Five stories of ordinary people whose lives were fundamentally changed by the war.
The death of millions is a statistic, the death of one this is a tragedy. We are getting used to numbers. But behind these numbers – specific destinies. Concrete tragedies of the same people as us.
Today we cite only a few stories that should not be the grief of only one person, they should be felt by all of Ukraine.
< span>Kateryna Lebedeva
Mother of two children. She lost her ex-husband, the father of her children. Eexpertise could not do a DNA analysis of the bones found in the ashes. Therefore, her husband is still considered missing.
Facebook/Kateryna Lebedeva
“This is our last photo together. The children are still on it with their father, with my ex-husband, with whom we lived for almost 20 years. We last heard from Sasha on March 3.
He was in his house near Makarov, 40 km from Kyiv, together with a couple of friends. In the first days of the war, he told how he was flying around. The connection was already problematic, sometimes it is, sometimes it is not. So we didn't worry much about the first few days of silence. I have already arrived in Holland with my children. Days passed, and we heard nothing from Sasha. Until distant neighbors called me and told me that Sasha's house was hit by a tank, and it immediately seized and burned.
We searched for Sasha in all groups of surrounding villages for almost a month. They hoped that he and his friends had escaped and were hiding somewhere.
A month later, all these territories were liberated. Every hour we were waiting for him to call and say – well, everything is fine. The military sent me a video of the house. Burned to the ground, as well as the two cars in front of him – Sashin and his friends. And a few days later, they reported that bones were found in the ashes.
Only a few human bones in three places.
Children submitted DNA samples in The Hague. Good people brought them to Ukraine. Investigators were overwhelmed by mountains of unidentified corpses. This is all Buchansky district. First, one examination lasts longer than a month, then another one lasts longer than a month. They waited, waited. We were waiting for the results of the examinations. And a little miracle.
They searched in captivity, went to fortune tellers. They called his phone. At some point, I told the children that was all. Their dad is gone. The most terrible words that a mother can say to children.
We lived 4 months of this nightmare in Holland. On Sunday, we returned to Kyiv. Here is my husband, parents, native home. It's easier that way.
The coroner said today that the medical examiner was unable to do a DNA test. Too much burnt material.
Therefore, this story is still without an end. I don't know what to do next. I didn't write anything on Facebook for 4 months. Today I am writing this here, because I no longer have the strength to tell it live to the acquaintances I meet in Kyiv. Because every time I tell, I experience this arrival, screams, flames, death.
During these 4 months, there was not a single day that I did not cry. I hope death was instantaneous. I think Sasha has been in heaven for a long time, looking after Andryusha and Sashunka. He comes to them in dreams. Say hi to everyone there, San. Follow us. Happy with the success of our beautiful children. Support them in their sorrows. I will grow them, San. I will put it on my feet. You know“, Lebedeva wrote on June 29 on Facebook.
Oksana Glushchenko
Lost her mother. A woman was blown up by a mine in Mariupol. Her body was brought home in a wheelbarrow by a 72-year-old man. Facebook/Oksana Hlushchenko
“My mother is no more… She was blown up by a mine in Mariupol. Dad brought the remains of the body home in a wheelbarrow… Today, May 27, we learned that mother died on March 31. A month later than it happened!
Only today, June 20, I can share with you this terrible story that happened in to our family.
Mom and dad were walking along the seashore after the humanitarian worker and tried to find a place to contact us. Dad was walking behind. 10.00. There was an explosion.
Mom stepped on a mine. Dad was thrown back by the blast wave. The blow fell on the chest. Long after that, the chest hurt. It became hard to see. The right eye suffered more. A chain with a cross was torn from the chest by the explosion. When he regained consciousness, he ran to his mother.
Her legs were completely gone. They were torn away. She asked him to sit down. Planted She calmly told him that she was hot. Dad took off her outer clothes. She asked me to drink. Dad gave her water, she swallowed the first sip, she couldn't take the second.
10.08 mom died of blood loss in front of dad. Dad kissed her and talked to her for the last 8 minutes of her life.
There was no strength to lift her and carry her home. During this month, he was exhausted by constant bombardments, sitting in a cellar, and the lack of normal food. The day before, a phosphorus bomb fell into the yard and the explosion concussed my father. Mom sat in the cellar all month with a Bible in her hands and prayed.
Dad went home to get a wheelbarrow and when he returned, loaded mom and the whole day until the evening he drove her home on the sinking sand.
At 2 am, my mother's body was at home. There was nowhere else to waste time. Dad found thick cellophane in the yard, wrapped the body, and put it on the wheelbarrow. None of the neighbors agreed to help hide, because there was very strong fighting in the street. Dad said that he had no fear at all, and the kind of horror that happened to them is not even shown in the movies.
He approached the first tank under fire and began to ask to be allowed to bury his wife. The military gave the go-ahead. They let him pass. He arrived with his mother in a wheelbarrow at the cemetery. All the graves were overturned from the explosions. He was already dragging a bag with his mother on the ground.
Dad started digging a hole. They started shooting at him. He shouted back to aim better.
He dug a hole. buried Father is 72 years old.
Now he goes to his mother's grave every day and brings fresh flowers from the garden. He talks to her portrait at home. Very longing. All the time he has this picture of what is happening to his mother in front of his eyes. I stopped sleeping at night. He tells us this story on the phone all the time. The other day, as he told me, he burst into tears. I heard my dad cry for the first time,” the girl wrote on April 30 on Facebook.
Diana Shirai
Lost her mother during the war . A 15-year-old girl survived the shelling. She was forced to bandage her grandfather's leg and clamp her mother's wound by herself.
Social UA
In front of 15-year-old Diana, the Russians shelled the house in Kiinka.
“We saw that two tanks were driving behind the garden. They were getting into position on the track. There were no shots, no sounds, just at one point we were all on the floor. I saw that my grandfather was lying, he was alive, he was talking to me, and my mother was lying and not saying anything. She was lying with her head down, her shoes flew off,” the girl said.
The girl'bandaged her grandfather's leg, closed her mother's head wound and pushed the car out of the house so that she did not explode.
“Everything around was on fire. I didn't know what to do at first. Grandfather had a completely crushed leg below, and he could not stand up. He crawled to me, to the basement. I had my mother's phone in my hands. I started calling the neighbors, the emergency room, but no one picked up the phone. Then I called the emergency room and was told that no one would come. Here a tank was driving down the street. I started running after him, I thought of asking him for help, but he was driving very fast and I couldn't catch up with him,” said Diana.
The woman was born in the Krasnodar region in the family of an Armenian and a Ukrainian. Her parents still live there.
“I thought that it would be better for me to reach my parents from Rostov, and then go on.” – the woman noted and told how she and her daughter-in-law had to go through humiliating filtering.
“We met and they (relatives in Russia – ed.) took us home. 300 km from Rostov. We went to my relatives. We drove along the road, wept with relief, because these are our relatives. But I drove and begged: please don't ask if I'll stay here,” Angelica recalled. The woman left Russia for Lithuania.
“When I got acquainted with Lithuanians, with Vilnius, I told everyone: “I have now accepted help, I am very grateful. Because Lithuania is a balm that I applied to my soul, which helps me and my girls now. And I would also like to do something that will help other people,” said Anzhelika.
See the special topic: Ukrainian military destroyed another warehouse of occupiers in Novaya Kakhovtsi As a result of the last attack of the Armed Forces, thousands of tons of ammunition and fifty vehicles with fuel were destroyed. The UN will help investigate the sexual crimes of the Russian occupiers A group of experts will come to Ukraine. Sandu informed about possible threats from Transnistria The president dispelled fears. Deepening Russia's ties with Iran is a “serious threat” – Sullivan The US fears that Iran will arm Russia for war with Ukraine. Most Russians are ready to support the army only morally – survey Russian citizens are beginning to have doubts about the ability of the Russian army to win in Ukraine. No one wants to support those who lost.
