By Natalya Krasnenkova

In her 47 years Yulia Liventsova has twice fled from war. Living in Europe in the 21st century, she was again forced to leave her home, hastily collect things, go into the unknown and start her life over.

Yulia comes from Donetsk, the east of Ukraine. In 2014, when the city was taken over by pro-Russian militants, who set up the Donetsk People's Republic there, she urgently left for Odessa with her husband and pregnant daughter.

The whole life of the family fit in the trunk of a small car.

In the southern city near the Black Sea, Yulia began a new life. She is a cook by profession and in Odessa, she worked in a restaurant as a chef.

From February 24, since the beginning of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, her restaurant has started preparing free lunches for the Ukrainian military. Yulia Liventsova spent many hours in the kitchen to feed our soldiers.

And when the Russian army occupied the neighbouring city of Kherson (now under Russian occupation), Russia began firing rockets from their ships located in the Black Sea, targeting Odessa. Yulia’s husband made an important decision; he put his wife, daughter and granddaughter in the car to take them to the border with Moldova.

"You have to go to save the child and the granddaughter, and I will stay here to help your old mother," he said.

And Yulia left. For a month they lived with acquaintances in the vineyard, and then moved to Ireland.
Not knowing a word of English, with two T-shirts and two pants in a suitcase - this was the beginning of a new chapter for her life in Ireland.

Yulia is a bright, small and strong woman. She laughs a lot and does a lot for people. There were not enough cooks at the Eviston Hotel where she stayed. Yulia offered her help. Now she is a sous-chef in the restaurant.

"I was ready to work as a volunteer, but in Ireland, everyone who wants to work has this opportunity, even without a good knowledge of the language,” Yulia said.

HARD WORKING

Her working day is from 9am to noon in the kitchen, then she has a three-hour break. What is she doing at this time? She attends English language courses daily then returns to the kitchen in the afternoon and works until 10pm.

When Julia has a day off, she goes to the pool.

Yes, Yulia is in great physical shape and recently got a new tattoo - the national symbol of Ukraine - a huge trident on her shoulder.

Recently, for the Ukrainian Day at the K-Fest in Killorglin, Yulia organised a day of Ukrainian cuisine. To do this, she gathered a team and spent more than 10 hours in the kitchen to prepare traditional Ukrainian borsch, dumplings and compote. The next day, she welcomed Irish guests with a smile on her face. She really wanted to introduce the Irish to our gastronomic culture. She succeeded.

"How are you feeling now?" I ask Yulia.

"I'm happy. Despite all the difficulties, I can still do what I really love. And I am surrounded by very good people. So yes, I'm happy."