WARSAW
\nFilled with sadness and hopes of a victorious 2023, hundreds of Ukrainian refugees celebrated their first Christmas since fleeing the Russian invasion at a contemporary theater in Warsaw.
\nThe celebrants at the Nowy Teatr, a former truck repair workshop, were among the 1.5 million Ukrainians who have settled in Poland since the war began \u2014 the highest number for any country.
\nAlmost all were women as most Ukrainian men of recruitment age are not allowed to leave.
\nThey spoke of the pain of marking the family holiday separated from husbands and sons.
\n\u201cHow can one feel?\u201d said Svitlana Borysova, a hairdresser, before breaking down in tears.
\nHelped by friends, Borysova left Ukraine in the first days of the war with her two children, aged three and six, but had to leave her 21-year-old son behind.
\nOlena Sigitova, who came to the dinner with her 10-year-old daughter Daryna, said: \u201cWe feel sad but there are new friends, new opportunities.\u201d
\n\u201cAt least we are not alone,\u201d she said, wearing a paper crown typical of Polish Christmas celebrations for the Three Kings feast day.
\nThe Christmas Eve meal was organized by the Ukrainian House in Warsaw \u2014 a non-governmental group that has helped refugees settle in Poland.
\n\u201cThe main goal is to give warmth, a sense of home,\u201d Myroslava Keryk, head of the organization, told AFP.
\nThe meal included popular Ukrainian dishes such as borscht beetroot soup as well as vareniki, a type of dumpling, and kutia \u2014 a wheat grain pudding.
\nMany wore brightly embroidered Ukrainian shirts.
\nAbout 500 people attended the dinner, which also featured typical Ukrainian carols and words of support for the soldiers defending their country.
\n\u201cThe most important thing for everyone this year is victory. We dream about it to be able to calm down and think about the future,\u201d Keryk said.
\nSeveral of the women said childcare duties meant they had difficulty finding steady work but that their children were settling in and beginning to learn Polish in kindergartens and schools.
\nSigitova, from Dnipro in eastern Ukraine, said she found it difficult to make time for Polish classes and was grateful to the host family who has put her and her daughter up since the beginning of the war.
\n\u201cThey said we can count on them as long as we need,\u201d said Sigitova, whose husband is in the army.
\nBorysova said that during the first three months in Poland she barely left the house.
\n\u201cI was so afraid, panicking,\u201d she said.
\nSince then, she has been working as a hairdresser in people\u2019s homes, unable to find more settled work because of having to look after her children.
\nBut Natalia Golomsha, who attended the dinner with her eight-year-old son Marko, said she had managed to find a full-time job in a company that helps Ukrainian children study in Poland.
\n\u201cI was helped a little by my friends, my contacts, but also by the desire and ability to adapt to the conditions,\u201d she said.
\nKateryna Krahmalova, a university researcher from Kyiv, said she had also found work and had the advantage of already speaking Polish.
\n\u201cThe main thing is that my loved ones are with me, so my home is where they are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WARSAW Filled with sadness and hopes of a victorious 2023, hundreds of Ukrainian refugees celebrated their first Christmas since fleeing the Russian invasion at a contemporary theater in Warsaw. The celebrants at the Nowy Teatr, a former truck repair workshop, were among the 1.5 million Ukrainians who have settled in Poland since the war began […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-306169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n