Every time Russia bombards the Ukrainian capital with missiles, the screen of Dmytro Kotelenets’s mobile phone goes dark.
The inevitable power outage disrupts the surveillance camera he installed to see his home in central Kyiv.
“Everything turns dark on the screen when the electricity goes off. The war must be happening thousands of miles away from Dubai but it still affects us,” he told The National.
Mr Kotelenets, his wife Vasylisa Frolova and their son Rodion, 2, moved to the UAE in January 2022, weeks before Putin’s troops swept into Ukraine on February 24, triggering the greatest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.
Both of us have worked with President Zelenskyy when he was a television star. In fact, he first auditioned for my show - and we rejected him!
Dmytro Kotelenets
Now in its second year, it has claimed thousands of lives on both sides and has uprooted thousands of families.
About 25,000 Ukrainians have relocated to the UAE, it is estimated.
A year into their new life, Mr Kotelenets and his wife say they still cannot fathom how the lives of millions of Ukrainians were turned upside down.
“It felt like I had to pack my life into a single suitcase," Ms Frolova, who was a popular TV host in Ukraine, told The National.
“My life was easy in Kyiv. Everybody knew me. I could just pick up my phone and things get done.
"Suddenly, I feel I am nobody. I am a stranger in this city."
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A year of war in Europe: Ukraine conflict in pictures
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As a TV producer, Mr Kotelenets knew Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the comedy actor-turned statesman who many now see as a leader of the free world.
“Both of us have worked with President Zelenskyy when he was a television star. In fact, he first auditioned for my show - and we rejected him,” Mr Kotelenets said with a laugh.
The couple said they are lucky to have found work in the UAE.
“I am producing shows for brands like WarnerBros World in Abu Dhabi, and she has a huge following on her Instagram and YouTube channels," Mr Kotelenets said of his wife.
"We are doing our best.”
But nothing compensates for their yearning to go home.
“Life in Dubai is good. It is child-friendly and comfortable. You may think that makes it easy for us to forget about what happened but it is not true," he said.
“We miss the fresh air, the weather in Kyiv. We miss our home, our people. We hope the war will end soon and we can go back soon.
“We could have stayed back and helped our country. But our main concern was our son, who was just 10 months at that time. We wanted him to be in a safe place.”
The couple said they are thankful to be in a multicultural city.
“My son has started speaking English. I also realised materialistic things don’t matter," said Ms Frolova.
Living under Russian occupation
Ukrainian sisters Margarita Makarova, 31, and Marina Makarova, 28, saw the worst of the conflict before they managed to escape to Dubai in September 2022.
They are from the Kharkiv region which was occupied by Russian forces early on.
The sisters told The National that they are still haunted by the experience of hiding in bunkers to escape soldiers.
“It was the most terrifying time … those few months. It looked like a movie, not real life. There was not a single day or night when our village was not bombed,” said Margarita.
Both sisters worked at the famous Argentina Grill restaurant when the war started.
“We did not believe the war would happen. We thought it was not possible in this 21st century. But we were wrong,” said Margarita.
A few days after the invasion, they travelled to Kutuzivka village bordering Russia where their parents lived.
“We had lost all communication with them and we were scared but we reached the village, which was soon occupied by Russia," she said.
"We spent days and nights in the bunker of our parents’ apartment as soldiers went about searching each and every house.
“We had a limited amount of food and water - for months. The only relief was that we were all together.
"But in September, Ukrainian soldiers recaptured our village and people were freed. Our building also came under heavy shelling. Luckily, we could crawl out of the collapsed building to safety.”
Leaving their parents behind was a tough decision, said Marina.
“We had heard that the owner of the Argentina Grill was opening a new restaurant in Dubai and we thought that was a good opportunity. We are grateful that we have a job and are able to send money home,” she said.
'My son can sleep safely now'
Svetlana Kostiuk and her husband Sergii Kostiuk moved to the UAE in April 2022 with their two sons, aged 10 and 2, as the war escalated.
They chose the UAE as Ms Kostiuk’s brother and family have been Dubai residents for the past nine years.
“We first rented the apartment in Sports City on a monthly basis. Little did we know that the war would last this long,” said Ms Kostiuk, head of advertising for Ukrainian news website Pravda.
Her husband was running an advertising agency in Kyiv and currently works in a real estate agency in Dubai.
“The good thing is we feel safe here. My son would wake up to the warning sirens before missile attacks and we would carry our children to the bunkers,” said Ms Kostiuk.
She said they had to take the tough call of leaving Kyiv after her children’s schools closed and the city was hit by massive power outages.
“Even after we moved here, Kyiv came under a barrage of attacks. It was really hard to watch what was happening to our country. We still find it hard to come to terms with it,” a tearful Ms Kostiuk said.
Dubai's first Ukrainian restaurant helping war migrants - in pictures
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
Saturday 15 January: v Canada
Thursday 20 January: v England
Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly, Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya Shetty, Kai Smith
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Top New Zealand cop on policing the virtual world
New Zealand police began closer scrutiny of social media and online communities after the attacks on two mosques in March, the country's top officer said.
The killing of 51 people in Christchurch and wounding of more than 40 others shocked the world. Brenton Tarrant, a suspected white supremacist, was accused of the killings. His trial is ongoing and he denies the charges.
Mike Bush, commissioner of New Zealand Police, said officers looked closely at how they monitored social media in the wake of the tragedy to see if lessons could be learned.
“We decided that it was fit for purpose but we need to deepen it in terms of community relationships, extending them not only with the traditional community but the virtual one as well," he told The National.
"We want to get ahead of attacks like we suffered in New Zealand so we have to challenge ourselves to be better."
About Housecall
Date started: July 2020
Founders: Omar and Humaid Alzaabi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech
# of staff: 10
Funding to date: Self-funded
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Amitav Ghosh, University of Chicago Press
Yuki Means Happiness
Alison Jean Lester
John Murray
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at Mount Maunganui
England 353
Stokes 91, Denly 74, Southee 4-88
New Zealand 144-4
Williamson 51, S Curran 2-28
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
The biog
Name: Younis Al Balooshi
Nationality: Emirati
Education: Doctorate degree in forensic medicine at the University of Bonn
Hobbies: Drawing and reading books about graphic design
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
New schools in Dubai
Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Ballon d’Or shortlists
Men
Sadio Mane (Senegal/Liverpool), Sergio Aguero (Aregentina/Manchester City), Frenkie de Jong (Netherlans/Barcelona), Hugo Lloris (France/Tottenham), Dusan Tadic (Serbia/Ajax), Kylian Mbappe (France/PSG), Trent Alexander-Arnold (England/Liverpool), Donny van de Beek (Netherlands/Ajax), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon/Arsenal), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Germany/Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Juventus), Alisson (Brazil/Liverpool), Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands/Juventus), Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid), Georginio Wijnaldum (Netherlands/Liverpool), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands/Liverpool), Bernardo Silva (Portugal/Manchester City), Son Heung-min (South Korea/Tottenham), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich), Roberto Firmino (Brazil/Liverpool), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Riyad Mahrez (Algeria/Manchester City), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City), Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal/Napoli), Antoine Griezmann (France/Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Egypt/Liverpool), Eden Hazard (BEL/Real Madrid), Marquinhos (Brazil/Paris-SG), Raheem Sterling (Eengland/Manchester City), Joao Félix(Portugal/Atletico Madrid)
Women
Sam Kerr (Austria/Chelsea), Ellen White (England/Manchester City), Nilla Fischer (Sweden/Linkopings), Amandine Henry (France/Lyon), Lucy Bronze(England/Lyon), Alex Morgan (USA/Orlando Pride), Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands/Arsenal), Dzsenifer Marozsan (Germany/Lyon), Pernille Harder (Denmark/Wolfsburg), Sarah Bouhaddi (France/Lyon), Megan Rapinoe (USA/Reign FC), Lieke Martens (Netherlands/Barcelona), Sari van Veenendal (Netherlands/Atletico Madrid), Wendie Renard (France/Lyon), Rose Lavelle(USA/Washington Spirit), Marta (Brazil/Orlando Pride), Ada Hegerberg (Norway/Lyon), Kosovare Asllani (Sweden/CD Tacon), Sofia Jakobsson (Sweden/CD Tacon), Tobin Heath (USA/Portland Thorns)
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
