A Ukrainian woman who fled the war with her young family has set up a beauty business in Wantage less than a year after arriving in the UK.

Hanna Tereshchemko, 48, officially opened Serica Smooth on Sunday, April 16, by cutting a ribbon with her friend and business partner Sarah Morris, 38.

The business in Mill Street provides sugaring treatment – an alternative form of waxing – as well as a range of other services.

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A little more than a year ago, Mrs Tereshchemko was running a similar business – the successful online store Serica – from her home city of Odesa in Ukraine.

There, she lived with husband Vitalii, 42, daughter Sofiia, nine, and her son Nazar, seven.

However, the city was bombed heavily following the Russian invasion in February 2022, and she decided it was no longer safe for her family to remain.

She said: “There were rockets falling into Odesa and my family were very stressed. My children weren’t safe and so we decided to leave.

“It was a difficult decision to leave because my home was there. My brother and sister still live there.”

The family fled to Bulgaria for three months before they left in the summer and arrived in Ardington, a village near Wantage, where they were housed on Lockinge Estates.

Mrs Tereshchemko said: “Everyone was so nice, and I like small villages such as these because I am used to a big city like Odesa, which has nearly a million people.”

She was helped with her relocation by Mrs Morris, who also lives in Ardington and runs the Grocer Chef cafe in the village.

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Mrs Morris said: “I helped her when she arrived with everything that I could. Over time I got to know her well, even though the language was a big barrier at first.

“They didn’t speak much English when they arrived, and I obviously don’t speak Ukrainian. But her English has got a lot better.

“Obviously the priority was her family and her children. To have built something up and then left it also must have been tough.

“There’s a bit of disillusionment with those who have left as they feel like their qualifications don’t really count for anything and that’s really hard.

“We would invite them round to our house to try and make them feel welcome.”

The pair soon began to talk about Mrs Tereshchemko’s business in Ukraine and decided to set up their own salon to bring the style of treatment to the UK.

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Mrs Morris said: “The more I learned about her business, the more interested I became. The rest of her team is out in Ukraine.

“We would talk about her business and what sort of things she offered and I’m quite into that sort of thing anyway and I know that different from what we offer here.

“We think the same way and it just works well. With the language and the laws here, I’m able to do that sort of thing, and Hanna has all the expertise.”

Wantage has a history of Ukrainian refugees setting up businesses. In January, Alyona Tarasova, 42, and Lara Tysiachna, 47 set up 'The Cake Bar’ bakery in Grove Street

Mrs Tereshchemko said she was proud to have achieved so much since her arrival in the UK, but said she still missed her homeland.

She said: “I feel happy all the time because every day is put to good use and my progress in England has come a long way.

“But I know people in Ukraine are not happy because there’s the war and the bombs.

“I am happy now I am in England but I want the war in Ukraine to end soon. I don’t know if I will ever get to return home.”