Hello, I'm Katarina Vatazzi and you're listening to the Sky News Daily and what a special episode we've got for you today because we're bringing it to you from Liverpool City Centre, the beating noisy heart of the Eurovision Song Contest this year and I'm on the edge of the Eurovision Village and that's an open space right next to the River Mersey where there's a big screen, there's concerts

going on throughout the week and of course when it comes to the competition this will be where

people can come and watch if they haven't got the hottest ticket in town which is a seat in the

arena itself but it's not just about the outlandish costumes the Euro pop and the camp and

glitter this year there's something bigger at stake.

And that is obvious from just looking around at the crowds here.

There are people carrying yellow and blue balloons.

There are people draped in scarves and flags, carrying those colours, the colours of Ukraine, because it's

Ukraine that's at the heart of this competition this year, because last year they won it,

were supposed to host, but because of the war, of course, they can't.

Take us back to Ukraine, February last year. What was life like for you both? What were you doing?

I'm working in Ukraine as financial director for 20 years, so we have very good life, very good

flat in the centre of big city. Yeah, I was in school. This is Svetlana and her daughter, Alyssa,

who's 14. They're from Ukraine, the eastern part, and they fled to Merseyside because of the war.

But since then, they've been in and out of houses and hotels, and even on the day we met them, they were having to move

yet again.

It's their story, but it's also the story of so many Ukrainians that have arrived here in

the UK but also have been forced to leave their homes.

So we wake up in the morning and lots of alarm, s sirens yes and we don't understand what to do just looking in

phone so first word that I see we are bombed how it's in English we are bombed, how it's in English, we are bombed.

We are shocked it.

We can't believe that it's in our country, our city.

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