Since leaving her home in Kyiv when the war with Russia broke out, Kateryna Gorodnycha and her son have been living with sponsors and in a hostel. They are some of the first people to move into temporary cabins in Llantwit Major in the Vale of Glamorgan. "I really love it.
It's our first home in Wales," said Ms Gorodnycha: "We've been living in one room. My son's very happy to have his own bedroom." However, the 90-unit project - which will house refugees and homeless families - has been branded an "eyesore" by some local residents who claim there was no consultation process.
Vale of Glamorgan council said there was an "urgent need" for homes for refugees and homeless families and that there was an "engagement process" with locals. Permitted development rights meant the local authority did not need planning permission to construct the units, which will stand for five years. Before fleeing Ukraine, Ms Gorodnycha, was working and living In Kyiv as a TV producer.
She moved into the new emergency housing with her teenage son last week. "Before February 2022 I had a beautiful flat in Kyiv on the 17th floor next to the Dnipro River and I had grants to film a documentary. "It was a good life.
.. it all just fell apart in one night.
"But I am very grateful for this [home] and how kind people have been." "We didn't know what to do when we first moved in because of all the space," Ms Gorodnycha added. She said she saw her son take a kettle to the bathroom for water and had to remind him.
