Ruth Alexander speaks to Olia and her Russian born friend and fellow food writer, Alissa Timoshkina, to discuss how these food traditions have developed and how relatives and friends will be marking Christmas in the war-torn country, ten months on from Russia’s invasion.

Ruth also sits down with a Ukrainian family of refugees and their British hosts in Blackburn in the North of England to find out what will be on their Christmas table this year, and what it’s like to be separated from loved ones at this time. For Mariya Dmytrenko and her children, Krystina and Artem, and their hosts Brian and Julie Lamb, food has provided opportunities to bond and learn about each other’s cultures as they share a home.

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Presented by Ruth Alexander

Produced by Beatrice Pickup

(Image: Mariya Dmytrenko and her children Krystina and Artem in Brian and Julie Lamb’s kitchen in Blackburn England. Credit: BBC)