Every morning since fleeing from Russia’s attack on their country, Ukrainian teenagers check the news to find out where missiles have landed and if their families are alive.
They ask fathers, grandparents and friends who stayed in cities surrounded by Russian troops if the bombs hit closer to home.
Thousands of students are studying in neighbouring Poland, where fees have been waived fees and scholarships offered to those who were forced to leave after the February 24 invasion.
After February 24, my only wish is that I’m alive and that my parents and friends are alive
Tetiana Moroz,
Ukrainian teenager
The National spoke to Ukrainian students at the University of Lodz, in the heart of Poland, one of several institutions to swiftly make room for the newcomers.
They have begun learning Polish with some taking up part-time jobs.
The students and their families said that while they are safe, their happiness is entwined with the fate of their loved ones across the border in Ukraine.
Are the bombs getting closer?
An 18-year-old student calls her grandmother in Ukraine daily to make sure she is not in danger.
“I ask if she heard an explosion. Was it bigger than the previous night? Was it closer?” said Anna Chornobublyk, a resident of Kharkiv studying at the university.
“I also call my friends. My best friend’s father was in an area that was bombed. We were so worried for days because the bomb exploded near their house.”
Ms Chornobublyk planned to take a gap year after high school to pursue her passion for languages, compete in dancehall music contests and later study information technology.
Part of a Kharkiv team called the Mad Spirit Crew, she performed in dancehall competitions, a popular Jamaican music genre.
All plans changed when an explosion woke her at 4am and set off car alarms around her home on February 24.
Days later her family moved to safety in Zaporizhzhia city, Ukraine, and she then left for Poland with her mother and younger brother.
They continually worry about their stepfather, grandmother and friends in Ukraine.
“We tried to save our life by coming here, but I feel anger and sadness that this can happen in my Ukraine,” she said.
“When I first heard the explosions, I couldn’t believe that in the middle of Europe, in the 21st century, this can happen ― that someone can so easily invade the territory of an independent country.
“It’s important no one forgets because people are dying every day and that scares me.”
Will I speak to my father again?
Tetiana Moroz deals with a recurring crippling anxiety of not knowing if she will be able to chat to her father again.
“It’s daily stress because when my father does not answer my calls, I think something bad has happened,” she said.
Her father, a builder, has enlisted in the war and while their city, Zaporizhzhia, is not under Russian control, the front line is now less than an hour’s drive away.
“Before the war, my father built houses. Now he works with others to save our region and not allow the Russians to enter,” she said.
“When we hear about bombings, I don’t know if I will be able to talk to my father again.
“When I get news that he is at home to rest, it is a great relief. When I hear his voice or read his message, ‘I’m okay’, these two words give me such happiness.”
A day before the war began, her focus was on completing a geography project.
“I was preparing a presentation for my class ― that was the only worry I had in my life,” said the teenager who studied international relations.
“I wanted to make my project successful, I dreamt of good marks. After February 24, my only wish is that I’m alive and that my parents and friends are alive.
“All my desires and dreams blew away. I have started to dream only about peace.”
Ms Moroz had applied for student projects overseas as part of Isic, a global non-profit organisation, and saved for travel in Europe.
Instead she used the money to reach Poland with her boyfriend and mother.
Ms Moroz turned 18 on March 1, the same day she set out on a 10-day journey, sleeping in the car without heating in minus 10°C as they queued for petrol to get them to the next city.
The war has split up her family.
She studies at the University of Lodz and works part-time in a McDonald’s restaurant.
Her mother, once a head teacher, has since moved to France to live with a friend.
“It’s been very hard for my mother to find work. She works in a supermarket in a job so different from her career, but she has to do it,” she said.
Ms Moroz never misses a day checking in on her father and grandmothers in Zaporizhzhia.
“People are suffering, it has only become worse,” she said.
“Before the war I was learning about cities in my region to know more about them. Now I know these cities only because of the bad news.”
Can you be happy if you leave to save your life?
Viktor Tereshchenko grapples with this question every day.
The 21-year-old has epilepsy and the condition rules him out from serving in Ukraine’s army.
Men between the ages of 18 and 60 are barred from leaving Ukraine, with exemptions for health conditions and for men supporting three or more children under the age of 18.
Mr Tereshchenko gets news from friends about food shortages in the occupied territories and learnt of a school friend and his girlfriend shot by Russian soldiers.
He stays in touch with his retired father, a factory work in his 60s, who lives in Zaporizhzhia.
“It’s up for debate whether you can be happy by leaving and saving your life,” said Mr Tereshchenko, who is Ms Moroz’s boyfriend, and aims to focus on his studies in Poland.
“Since the war, we can’t plan our life, plan our future,” he said.
“You can only try to live the best every day. If this is not possible some days, you must try to pretend like it is because you don’t know what will happen tomorrow.”
Counselling for students
The students are among thousands of Ukrainians who left after the war to study in Poland.
Some teenagers had physical reactions, such as trembling, triggered by their experiences.
The University of Lodz organised mental health counselling to help them.
“The hardest months were April and May as the war was expanding and most didn’t have contact with their families,” said Pawel Spiechowicz, a University of Lodz's spokesman.
“Some made contact with their family and were constantly shaking from fear about what was happening.
“We provided counselling with native Ukrainian speakers who were psychologists as some needed to speak in their own language to express their feelings.”
The university also opened a philology faculty to teach Polish with the English language to assimilate the new batch into the community and enable their search for employment.
Students can take up additional study courses after they learn Polish.
Ukrainian students are given the same bonuses as Polish students in terms of scholarships, paid practice, psychological and legal support.
“These are extraordinary circumstances and the new faculty was created in two months, which is fast by university standards,” Mr Spiechowicz said.
“It was launched for people who wanted to start studying and sought a safe place in Poland.
“We get enquiries every day. As one of the largest universities in Poland, we have the space and opportunity and try to help.”
Nearly 5,700 Ukrainian students applied to study in Polish universities a few months into the Russian invasion, according to government figures.
Ukrainians are the largest group of international students for some years, with about 38,400 studying in Poland in 2020-2021.
The University of Lodz had 700 Ukrainian students registered before the war with more than 30 students coming on board in recent months.
I want to go home
The refugees are linked by their urgent need to monitor information from their hometowns.
In the northern Polish port city of Gdansk, Margarita Nonka worries about her husband and eldest son in Ukraine.
She left Kharkiv with her daughter and younger son and plans to study in Poland.
The 44-year-old English language teacher can still hear the bombs around their Ukrainian home.
“We have everything we need here. Poland has given us a home, safety. They offer me to study the Polish language, but I want to go home.
“I know it is dangerous in Kharkiv because nobody knows where the bombs will fall.
“But to unite my family is my biggest wish on Earth. I hope it will happen some day.”
Key products and UAE prices
iPhone XS
With a 5.8-inch screen, it will be an advance version of the iPhone X. It will be dual sim and comes with better battery life, a faster processor and better camera. A new gold colour will be available.
Price: Dh4,229
iPhone XS Max
It is expected to be a grander version of the iPhone X with a 6.5-inch screen; an inch bigger than the screen of the iPhone 8 Plus.
Price: Dh4,649
iPhone XR
A low-cost version of the iPhone X with a 6.1-inch screen, it is expected to attract mass attention. According to industry experts, it is likely to have aluminium edges instead of stainless steel.
Price: Dh3,179
Apple Watch Series 4
More comprehensive health device with edge-to-edge displays that are more than 30 per cent bigger than displays on current models.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 4 (Suarez 27', Vidal 32', Dembele 35', Messi 78')
Sevilla 0
Red cards: Ronald Araujo, Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona)
Ammar 808:
Maghreb United
Sofyann Ben Youssef
Glitterbeat
Profile of Hala Insurance
Date Started: September 2018
Founders: Walid and Karim Dib
Based: Abu Dhabi
Employees: Nine
Amount raised: $1.2 million
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, AB Accelerator, 500 Startups, private backers
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Top goalscorers in Europe
34 goals - Robert Lewandowski (68 points)
34 - Ciro Immobile (68)
31 - Cristiano Ronaldo (62)
28 - Timo Werner (56)
25 - Lionel Messi (50)
*29 - Erling Haaland (50)
23 - Romelu Lukaku (46)
23 - Jamie Vardy (46)
*NOTE: Haaland's goals for Salzburg count for 1.5 points per goal. Goals for Dortmund count for two points per goal.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
RESULTS
Lightweight (female)
Sara El Bakkali bt Anisha Kadka
Bantamweight
Mohammed Adil Al Debi bt Moaz Abdelgawad
Welterweight
Amir Boureslan bt Mahmoud Zanouny
Featherweight
Mohammed Al Katheeri bt Abrorbek Madaminbekov
Super featherweight
Ibrahem Bilal bt Emad Arafa
Middleweight
Ahmed Abdolaziz bt Imad Essassi
Bantamweight (female)
Ilham Bourakkadi bt Milena Martinou
Welterweight
Mohamed Mardi bt Noureddine El Agouti
Middleweight
Nabil Ouach bt Ymad Atrous
Welterweight
Nouredine Samir bt Marlon Ribeiro
Super welterweight
Brad Stanton bt Mohamed El Boukhari
Western Clubs Champions League:
- Friday, Sep 8 - Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Bahrain
- Friday, Sep 15 – Kandy v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
- Friday, Sep 22 – Kandy v Bahrain
Brief scoreline:
Tottenham 1
Son 78'
Manchester City 0
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
The 12 breakaway clubs
England
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur
Italy
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus
Spain
Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
