Ukraine: Warwick professor teaches students 2,000 miles away

Prof Yullia Lysanets, a visiting lecturer at the University of Warwick, said it was important to continue higher education studies

A Ukrainian professor living in the Midlands has continued to teach her students in the war-torn country.

Yullia Lysanets, a visiting lecturer at the University of Warwick, has been using online classes to support pupils about 2,000 miles away.

Despite leaving her family, she said it was important not to "let the Russian invasion affect higher education".

On Thursday, the university hosted an event to help welcome students currently living in Ukraine.

Ukrainian refugees have been told by the country's government not to return until spring to ease pressure on the energy system after a wave of Russian attacks.

"I have to continue fulfilling my duties at my home university," Lysanets told BBC Radio CWR.

The associate professor at the department of foreign languages added: "While our warriors are at the military front line we have to do everything possible to contribute to our common resistance."

The Twin for Hope initiative, supports those studying in Ukraine at Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics

Ms Lysanets's husband and parents remained in her homeland when she came to the UK in September as part of the Ukrainian Fellows project.

Thinking of her family, she said: "It's highly unrestful, it is not easy but we have to be strong and resist because our survival as a nation is at stake."

One of her pupils, Tymur, at the Poltava State Medical University, said he preferred face-to-face teaching but had "no other alternative".

The University of Warwick is working with students from a range of institutions as part of programmes supporting Ukrainian universities during the war.