English as a Lingua Franca, Ukraine, life story, Russian invasion, higher education, university.

Whether English works as a lingua franca in the process of higher education of Ukrainian students after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 is the main research question. It is answered through ´life stories´ of 9 university students aged 20-22 years from Ukraine who left for another country. The life story is structured into three parts: (1) respondents described the process of learning English and/or other foreign languages since their early childhood; (2) ways, methods, and tools to organize the process of teaching after the invasion were described; (3) the process of current studies in a new country they settled at the time of data collection is reflected. The main objective of the study is to discover how the English language helped respondents continue their university studies, alternatively, if there was an impact of English knowledge in other fields of life. The research sample was formed by the snowball method, starting with a few participants of the Czech language course for the Ukrainians at the university; then; they contacted their friends in other places (countries) who joined and wrote their life stories. Data are presented according to the structure of the life story. The most interesting opinions are cited. The results show that the respondents expressed a high rate of flexibility, had enough motivation and will to organize (administer) the study in a new country and meet the requirements to pass the exams successfully. Since the very beginning of this process, they were aware of the importance of higher education; either they graduate from their home or new university, they were supported by the family and devoted time to the learning of a new, local language. English had the role of a lingua franca in this process.