Oksana Chupenkova from Lukyanivka
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On February 24, the war between Russia and Ukraine began. On March 2, the Russian invaders entered our village of Lukyanivka, where we lived at that time. In addition to my family, my husband and 3 children (Oleksandra is 6 years old, Roman is 9 years old, and Mykhaylo is16 years old), my relatives also visited me – my eldest daughter with her child and son-in-law, my mother and brother. When they (the occupiers) entered the village on March 2, they cut off the electricity to the entire village. This meant being without heating, without a refrigerator where food was stored, and no communication. Without electricity, nothing works. On March 3, a mine, probably, or some other artillery projectile, flew into my house. This damaged the house a lot: the windows and doors flew out, the load-bearing wall broke in half, and everything inside the house was also damaged – the ceiling, floor, and walls.
My brother was also injured, a piece of mine hit him. He has an open fracture of his left femur and my granddaughter was cut by debris. We had to escape and move to another village, which they did not reach. There we processed the status of internally displaced persons and submitted documents for money, but my family has not received any payments so far. We did not receive help from UNICEF, the Red Cross, or other organizations. We did not receive humanitarian aid either, its amount was very small – breadcrumbs, one canned food for all. I don’t work because I take care of children. Schools are closed, kindergartens are closed. There is nowhere to make money. These marauders who looted our village, my home, my store, left behind mountains of shit and garbage, they were expelled and we returned here. We started to clean everything, to rebuild something, for which there was enough money, but at the moment there is no money at all. They stole a lot of equipment from me, precious things that are precious to me because they are my grandparents’ things. The bottom line is that there is no help anywhere. So far, friends are supporting, but their budget is limited. My brother has been in the hospital for 4 months, he has undergone 4 operations and there is no end to it. He also lost his job and legal capacity. The state does not pay anything. He has neither salary nor money. Live as you want, but if you don’t want – die. I want the world to hear me: Russia is an army of marauders, robbers, and invaders. They misbehaved with the local, civilian population, I didn’t see any murders, but they did a lot of destruction here, there are photos and video evidence. I want my children to have a future, I want my country to integrate into Europe. I don’t want to be under Russia, behind an iron wall. I want to be free and and I see my children also free. Thank you for your attention.