Ukrainian mother finds refuge in Scottish space firm after fleeing war

Dasha Filichkina fled her newly built home with her one-year-old son Kyrylo, 50-year-old mother and her Yorkshire Terrier as bombs dropped on her hometown of Dnipro.  

She is the chief operating officer (COO) at Edinburgh headquartered space strategy firm AstroAgency. 

The company was founded in late 2019 as the world’s first marketing and strategic intelligence agency dedicated to space. 

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The 28-year-old travelled across Ukraine with her family to reach the Moldovan border where she parted with her husband, Yaroslav, who was unable to leave due to military conscription. 

She now resides in Edinburgh, where she had previously been a regular visitor while working for two UK space companies over the past six years before helping AstroAgency to grow its team of just five staff to 25 in a matter of months. 

She recalled the frantic moments leading up to the explosions in her hometown: “I woke up to explosions on the morning of the invasion. War had started and I was faced with a choice; do I wake my husband or let him and our one-year-old son sleep an extra hour in bed knowing we were probably going to die here today. 

“There had been murmurings for months that Russia was going to invade Ukraine, but most people here didn’t actually believe it was going to happen, so we just got on with our lives. 

Dasha Filichkina and her son Kyrylo have settled in Edinburgh (Image: Agency)

“I worked from Ukraine, along with a number of my colleagues at AstroAgency, and my husband and I had just settled into a new house shortly before the invasion.

“I had initially stayed in Ukraine for a few weeks following the war and was still working from home. It left my international colleagues in disbelief over Zoom calls but we eventually had to leave Dnipro and our home. 

“You could hear people screaming for help, but what shook me most was seeing white sheets draped over cars with words read in Russian towards the sky, ‘kids on board’.”

Whilst left in Ukraine, Filichkina’s husband booked hotels for the rest of the family who eventually made their way to Greece. 

Filichkina had the documents required to enter the UK, but her mother did not and they received support from local MP Joanna Cherry.

They were able to liaise with the Home Office to bring Filichkina’s family over from Greece. 

AstroAgency founder, Daniel Smith, had worked with Filichkina as she rose through the ranks at two previous space companies. 

After spotting a gap in the space market and starting his own business, Smith was approached by Filichkina who wanted to join him at the new firm following her break to give birth to her son. 

The pair have since formed a strong friendship, with Smith being named godfather to Filichkina’s son.

Kyrylo and AstroAgency founder Daniel Smith (Image: Agency)

Smith said: “Dasha kept us all strong. She’d completely amaze us by holding team meetings and delegating tasks over Zoom while fighting was going on around her, or while travelling through Europe with her little boy, mum and their dog. I wasn’t surprised by her resilience and strength of character, but the team certainly were.

“We employ a number of people in Ukraine and have helped our families and our colleagues out, whenever they have decided to leave the country. But I always have a constant feeling of not doing enough. 

“The AstroAgency team have been incredible, protesting, gathering medical supplies to send to the border and more recently, raising thousands of pounds and visiting the Dnipro Kids charity in Edinburgh, who have helped to provide an outlet for my feelings of helplessness. The charity is a huge inspiration to us.”

Filichkina worries that war is starting to wain on public interest. She added: There is increasing concern amongst Ukrainians that the public psyche and the news agenda is starting to steer away from the war, but what happens over there will have huge ramifications for us all. We need to continue to stand together in defiance to stop this from becoming a global war, and to stop this from impacting your families.

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“I was able to meet my husband for two weeks this month, but I don’t know when I will see him again. The war is not over and I miss my home every single day. But whenever I feel like I can’t continue like this, I ask myself ‘are you going to give in?’ I have an image in my head of the woman, the professional, the mother I want to be and that keeps me motivated to stay strong for my family and my team.”

Filichkina has recently been shortlisted for Diversity Hero of the Year in The Herald’s Diversity Awards which celebrate the outstanding achievements organisations have made with diversity and inclusion.