Three different stories, with all their load of fears and lives that the war in Ukraine renders ‘suspended’. How much suffering do people bring with them when they present themselves at the Caritas-Spes offices to ask for support?
Thanks to the Caritas-Spes workers in Odessa, we received these three stories of displaced persons, people forced to leave the city of Kherson after the great emergency caused by the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam. These people, like many others, receive a grant from Caritas-Spes Ukraine, made possible thanks to the funds raised by AMU e AFN.
Olga fled Kherson with her son and parents after the Russians blew up the Nova Kakhovka dam and the city was partially flooded. He couldn’t take it anymore, he had resisted enough under the Russian occupation, when every move, every necessity of life had become a risk.
So, when the military started demanding that the child attend a Russian school, he felt it was time to leave.
Mr. Mykola faced a long journey across Russia to get here, to Odessa, and find a chance to continue living despite the war. The man’s stories are detailed. He is also from Kherson: living in that Russian-occupied city had become as dangerous and difficult as ever.
But this was not the greatest test to overcome. He was outside the city when Ukrainian troops, advancing to liberate Kherson, cut the road links. Mr Mykola was isolated in Russian-controlled territory for six, very long, months. Later, when the Russians destroyed the Kakhovskaya dam, he managed to escape and reach Odessa. An escape that lasted ten days.
When the water from the dam flooded the Ostriv district of Kherson, Lyudmila and her family first thought, and hoped, that the flood would pass quickly. So they moved to a safer part of town. Waiting to be able to return to their home, which they had not abandoned even because of the Russian occupation.
The flood put them in a position where they no longer had a choice, they had to leave. In Odessa, in the offices of Caritas-Spes, Lyudmila remembers those months with tears in her eyes: ‘It was terrible, we lived in constant fear. Below their home was a checkpoint of Russian soldiers, and every time they had to leave, they were stopped and searched. Even a tattoo with Ukrainian symbols could become a danger: ‘Now we can only hope for the best’.
Support assistance to families devastated by the war in Ukraine
Support assistance to families devastated by the war in Ukraine
