'For a wounded Ukrainian soldier this restores their dignity'

Three years since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, an exhibition of artwork by veterans, widows and children is raising money for medical supplies.

The work was created during art therapy sessions at Veterans' House in Rivne, Western Ukraine, and is being sold at Sheffield Cathedral this weekend.

Before the war Sheffield was home to a Ukrainian diaspora of between 100-150 people, many of whom have moved to the city for work, says Sheffield branch committee member of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, Tetyana Klymenko.

Today there are more than 1,000 Ukrainians in the city.

She hopes the exhibition, which runs from 22-24 February, will help people connect through human stories.

"The Ukrainian community in Sheffield has been here for many years," says Ms Klymenko.

"The majority of us came here on skilled worker visas, so we came to work in science, technology, engineering and then when the full scale war broke out we could not stand aside.

"It was only natural we would try to bring projects from Ukraine to England to help our English neighbours, colleagues and friends understand through individual stories and to connect through human stories."

Rivne Veterans' House has been offering free art therapy for about seven years, and in the last three has stepped up its work to meet the needs of soldiers and families affected by the war.

Manager Viktoriia Shynkarenko began painting to help with her insomnia after coming back from the frontline.

"I had severe insomnia and sometimes I would spend an entire night working on a painting and it was better than turning in my bed and trying to get some sleep," she says.

After selling her first painting, she decided to put the money into helping others and began reading about art therapy.

Now her mission is to bring the "inner painter" out of everyone who comes to the centre.

"I sort of stumbled on it because that's what helped me heal. Now, I'm of the strong opinion you don't particularly need a talent or a training.

"We are all artists. We are all painters. We were all drawing pictures when we were little. We just need to find again this courage," she says.

The centre provides trained psychologists to work alongside the classes, but painting also has physical benefits, she says.

"It's both psychological but also for the fine motor skills.

"For people who are recovering after a serious wound, head wounds or lost a limb, they need to now learn to use their other hand," she says.

The response among those who take part has been very positive, says Ms Shynkarenko.

"Most participants want to come back and do it more than once, more than twice. In some cases, they are taking months.

"For a wounded soldier this restores their dignity, particularly if you are a strong male, an alpha type who is now in a wheelchair and a nappy.

"It's important to feel what you do contributes towards helping others and it's important for their dignity to feel recognised, particularly when their picture gets purchased abroad," she says.

For mothers, widows and children, the sessions are more about finding a network of people in a similar situation.

"It's finding out you're not alone in your in your grief," says Ms Shynkarenko.

"A mother who lost a child will do anything to prevent another mother from losing a child."

The project has taken paintings across the world, with sales in Australia, Canada, the US and across Europe.

In a twist of fortune, one buyer even met the artist in person.

"We were organising the first exhibition and an English woman who had bought a painting then travelled to Ukraine several years later, and met the veteran accidentally when she bumped into him in a supermarket."

This week the centre will hold its 610th session.

The project is funded by the Ukrainian government, Rivne's council and in recent years, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

But following President Trump's freeze on USAID, Ms Shynkarenko says the project is beginning to look elsewhere for funding.

She said the US funding was used to buy canvasses and paints.

"But if the if the decision is taken to completely cut funding, we're not planning on stopping.

"We've done it for years before we had that funding and we're now actively looking for an alternative base of support and reaching out to England might be one of those options," she says.

"We are not giving up, but we are also very acutely aware that we need help. Ukraine needs help. People in Ukraine need help."

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