© UNHCR/S. Saadat Dr. Inna Soldatenko at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London in March 2026. How a rheumatologist from Kharkov was able to start a new life in the UK Refugees and migrants
On the evening of February 23, 2022, after work, Dr. Inna Soldatenko picked up her daughter from school, prepared dinner and wrote the text of tomorrow’s lecture for her students. The next morning she was awakened by explosions…
On the day when Russian troops began a full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine, Inna lost everything she had sought in life for decades: a successful career as a rheumatologist, a home and a sense of security.
Four years later, explosions are still heard in Kharkov. Inna is still practicing medicine, but now in London, helping other refugees find their place in the UK.
“Before the war, I thought I had achieved everything I wanted,” she says. “I had a career, a family, a home… I never thought about leaving.”
Inna is one of more than 260 thousand Ukrainians who have found refuge in the United Kingdom since the outbreak of war. Her story is an example of the resilience and transformative power of human engagement, and a testament to what happens when skilled refugees are given the opportunity to integrate into their new environment.
© Humanitarian mission “Proliska”/H. Colon Destroyed residential buildings in the Kharkov region.
The path into the unknown
When the war began, Inna and her family – two daughters, parents and a cat – left Kharkov, taking with them only documents and the most necessary things: they believed that they would return home in a few days.
The journey took more than 26 hours – they crossed Ukraine, Moldova and Romania, everywhere they met with a sympathetic and warm welcome from complete strangers who shared food with them and helped with advice.
“I still remember them all,” says Inna about the volunteers who helped them along the way. “They became part of our family.”
In Bulgaria, Inna met with friends whom she had met in London many years ago. The family arrived in the UK in May 2022 as part of the Homes for Ukraine program, a public initiative in which ordinary Britons provide Ukrainians with housing and the opportunity to start their lives anew.
© I. Soldatenko The car in which Inna’s network traveled halfway across Europe.
Life from scratch
Like many people forced to flee to another country, Inna faced obstacles to returning to her profession, including language barriers and difficulties in having her professional qualifications recognized. She began working in an administrative role in the National Health Service in south-east London. Inna’s new colleagues became what she calls her “work family”: they helped her with English, encouraged her and convinced her to try to pass the exams required to work as a doctor in the UK.
“They they believed in me much more than I believed in myself,” admits Inna. As a result, she passed all the necessary exams and began working as a rheumatologist again.
Of the more than 260 thousand Ukrainians who have arrived in the UK since February 2022, more than 60 are now employed in various sectors of the economy thousand.
Helping others
Inna’s story in her new place did not end there: together with other refugee doctors, she took part in the creation of the Ukrainian Medical Charity – a nationwide network that helps doctors, nurses and other specialists from Ukraine find work in the healthcare system Great Britain.
“Refugees are ready to benefit our country, and we must accept them,” says Kathleen, a rheumatologist nurse and Inna’s colleague.
A recent refugee from Kharkov now feels at home in England at home.
“When you are forced to run, it’s like your roots are being cut,” says Inna. – The people around me now helped me grow new ones. This kindness and newfound stability changes everything in life.”