Published
Video length: 9 min
War in Ukraine: a refugee in France for a year, Olesia decided to return home
War in Ukraine: a refugee in France for a year, Olesia decided to return home
(France 2)
After more than two years of conflict, some of the Ukrainian refugees who had settled in France chose to return to their country. This is the case of Olesia and her children, who had found refuge in Normandy.
It’s his last evening in Normandy. Olesia Telisenko is Ukrainian, but it is in French that she will address the inhabitants who welcomed her at the start of the war. France Télévisions met her a year ago. In a house lent by the commune, she and her children lived safe from the war thanks to the mobilization of the entire village. If Olesia wants to return to Ukraine, it is above all to live with her husband, Oleg, and his family. But she also says she fears that her children will lose their language and perhaps also their Ukrainian identity.
2,000 kilometers by car
It takes five days of travel and 2,000 kilometers before reaching the border. War erupts into the landscape. More than the war, it is her father’s health that worries Olesia. He was worried about their trip as attacks increased throughout the country. She finds her town, which was only affected by a bombing, and her mother’s business, where 17 women work in a Ukrainian embroidery workshop. In front of the memorial to the soldiers, Oleg recognizes certain faces. On Victory Hill, Olesia and her husband are enjoying. They don’t dare imagine when the horizon will be clear.
