Mother Olena and her children Eva, Timur and Serhiy are from Donetsk Oblast.
At the beginning of 2017, the family moved to Kryvyi Rih, where they lived in a modular town.
Olena is raising three children on her own. Because of the full-scale invasion, her eldest daughter is studying at school online, while the younger children are at home, as kindergartens are closed. For several years, their lives were unchanged, but after the hydroelectric power plant was blown up, explosions in the city became more frequent and loud, and there were problems with water supply.
Life and conditions became unbearable, the city is long and it took a lot of time to get to kindergartens and hospitals with three children, so the family was forced to evacuate.
Until a year ago, Olena lived with her sister for the entire time. Together they had each other’s support and help.
But in the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, her sister urgently left for Germany with only her documents and 200 UAH for the trip.
“Thanks to this, we now have a place to go. My sister has already arranged housing and work with the owners, and we are all waiting for them.”
In Lviv, the family was met at the airport by volunteers who helped them arrange transportation to Europe and told them where they could wait with their children until the flight.
That’s how they got to our shelter.
She comments: “While waiting for my flight, I am glad that I came to this particular shelter, the administrators are attentive, the food is delicious and the room is well equipped and cozy.