‘I lost my husband in the Ukraine war

Ukrainian widow Olga Garbuz, who lost her husband in the accident war inside Ukrainiancame Dubai To rebuild her life with her daughter in 2022.

But lately Tension in the Gulf revived Fears he thought he had left behind.

“ war inside Ukrainian It took a lot from me and my daughter. My husband was killed. We have been displaced many times. I can’t imagine going through any of this again, Ms. Garbuz says Independent.

Her husband Yuriy Volchkov was killed KharkivA. Frontline city in eastern UkraineIn March 2022, the vehicle he was traveling to distribute humanitarian aid was opened fire by the Russians. He was 45 years old.

After running away KharkivGarbuz and her daughter, who were occupied by Russia in the first months of the war, traveled through Ukraine many times before leaving the country.

“We had to move from city to city 13 times,” he says. “Packing up our belongings and setting up a new home was incredibly tiring every time.

“I arrived here UAE four years ago with my daughter Maya and only two suitcases. “Since then, I have been working hard for my daughter’s well-being.”

A few days before the onset of tension IranianHe said that after three years of retaliatory attacks in the Gulf, he was finally starting to feel like life was returning to normal.

Her biggest fear now is having to displace her daughter again.

“We have been living in the same flat for about two years. My daughter goes to school regularly.

“It would be absolutely heartbreaking for her if we had to move again,” she adds.

But the missile intercept sound Dubai the sky brought back the old instincts.

“I found myself packing an emergency kit again. I knew what documents I needed to include and that we needed to have water and cash at home.”

The explosions also evoke the physical memory of war: “Sometimes my body tenses because I remember what it was like and often what happened afterwards.

“I’m still trying to stay calm and not panic.”

Despite the tension, he says he still trusts UAE Officials: “I believe that they can resolve this dispute diplomatically as soon as possible.”

A week after military tensions escalated, IranianPresident Masoud Pezeshkian apologized for targeting its Gulf neighbors but continued to launch new attacks against Iran, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

On Friday, the UAE’s interior ministry issued an emergency alert across Dubai, urging residents to seek shelter immediately following warnings of a potential missile threat. The Ministry of Defense confirmed that the UAE captured 9 ballistic missiles and 109 unmanned aerial vehicles.

Amid rising tensions, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he received assurances from the United Arab Emirates government that Ukrainian citizens in the country will be protected.

Approximately 250,000 Ukrainians currently live in the Middle East.

For Ukrainians like Kateryna Moskviechiev and her husband Dmytro, who moved to the UAE for safety, being caught in the middle of another conflict far from home in Abu Dhabi was the last thing they expected.

“The war seems to have followed us to Dubai,” Ms Moskviechiev said Independent.

The family moved to the UAE in September 2024 with their two sons, aged eight and two. An estimated 5.2 to 6 million Ukrainians moved abroad after the war.

“We left Ukraine because we didn’t want our children to grow up in a war zone,” he says.

But he was “shocked and surprised” to see Russian missiles and Shahed drones flying near his Corniche flat and the loud bangs as air defenses intercepted them.

“This is not what you expect in the UAE,” he says.

“It brought back my worst memories of Ukraine, where our family hid in the bathroom while the Russians bombed Kharkiv,” Ms. Moskviechiev adds.

“The three of us were sleeping on the floor of a bus stop with thick walls and no windows.”

He said he was not afraid because Iran’s recent drone and missile attacks on the Gulf were much less intense than the bombardment suffered by Ukraine.

“I’ve been through this before,” he says. “And I was impressed by how effectively the UAE’s air defense systems responded. I definitely feel safer here than in Ukraine.”

Ms. Moskviechiev said she prayed for this escalation to end quickly.

“We know what a prolonged war can do to a country and its people; this war must stop.”

Another Ukrainian in Dubai, public relations specialist Alexandra Govorukha, says she moved to Dubai six months ago after moving to the UK from Ukraine in 2022.

“And danger is at hand again. A rocket was shot down near our house,” Ms. Govorukha wrote in a post on Facebook.

She says her nine-year-old daughter, who is distance learning, “knows what war is and is already hardened by life.”

“We must learn to have a Plan B everywhere and be prepared for any situation that arises.”

Mariana Yevsyukova, a UAE resident since 2017, says rising tensions in the Middle East have brought back painful memories for many Ukrainians living in the country.

“We carry the trauma of witnessing the war. We escaped from Shahid UAVs in Ukraine, and now they are hitting the UAE.”

Ms Yevsyukova, a mother of two children aged seven and one, said even her relatives in Ukraine were worried about attacks in the Gulf.

“My family in Kharkiv checks in on me several times a day. A friend of mine, who was left without electricity in these harsh winter conditions, texted me and said he was there if I needed anything.

“Even in the midst of war, they think of others.”