‘Many people still need support’: how a Ukrainian refugee helps others fleeing the conflict

Like millions of other Ukrainians, Veronika Riepina had to leave her country behind. Now, having found refuge in the UK, she is working with the British Red Cross to assist new arrivals – and looking forward to the day she can return homeTwo years ago, Veronika Riepina was a typical 23-year-old. She was renting an apartment in Kyiv, working hard to make her way in the film industry, and making plans to apply for funding to shoot her own documentary project. She was thrilled to work on Do You Love Me?, a coming-of-age film directed by Tonia Noyabrova. She couldn’t have imagined they would wrap up just days before the conflict escalated, nor that she’d be living in the UK when the film debuted at the Berlin film festival. “I feel a sense of joy that we managed to finish shooting and that despite all of the difficulties with post-production, the film still came out,” says Riepina. “It seems like a lifetime ago.”The decision to leave Ukraine wasn’t an easy one. She had been visiting her pa