Iryna Lobanova from Bilozerka
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Good afternoon. My name is Irina, I am 40 years old. I am a mother of many children, divorced, and raising three sons alone. the day the war came to Ukraine, we were at home. my eldest son was a student in Mykolaiv, I remember calling him at six in the morning and shouting to my son: “please look for transport to get home faster.” at that time, people from cities fled to villages because they thought it would be safer, but, in less than a month, even in two weeks, the Russian occupation forces were already in our village. the village was occupied, it was under shelling until November and at the end of March, we had to leave the village because we were heavily shelled. a lot of local civilians were killed. My children are 19 years old, the eldest is Vladyslav, and Zhenya is 14 years old, he is a disabled child, he has a complex genetic mental illness that requires constant treatment. the children were scared. there was fear, especially for my son who has a disability, and there were mental disorders. we had to live in basements for a long time. we receive only funds from the state as internally displaced persons and I receive a disability pension for my child. Now we live in the village of Koblevo, which is on the other side of Mykolaiv region. We are forced to rent a house. we received humanitarian aid from UNICEF and the Red Cross, but it was a one-time thing. we need the most help treating our child because he needs specific medicines that are not free of charge anywhere. we see the future of Ukraine with victory, of course. the state must be independent and our children must grow up in their country and at home. I am afraid that the war may drag on for a long time and we will not return home soon.