Our Stories
Katya and Vitaly
February 24 will be remembered forever for everyone who came under brutal shelling from an enemy country! For my family, it became a difficult test.
My name is Katya and it is my life story in these difficult times. We woke up at 4:40 a.m. from the loud shelling that the "enemy" (who seems to have once been a brother, but these are just my thoughts and please don't judge me) began to pelt the outskirts of Kharkiv. We live just two kilometers from the outskirts of the city. It was impossible to convey the horror in the eyes of the children, the question: Mom, what is this? This is war!!! It so happened that the youngest daughter (I have three daughters) was with my father and immediately fell into the occupation and this was hell because it separated me from the child for three months.
I, my husband (Vitaly), the eldest daughter (Ksenia) and the middle daughter (Ulyana) were at home until the last possible day. On the night of March 2-3, 6 fighter jets flew over our house!!! These are very exhausting days and nights, children were very afraid of every sound. I was torn into a million pieces from the pain, one child was not with me, also my mother was in zone of terrible shelling and was very afraid to go to me. So I was tearing up from the feeling that everyone was somewhere but not with me.
On March 3, an enemy shell hit the house nearby. My brain started working very quickly: how to protect the children and the only way out was the subway. We left the house at 6 in the morning and went to the shelter. Vitaly's parents joined us in the subway. There were many difficult days, but we got through all this with dignity. It is a bitter but very rewarding experience of life in the metro. I was trying to return the youngest daughter. I found a person who traveled to the occupied territories to deliver humanitarian aid. I took a risk, went with him.
The trip was very difficult. I saw the consequences of people's unsuccessful attempts to pass on the road. My trip was successful and my daughter with me. We began to think about leaving the subway because it is not the best conditions for living. And another gift of fate - Emma and Henry (volunteers), they help people go to less dangerous regions. That's how we got to Lviv to the UALifeline organization.
UALifeline is an incredible organization, its leader Robert has been taking care of me and my family for four months. Other people live with us (12 of us in total). It is very cozy and friendly here. We help each other as much as we can, as well as Robert and his organization. We thank Robert, his organization and everyone involved in this. Without you, we would not have coped in this difficult hour.
Hennadiy
Good afternoon, you are greeted by Hennadiy, I am 59 years old and I'm from the city of Kharkiv.
In the past, I was a military border guard, so war is not something unknown and scary for me. But despite my experience in the past, I have someone to worry about - my wife and my little granddaughter. It was precisely because of worries about loved ones that we immediately decided to move to the subway, because it is safer there than on the surface. Living conditions in the subway in the first days of the war were not very good, and that is why I decided to evacuate my wife and granddaughter.
On the third day of the war, we went through the subway tunnel to the railway station, where, pushing through the crowd of people, I sent my family to a safer place - first to the west of Ukraine, and then to Belgium, where they are still . After that, two and a half months of living in the subway began - getting to know different people, trekking for humanitarian aid through tunnels and on the surface, arranging life at the station, an interesting experience. Fortunately, it could not last forever, and at the beginning of May, volunteers helped me and two of my friends leave to Lviv.
In Lviv, we found shelter thanks to Robert and his organization UALifeline. Today, I have been living here for more than three months. Together with me, this shelter has twelve people who also became refugees due to military actions in their former place of residence. Everyone who lives here tries to help each other and the UALifeline organization in general. I hope that our actions also bringing Ukraine closer to victory.
