The national flag of Ukraine was raised in Dawlish on Friday (24 February) to mark the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.

Nub News spoke to a British Army interpreter at the event who had until recently been helping train Ukrainian troops.

Maryna Kopach, 30, who is staying with a host family in Dawlish, said: "It was a very hard job physically, mentally.

"Yesterday I got a message from one of my soldiers and he told me that two days after they went back some of them were killed.

"When the war started, I was in Kyiv on the first day and it was very dangerous.

"I left Kyiv on the second day of the war. 

"It was not easy... I lived with my parents two weeks [in the north near Belarus] but it was very dangerous when rockets started flying over our house.

"I decided to go with my sister and her kids... abroad. The first country, it was Poland, I believe, three months, in a Polish monastery in the mountains.

"My sister decided to go back to Ukraine [to not lose her job].

"I lost my job [as an import logistics manager] in Ukraine... I decided to try to find new opportunities.

"That was when I got an offer to work as an interpreter helping to train Ukrainian soldiers with the British Army in the UK."

The occasion in Dawlish saw the hoisting of the country's flag, the reading of prayers, and songs sung in Ukrainian.

Mayor of Dawlish Cllr Lisa Mayne said: "We thought the anniversary couldn't pass by without being marked.

"It's absolutely heartless what's going on there.

"It is important; we've taken people into hearts and homes here."

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