Ambition Erased by War
Julia Padnevych, 32, comes from Poltava in eastern Ukraine. She studied nursing in Dnipro, devoting her “whole student life to studying,” and graduated with a red diploma, awarded for excellent academic results. She later studied pharmacy remotely at a college in Kharkiv.

To finance her remote studies, Julia moved to Kalisz, Poland. There, she met her husband Maksym. They met in July 2018, moved in together in August, and Maksym proposed that same month. Six months later, they married. Julia calls it “youthful maximalism.”
Soon after, Julia and Maksym decided they wanted to live in Ukraine again. In 2020, they moved to Kyiv. In February 2021, their daughter Mariana was born.

In January 2022, Julia was walking with their baby in a stroller when an air raid alert went off. To wait the tension out, they went on vacation to Poland and later to Egypt. When flying back on February 14th, it was announced it is the last plane going straight to Ukraine. “Then they closed the airlines,” says Julia
Julia woke up on February 24th at 7 a.m. from the fact that her husband started panically looking at his phone. By midday, soldiers were on the boulevard where she used to walk with her daughter.

“I saw that tanks were just driving through our flower beds.”

Unwilling to hide in a bunker with a 1-year-old baby, they left everything behind and fled to western Ukraine. They lived with strangers in the city of Chernivtsi for about a month, staying indoors, waiting for the war to end. Soon, Julia realized they could not continue living that way, she wanted more safety and stability.
“I wanted to go as far as possible, because I was afraid of nuclear war. That's why I went to Denmark,” says Julia.

Finding a Place To Stay
Julia had no intention of staying in Denmark and hoped they would stay for two weeks, or a month at most. Especially because Maksym couldn’t initially come with them and Julia didn’t speak Danish or English.

Julia and Mariana arrived at Sandholm refugee centre near Copenhagen in April 2022. Julia says the centre had little suitable food for her daughter: “She was one year old, but she had already started eating the food that we eat. And really, she survived this hunger thanks to breastfeeding.”

After three days, Julia and Mariana were relocated to a refugee centre near Aalborg, where they lived for about a month, before being given the possibility to choose a city where they would like to receive social housing. Julia didn’t choose Aarhus on purpose. She asked another Ukrainian woman: “I said: ‘Olga, what are you filling out? Where do you want to move?’ She replied: ‘Closer to the sea.’”

After living in the social housing apartment for about two and a half years, in December 2024 they received an offer for a permanent municipal apartment, where Julia’s family lives now. Maksym joined Julia and Mariana in Denmark in October 2023, after one and half years apart.

New Beginnings: Language, Integration, Work and Studies
Despite the uncertainty of how long they would stay in Denmark, Julia started building a new life there in case the stay ended up being permanent. After three months in Aarhus, Mariana received a place in a kindergarten. Julia began looking for work.

Her greatest obstacle was language. Julia only spoke Ukrainian, Polish and Russian. Julia knew that without Danish or English, she can’t integrate herself, find a proper job, or understand Mariana’s teachers. 

“My motivation to learn Danish grew, because I came to the kindergarten and I didn't understand what the parents were talking about, or in what environment my child was growing up at all. It really [stressed] me that I didn't understand how they were raising her.”

Julia studied Danish every day, attended language school five times a week, took private lessons, practised at work and in the evening. Within a year and a half, she reached B2 level and is now fluent in Danish.

Julia also found work as an unskilled care assistant in a nursing home. It was a strong career downgrade for Julia, but the job was still very challenging for her. “You enter a person's apartment and say, ‘Good morning’ and then you stand and you just don't know what to say, because you just don't know Danish,” says Julia. After studying Danish intensively and talking to a befriended older woman in the nursing home, Julia quickly picked up the necessary language basics.

Since May 2024, Julia has been studying at SOSU College in Aarhus to qualify as a social and healthcare assistant. Afterwards, she could study to become a nurse or a pharmacist, as she already did in Ukraine. However, she is not sure if she will have the time or energy to study for a fourth time.

Julia’s daughter Mariana started absorbing the language naturally in kindergarten. After four years, at the age of five, Mariana now speaks Danish fluently without any accent. “Mariana is much better at Danish [than me] and she has a much better understanding of some culture, food, and so on,” says Julia.

At home, Julia speaks Danish with Mariana, while Maksym speaks Ukrainian with her. Some Ukrainians have criticized Julia because her daughter speaks Danish more fluently than Ukrainian. Julia, however, believes it is essential for Mariana to avoid isolation and build a future in Denmark. 

While Mariana’s integration is going well, for Julia it is a big challenge. She was missing the familiarity of life in Ukraine and her busy schedule makes it difficult to find time for social activities. She has 37 hours of classes a week, works at a nursing home, volunteers as a translator, studies English, looks after Mariana and spends time with her family.

But in October 2022, the Aarhus municipality introduced Julia to Tove and Holm, a Danish-German couple volunteering to help newcomers. Holm speaks Russian, which allowed them to communicate in the beginning. The families met up to three times a week, became friends and the Danish-German couple helped Julia’s family understand the Danish language and culture.

“We started communicating, because besides them I had no one here.”

Tove and Holm also quickly became a core support system for Julia, Mariana and Maksym. Especially in the first years, Julia and Maksym often felt overwhelmed by the difficulty of adapting. Whenever they admitted that they were overwhelmed or considered leaving Denmark, Tove and Holm listened without judgment, helped the couple consider their options and gave emotional reassurance. Julia and Maksym now see them as their distant family, while Mariana considers them her Danish grandparents.

“I know that they are proud of me, because they remember where I started.”

Navigating the cultural shift is a challenge for Julia and Maksym. Together the family speaks Ukrainian, Maksym reads Ukrainian bedtime stories to Mariana, who also takes an online drawing class with an Ukrainian teacher. They also watch Ukrainian movies.

However, when Julia cooks traditional Ukrainian meals, such as borscht, Mariana often rejects them, as her preferences shifted toward local culture. “I stood here, I almost cried. I was offended on the one hand, and on the other hand, I understand that they don't give them borscht in the kindergarten,” says Julia. At Christmas, Mariana asks her mother to cook traditional Danish dishes

Helping Others
When Julia first arrived in Denmark, unable to speak Danish or English, she depended on interpreters. Four years later, the language skills Julia worked hard to acquire allow her to help other Ukrainians in Denmark. Once a week, Julia volunteers as an interpreter, helping Ukrainians communicate with Danish officials, understand documents, and navigate life in a foreign country

“Once I translated for a little girl, about five years old. And the teachers were very surprised at how much she could talk, because they thought she was so closed in herself. Towards the end, the girl said to me: ‘Will you be my friend, will you stay here?’”

For Julia, sharing short videos on TikTok and Instagram gives her a way to socialize and help others. She shares advice about her studies, motherhood, everyday life and shows that rebuilding a life abroad is possible. She mostly receives supportive messages from her viewers, although some people criticize her choices regarding Mariana's integration.

The Mental Drain of Wanting To Go Home
Even after building a stable life in Denmark, Julia and Maksym sometimes want to leave everything behind and return to Kyiv. In Ukraine, they understood the culture and did not have to constantly prove themselves in a foreign language.

These feelings are strongest when they both miss home at the same time. When that happens, the couple questions why they are making such an effort to stay in Denmark. “But we try not to focus on this, because after all, well, what good will this do for us?” adds Julia, acknowledging such thoughts are exhausting. In these moments, they go for a walk or talk to Holm and Tove and try not to focus on thoughts of returning.

The war, displacement and rebuilding her life has taken a heavy psychological toll on Julia. She has been speaking to a Ukrainian psychologist for around three years, which has helped her process what happened. However, she still goes through periods when she loses her energy. “It’s really scary to lose your desire in life. And it’s very difficult to return,” says Julia.

Despite their desire to return to Ukraine and Denmark not always feeling like home to Maksym and Julia, the country provides the safety, stability and future they want for their family. Julia also knows that they cannot pause their lives and wait for the war to end. “We have to save ourselves and our children and start living, and not just think about when the war will end, because in these days we are also living our life,” she says.