlands.

"We became a family," she said. "They were really kind to me. I can't believe people can be that nice."

Anastasiia worked as an interpreter, before joining a school that helps Ukrainian children.

Colleagues then put her in touch with a recruiter who helped her return to her profession in marketing.

Despite being financially independent before the war, she accepted a contract to work as an intern. "I needed to just start from the beginning and prove myself as a Ukrainian," she said.

After a year with her hosts she moved into a shared house with other young Ukrainians and said she lives a "simple" life.

"I don't have enough [money] so I need to just work, be at home... I'm sure after a few years it will be better - I just need to wait," she says.

Anastasiia is keen to financially support her grandparents back home in Dnipro, Ukraine

She plans to stay so she can send money home to her grandparents in Dnipro.

"I think I can find more opportunities for myself to grow and to help my grandparents [here]... That's my goal, to be able to financially support my family," she said.

'I am staying for work'

Former student Oleksandr, 21, is awaiting a visa to allow him to work in the UK full-time

Oleksandr Lapin, from Kyiv, was studying in London when Russia invaded. He watched live streams in shock, as graphic footage showed the conflict unfold.

"Probably the most scary moments [were] when I saw rocket missiles in the sky and how they destroyed cities or houses... and I recognised it because I'd been there," the 21 year old said.

After graduating in July, he moved to student accommodation in Selly Oak, Birmingham.

"The plan before the war was that I would finish my degree here then go back to Ukraine to find a job," he said.

"Even if it's [over] next year I will be staying here as [Ukraine] will be ruined, from an economic perspective, and it will be very hard to find a job that's paying even the minimum wage."

Oleksandr's younger brother was also sent to the UK to escape the conflict and is now studying for his A-levels in Malvern.

"Instead of games, talking to his friends, he had all knowledge about war techniques... the tactics, the guns, the weapons they were using," he said.

If Oleksandr returned home he would be drafted to fight, but he has heard too many stories of acquaintances and relatives being killed.

"If someone goes to war, there are very low chances that he will be able to come back," he said.

Currently awaiting his Ukraine scheme visa to allow him to work in the UK full-time, he hopes to soon accept a job offer with a business start-up.

"As my mother said, 'You have place to live, there is no critical situation. You are fine'," he added.

'Finding work'

About 195,000 Ukrainians arrived into the UK under visa schemes launched after Russia invaded in February 2022, the government said.

The most recent UK Humanitarian Response Insight Follow-up Survey found fewer than a third of those surveyed intend to return, even when it is safe to do so.

Iejaz Uddin, from Birmingham-based career advisor dayjob.com, says he has helped dozens of Ukrainian refugees like Anastasiia and Oleksandr through a free CV writing and review service.

"There [were] very few [organisations] helping people to find work, specifically through CVs or on a practical level," he said. "I thought why don't I try, in my own little way?"