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Hello, it's 541 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

And we have had many messages from you about our episode last week with Victoria Kovalenko.

Victoria, as you know, lost her husband and 12-year-old daughter, as they were trying

to escape from their town in northern Ukraine last year, and she has been living in the

UK with her one-year-old, who's now two, Bavara, since December last year.

And she was essentially telling us how she was doing here in the UK.

I'm telling you, it's because you're just listening to me, and you're listening to me.

And they cannot give me false assurances, like sometimes somebody in one-to-one conversation

that says, oh, hold on, everything will be fine.

And I don't believe it's going to be fine.

So you're listening to me, you'll let me cry.

And you don't give me silly advice to hold on.

Tim Jackson is a Ukraine cast-list, and he lives in Rosendale, here in the UK, and he wrote

Victoria's description of needing to talk to people who've been through the same thing

brought back memories of when I lost my wife many years ago.

I found that talking to people who'd also had a bereavement was like sharing our own

world, or perhaps like having a private language.

It was nice to escape from the fatuous comments of people, ordinary people, and to be able

to break taboos and discuss subjects that others would find inappropriate.

It was also nice that I felt that the person I was talking to was getting something out

of the conversation too.

...