Alone in his apartment in Kyiv, memories of Christmas past come flooding back to Ilyas. Can he find a way to escape the blitz-like conditions and be reunited with his wife and two sons in Poland?

OUR DIARISTS

Ilyas is an IT specialist and married father who fled from Kyiv to Lviv shortly after the war started. His wife Natalia, and two young sons are taking refuge in Poland. As of December 2022, Ilyas is back living in the family apartment in Kyiv.

Seva, 40, is a company CEO and husband to Oksana. Before the war, he travelled across Europe for business. Now, he makes regular supply drops of medical aid and rations to Ukrainian troops on the front line in Eastern Ukraine. He’s originally from a small village near Dnipro.

Oksana, 35, works in overseas education. She lives with her husband, Seva, in an apartment complex in central Kyiv. Many of Oksana’s closest friends have left the country to begin new lives in Europe. Some may never return. She’s continues to try and make a life there.

Ukraine War Diaries uses first-person audio, recorded on the ground in Ukraine, to give an intimate day-to-day perspective of life in a war zone. EP37 diary entries were recorded using WhatsApp voice note.

From the producers of Sky News’ multi-award winning series – StoryCast.
Producer: Rob Mulhern
Editor: Paul Stanworth
Digital Promotion: David Chipakupaku